Catastrophic Failure
Behold the catastrophic failure of a hub:
About half of the flange on one side just broke completely off. Fortunately, it was right at a switchback, so low speed prevented a serious pile-up. Not so lucky was the resulting ~3 mile walk out of Guaje Canyon. I loosened the spokes as much as possible with the hopes of getting the wheel straight enough to turn inside the fork, but the best I could get was a really annoying rubbing sound every time the wheel came around. With the tire deflated, some persistent pedaling - even downhill, and a high tolerance for a nature-destroying racket for every tire rotation, some riding was possible. Most of the way, however, was on foot. At least it was a nice day.
posted by bw at 9:33 PM
4 Comments:
radial spoking.
that was the case with the other hugi hub i saw that had this same problem a few months back.
i have yet to see the same thing happen with a three-cross wheel, though im sure it does happen from time to time.
Three-cross! Are you kidding! Do you know how many pounds that would add!? Blasphemy!
Yeah - I think even a one-cross set-up would help a lot. The increased spoke tension of the radial lacing, pulling at the weakest point of the flange, has got to put an incredible amount of strain on an already thin and highly-stressed part.
I had also noticed a creaking sound coming from the front end that I couldn't identify. It was not very loud nor consistent, and I originally thought it was the headset, but the sound didn't go away after I replaced it. I'm anxious to get another wheel on the bike and see if the sound is gone.
Thank you
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