Wheel build

Hi Everyone
I'm looking for any feedback on Velocity Road hubs I can find!
I'm looking at building a wheelset, At the moment I ride Ultegra Hubs
with Velocity Razor rims 32 Spoke 3X back and 2X front, looking to stay
around the 32 Spoke as I'm a heavy rider 105Kg
Are velocity hubs as good as Ultegra?
What hubs are as good as Ultegra or better?
Can I drop to 28 spoke rear with out problems? Hoping for some help
Thanks Chris

Chris Taylor wrote:

*I'm looking for any feedback on Velocity Road hubs I can find!

Velocity does not make hubs, only rims. Any Velocity branded hubs
are made by another manufacturer. You might as well get them from
that manufacturer, or from a manufacturer that doesn't allow
rebranding.

Can I drop to 28 spoke rear with out problems?

Why would you want to do that? You already said you are a heavy
rider; that means you'd be better off with 36 spoke wheels than 32.
There's probably no drawback to using 32 spokes in front, or a lighter
rim in front with the same spoke count.

If I were you, I'd use a velocity Fusion in the rear

Chris Taylor wrote:

*I'm looking for any feedback on Velocity Road hubs I can find!

Velocity does not make hubs; they only make rims. Any Velocity
branded hubs have been manufactured by someone else.

Are velocity hubs as good as Ultegra?

Ultegra hubs use loose ball bearings. Many other hubs use cartridge
bearings. The chief advantage of cartridge bearings is that when you
replace the cartridges, all the bearing surfaces are restored to brand
new. When you overhaul a loose ball hub, at best the balls and cones
are new, but not the outer races (and replacing the cones with stock
parts usually costs more than cartridge bearings).

Can I drop to 28 spoke rear with out problems?

Why would you want to do that? If you are a heavy rider as you say,
you'd be better off with 36 spokes instead of fewer than you have
now. And it's a good idea to use a stronger rim and/or higher spoke
count in back than in the front, because the rear wheel bears more
weight.

Manufacturers have an incentive to use fewer spokes because it's
cheaper to build wheels that way. You needn't do that, so use a spoke
count appropriate to the application. 32 front/36 rear is a
reasonable and balanced configuration for a full-sized adult rider.

Chalo

On Feb 4, 12:23*am, Chris Taylor wrote:
Hi Everyone
*I'm looking for any feedback on Velocity Road hubs I can find!
I'm looking at building a wheelset, At the moment I ride Ultegra Hubs
with Velocity Razor rims 32 Spoke 3X back and 2X front, looking to stay
around the 32 Spoke as I'm a heavy rider 105Kg
Are velocity hubs as good as Ultegra?
What hubs are as good as Ultegra or better?
Can I drop to 28 spoke rear with out problems? Hoping for some help
Thanks Chris

The hubs I've seen sold as "Velocity" appear to be Formula (or other
Taiwanese facsimile) with cartridge bearings. They're very functional.
That said, I'd probably go for the Shimano hubs, so that if you trash
a freehub, a replacement is cheap and cheerful to source.

Agree with Chalo, at 105kg, go for 36/32 spokes. The weight penalty is
laughable, especially since you're using fairly light rims and if you
need to replace a rim--spares in those drillings are also easy to
find.

32 front/36 rear is a reasonable and balanced
configuration for a full-sized adult rider.

What would you consider appropriate for an "undersized" adult rider of 150
pounds?

On Feb 4, 8:50*am, "Barry" wrote:
32 front/36 rear is a reasonable and balanced
configuration for a full-sized adult rider.

What would you consider appropriate for an "undersized" adult rider of 150
pounds?

Depends on the rim and the application. For touring and utility, 32/32
or 36/36 are nice if you want to carry a universal spare spoke. If
you're road riding at that weight, get something red.

On Feb 4, 6:23*am, Chris Taylor wrote:
Hi Everyone
*I'm looking for any feedback on Velocity Road hubs I can find!
I'm looking at building a wheelset, At the moment I ride Ultegra Hubs
with Velocity Razor rims 32 Spoke 3X back and 2X front, looking to stay
around the 32 Spoke as I'm a heavy rider 105Kg
Are velocity hubs as good as Ultegra?
What hubs are as good as Ultegra or better?
Can I drop to 28 spoke rear with out problems? Hoping for some help
Thanks Chris

At a rider weight of 105kg, I doubt I would choose to ride 28 spoked
wheels as a rule. Yes, they can be made ultra stable, but snagging
the spokes is going to result in a pitching or leave you with an
unridable wheel. If you never encounter debris that could get caught
up in your wheel then a good wheelbuilder could make those wheels work
with 15swg spokes.

Universal Cycles doesnot list Velocity hubs.
Velocity rims come with Shimano hubs.

I remeber Nashbar selling complete Velocity wheels, hubs and rims.

I assume Universal sold all the hubs several days after accepting
shipment.

????

Barry wrote:

32 front/36 rear is a reasonable and balanced
configuration for a full-sized adult rider.

What would you consider appropriate for an "undersized" adult rider of 150
pounds?

You can get away with almost whatever you like, since most components
are designed with a heavier load in mind. For repairability's sake,
stay away from low spoke counts like 16 to 24 spokes-- these wheels
are more debilitated when a spoke breaks, and less able to be trued
when they get bent out of shape. But 32 spokes on the rear and 28 on
the front with a nice lightweight rim would be appropriate for a
lightweight road rider. There's no practical reason not to use
15/16ga spokes, either, or even 15/17ga everywhere but the drive side
of the rear wheel. Note that spokes with 17ga (1.5mm) centers are
significantly harder to build with due to windup.

The more spokes I have in a wheel, the more latitude I have to use
lighter spokes or even a lighter rim than I would otherwise use
(though there are limits to this principle). Generally speaking,
though, the strength of the wheel lies in its rim. The spokes lend
the rim lateral stiffness and support, and give you all the places
from which you can pull it into a round flat shape. Spokes allow the
rim to fulfill its potential, but they don't make the rim stronger
just because you use more of them. But if you use too few spokes, the
rim can't exhibit its potential strength.

Most combinations of common rims and spoke counts would result in
stronger wheels for practical purposes if they had more spokes. But
at some point if you add more spokes, they must be tensioned less to
avoid buckling the rim, and at that point the spokes must be thinner
to yield the same reliability as before.

At the point where you have to back off from your desired spoke
tension to preserve the integrity of the rim, you have either too many
spokes or too light a rim (depending on how you look at it). With
today's rims and assuming 100kgf as a target spoke tension, you are
very unlikely ever to encounter a situation where you have too many
spokes for the rim to bear.

Chalo

On Feb 4, 10:04*am, Chalo wrote:
Barry wrote:

32 front/36 rear is a reasonable and balanced
configuration for a full-sized adult rider.

What would you consider appropriate for an "undersized" adult rider of 150
pounds?

You can get away with almost whatever you like, since most components
are designed with a heavier load in mind. *For repairability's sake,
stay away from low spoke counts like 16 to 24 spokes-- these wheels
are more debilitated when a spoke breaks, and less able to be trued
when they get bent out of shape. *But 32 spokes on the rear and 28 on
the front with a nice lightweight rim would be appropriate for a
lightweight road rider. *There's no practical reason not to use
15/16ga spokes, either, or even 15/17ga everywhere but the drive side
of the rear wheel. *Note that spokes with 17ga (1.5mm) centers are
significantly harder to build with due to windup.

The more spokes I have in a wheel, the more latitude I have to use
lighter spokes or even a lighter rim than I would otherwise use
(though there are limits to this principle). *Generally speaking,
though, the strength of the wheel lies in its rim. *The spokes lend
the rim lateral stiffness and support, and give you all the places
from which you can pull it into a round flat shape. *

Yes, and you can get a high-spoke count wheel almost perfectly true,
and you can drive yourself crazy doing it. You also whack your
knuckles. I used to build a lot of tandem wheels on 48h Super Champ
Mod 58s and had the knuckles to prove it. -- Jay Beattie.