Tenacious Sloth
Guru
- Location
- Huntingdon, UK
I stripped down the Formula rear hub on my CAADX today in order to replace the bearings.
I'd done a little research beforehand to try and identify the correct replacement bearings. There is very little information online about the constituent parts of Formula hubs but, after reading a series of posts on various cycling forums, decided that 6000 series cartridge bearings would most likely be the correct ones.
Imagine my surprise when it turned out the hub didn't have cartridge bearings at all, but cup and cone loose ball bearings. It also turns out the hubs are made of Swiss cheese as the bearing surfaces are in a very sad way. I cleaned, greased and reassembled them anyway as I need to use the wheel for commuting duties tomorrow. They do seem to be running a lot smoother now but I suspect the hub will need replacing soon as I can't see me having much success sourcing replacement cup and cones. The freehub is starting to make some nasty noises as well.
The wheel is about a year old and has probably completed less than 2000 wet and dry miles. It hasn't been anywhere near a jet wash either.
Anyway, time to build a new rear wheel for winter commuting duties. It turns out that unless you want to spend a lot of money there aren't that many options out there for 135mm disc hubs that will support an 11 speed Shimano road cassette.
I was thinking along the lines of a Shimano RS505 32 hole hub with an H Plus Son Archetype rim, strung together with either DT or Sapir double-butted spokes. I've used all these components on previous builds and have been impressed with them all.
But then I got around to thinking. By the time I add up just the parts for this single wheel build I'd be looking at the best part of £130. That's a fair bit for a single winter commuting wheel.
So I thought I'd have a quick look at the cost of the cheaper pre-built wheelsets. It turns out that I can get a pair of Shimano RX010 wheels for £107. OK, so they're fairly heavy at over 2000g, but for that price will be fine for whacking my 35C Marathon Pluses and peddling through the winter filth. A minor worry, is that they're only 28 spoke, but I'll make sure they're tensioned correctly before use so they should be fine as long as I don't mount any kerbs.
I also have to fork out for a couple of centrelock/bolt mount disc converters, but I'd have had to do that anyway if I'd built my own wheels as I'd have probably opted for Shimano hubs. It turns out that the Pro Render R calipers on the CAADX clash with the bolts used to hold most centrelock rotors together, as I discovered on one of my previous wheelset builds.
So finally, a mild rant about the lack of information about Formula hubs, considering they are used by several bike manufacturers as stock parts.
And a question. Anyone had any experience with the Shimano RX010 wheelset?
Graham
Incidentally, this is my late entry into this year's "Most boring post of the year".
In the style of The Fast Show's Bob Fleming...
"The interesting thing about these Formula hub internals is.. etc. etc."
View: https://youtu.be/Loo3PwLJDw8
I'd done a little research beforehand to try and identify the correct replacement bearings. There is very little information online about the constituent parts of Formula hubs but, after reading a series of posts on various cycling forums, decided that 6000 series cartridge bearings would most likely be the correct ones.
Imagine my surprise when it turned out the hub didn't have cartridge bearings at all, but cup and cone loose ball bearings. It also turns out the hubs are made of Swiss cheese as the bearing surfaces are in a very sad way. I cleaned, greased and reassembled them anyway as I need to use the wheel for commuting duties tomorrow. They do seem to be running a lot smoother now but I suspect the hub will need replacing soon as I can't see me having much success sourcing replacement cup and cones. The freehub is starting to make some nasty noises as well.
The wheel is about a year old and has probably completed less than 2000 wet and dry miles. It hasn't been anywhere near a jet wash either.
Anyway, time to build a new rear wheel for winter commuting duties. It turns out that unless you want to spend a lot of money there aren't that many options out there for 135mm disc hubs that will support an 11 speed Shimano road cassette.
I was thinking along the lines of a Shimano RS505 32 hole hub with an H Plus Son Archetype rim, strung together with either DT or Sapir double-butted spokes. I've used all these components on previous builds and have been impressed with them all.
But then I got around to thinking. By the time I add up just the parts for this single wheel build I'd be looking at the best part of £130. That's a fair bit for a single winter commuting wheel.
So I thought I'd have a quick look at the cost of the cheaper pre-built wheelsets. It turns out that I can get a pair of Shimano RX010 wheels for £107. OK, so they're fairly heavy at over 2000g, but for that price will be fine for whacking my 35C Marathon Pluses and peddling through the winter filth. A minor worry, is that they're only 28 spoke, but I'll make sure they're tensioned correctly before use so they should be fine as long as I don't mount any kerbs.
I also have to fork out for a couple of centrelock/bolt mount disc converters, but I'd have had to do that anyway if I'd built my own wheels as I'd have probably opted for Shimano hubs. It turns out that the Pro Render R calipers on the CAADX clash with the bolts used to hold most centrelock rotors together, as I discovered on one of my previous wheelset builds.
So finally, a mild rant about the lack of information about Formula hubs, considering they are used by several bike manufacturers as stock parts.
And a question. Anyone had any experience with the Shimano RX010 wheelset?
Graham
Incidentally, this is my late entry into this year's "Most boring post of the year".
In the style of The Fast Show's Bob Fleming...
"The interesting thing about these Formula hub internals is.. etc. etc."
View: https://youtu.be/Loo3PwLJDw8
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