low flange vs high flange hubs/fixed gear

Jim D

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Oct 13, 2003, 5:38:34 PM10/13/03

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Hello,

In the process of shopping for a set of wheels for a fixed gear bike I have
noticed that track hubs typically have a high flange or low flange option.
Can anyone tell me what a high flange hub will get me that a low flange hub
will not?

David L. Johnson

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Oct 13, 2003, 6:03:36 PM10/13/03

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Not much. One thing, though, is that with higher spoke counts, low flange
hubs have a thin neck of metal between holes, making them weaker. A lot
of track hubs are still 36 hole, so that would be a strength benefit.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | When you are up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember
_`\(,_ | that your initial objective was to drain the swamp. -- LBJ
(_)/ (_) |

Tim McNamara

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Oct 13, 2003, 6:24:41 PM10/13/03

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"Jim D" <nospamdi...@yahoo.com*.._no*spam> writes:

Nothing.

Phil Brown

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Oct 13, 2003, 7:06:38 PM10/13/03

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>
>> Hello,
>>
>> In the process of shopping for a set of wheels for a fixed gear bike I
>have
>> noticed that track hubs typically have a high flange or low flange option.
>> Can anyone tell me what a high flange hub will get me that a low flange
>hub
>> will not?
>
>Nothing.

Style points among certain of us.
Phil Brown

Tim McNamara

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Oct 13, 2003, 8:00:57 PM10/13/03

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philc...@aol.communged (Phil Brown) writes:

The OP asked:

OK, I'll have to grant you that.

Carl Fogel

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Oct 13, 2003, 9:24:15 PM10/13/03

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Tim McNamara <tim...@bitstream.net> wrote in message news:<m2oewku...@localhost.bitstream.net>...

Dear Jim and Tim,

It would be hard to improve on Tim's succinct
answer, but perhaps a bit more explanation
would lead Jim to agree with Tim's "Nothing."

If I remember the high and low flange argument
from Jobst Brandt's "The Bicycle Wheel," some
hub builders reasoned that a higher or wider
flange would (among other things) increase the
angle at which the spokes dived from the hub
toward the distant rim, a stronger design.

This kind of strength is sought after because
the spokes on the gear-cluster side of the wheel
are flattened so much that they must be tensioned
much more than the steeper spokes on the other
side, which resemble the symmetrical spokes of
a front wheel. It is this extra tension on the
shallow-angle drive-side spokes that chiefly
accounts for their breaking so much more often,
not the torque of a single rider or the extra
weight placed on the rear wheel.

Alas, Jobst's engineering analysis of how much
extra strengthening slope was gained by higher,
wider hub flanges suggested next to nothing,
if not nothing at all--another good idea killed
by an ugly little fact, much like the hopeful
practice of wiring spokes together where they
cross (Jobst showed that this doesn't work,
either).

I'm too lazy to trot downstairs and find the
book itself and check my half-remembered notions,
so you should probably get a copy of "The Bicycle
Wheel" and browse it yourself--any mistakes are
entirely mine, not Jobst's. I only hope that I'm
not mis-representing him.

("Nothing" is still a crisper summary.)

Carl Fogel

Tom Ace

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Oct 14, 2003, 3:41:14 AM10/14/03

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Jim D wrote:

High flange may let you replace spokes without removing the gear.

Tom Ace

Phil Brown

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Oct 14, 2003, 10:29:41 AM10/14/03

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>High flange may let you replace spokes without removing the gear.

Not on ,ine. Sunshine hubs and a 16 tooth gear.
Phil Brown

ant

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Oct 14, 2003, 11:36:21 PM10/14/03

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"Jim D" <nospamdi...@yahoo.com*.._no*spam> wrote in message news:<uXEib.781$kZ5...@twister.southeast.rr.com>...
> Hello,

> Can anyone tell me what a high flange hub will get me that a low flange hub
> will not?

it will look better. high flange, that is. and that is a purely objective statement.

anthony