ToniH. 

Hello,

Whats the current options these days when it comes to the 126 hubs. Should I just go with used maxi cars? The freewheel situation seems to bit restricted with the french threaded hubs. I was planing to run a compact douple at front so it would nice to get at least bit wider casette to the back than the normal road casettes.

I have a campy c-record hub already waiting at my spare bin but I'd rather have something with higher flanges to look more balanced with a dynamo hub in the front. Or maybe I should just use the campy? I noticed that J. P. Weigle used a low flange hub at the rear for Concours de Machines.

All the best,
Toni

ThermionicScott 

For your project, it's hard to go wrong with Maxi-Cars.

The CdM bike used a Bitex hub in the rear for lightness and one of the goals for that project was to use modern, current-production parts.

My 126mm bikes get 7-speed Shimano freehubs since I like them so much.

trailmix

Are you looking for new hubs? I recently purchased a set of Velo Orange Grand Cru hubs (100mm/126mm) and I am in the process of evaluating them. I built them with DT Swiss double butted spokes and 36 hole Sun Cr18 630 rims and Pasela 27x1 1/8 tires. I couldn't find much real-world info on these hubs so I decided to test them out myself. I initially envisioned a torture test of these hubs by subjecting them to all-weather commuting and little maintenance but I must (somewhat sheepishly) that these hubs have spent more time in the garage than on the road so I can't really comment on their durability. They do appear to be good quality and they are attractive high flange hubs that look the part.

jeirvine 

Campy high flange Record hubs are still relatively affordable, and, when in good nick, will perform great. Just find an English threaded one, and you'll have lots of freewheel options.

tkamd73 

You could always check out eBay, I’ve found many NOS 126mm hubs from Campy, Ofmega, Suntour and Shimano, just to mention a few, listed there. Everyone I bought came in the original box, built up beautifully, and look properly correct on a CV bike. Awful hard to beat the quality of those vintage hubs, when comparing them to new ones
Tim

TenGrainBread 

I'm not sure why anyone would pay $160 for a VO rear hub when good quality vintage Campy hubs can be head for far, far less. The VO is an aesthetic knock-off of vintage hubs that looks good from 20 feet away but up close is pretty chintzy (aesthetically).

I have a VO Grand Cru rear hub from about 3 years ago that developed a problem with the freehub within a year and a half of use. A couple of the pawls broke and the freehub would lose engagement periodically when being driven. I never ended up trying to warranty it with VO, so I'm not sure if this was a widespread issue or a fluke.

ryansu

Assuming you are looking for 27" wheels, available on Velo Orange - they don't currently have full wheels but do have hubs and rims and Amazon like these or Velomine also sometimes has them

TenGrainBread 

Toni's bike was designed for 700C but he might be looking at doing a 650b conversion.

mpetry912 

I did not (personally) have good luck with MaxiCar hubs and the French freewheel threading would put me off them for sure - except maybe on a display bike. They do have some interesting features and the "keyhole" spoke hole is a neat idea. There are a few MaxiCars out there with English threading but I am not sure how they are marked.

In 126mm OLD there are many nice choices for hubs, the Campy for sure, and you can set up an axle with exactly the right spacer configuration for minimum dish with your freewheel.

The Phil Wood hub is another great choice that is very strong and will last essentially forever.

Mark Petry
Bainbridge Island, WA USA

trailmix

I wouldn't pay $160 for a VO hub either, I think it was somewhere between $70 and $75. I was more interested in building up a set of wheels for a rider and wanted to use new components.

ToniH. 

Last build I finnished was with Phil Wood touring hubs and they are nice for sure. And heavy! The rear one weights something like 0.5 kg and that kind of sparked my interest to find out what other options there are besides maxi car and wood.

Are the grand bois hubs essentially same as VO?

ToniH. 

Is there some shimano hubs you like particularly? I saw some dura-ace ones at ebay that seemed rather interesting.

rccardr 

Big fan here of Tricolor 6400 freehubs, later ones were both UG and HG compatible. Dura Ace 6-7 speed hubs are dreamy but you need to find that smaller diameter 12 tooth first cog...and they are UG only unless you modify HG cogs- even then you need the UG small cog.

Also useful to remember that any 640X, 6500, 6600, 7700, 5500,5600 or 5700 hub can be made into a 126 7 speed hub with the correct HG/UG freehub body- they all interchange- and the correct spacers. Axle can be trimmed. It's not an expensive conversion if you really like 7 speed stuff.

RobbieTunes

There's actually a 126 8/9/10 modern hub being produced. It was covered on BF a while back, maybe a year or a year and a half ago. I was going to get one for my Teledyne Titan.

I have a set of Suzue hubs just sitting here, bronze, laced to Araya rims. I keep them around because I just like them. Like Doc, I'm a tricolor 600 fan, have a set of those here, too.

crank_addict

For freewheel, the USED bargain tall flange 5345 Sansin (also known as Sanshin, Sunshine and made for others: SunTour). Trapezoid cutouts and or drilled. Easily polished or available in anodized.

Same available NEW but in freehub for cassette Sun XCD.

ThermionicScott 

I've only used mid-level hubs like Exage HG50 and 1055 so far, but they have been completely satisfactory. The difference is mostly in finish and the seals. I have a couple of 6400 Tricolor hubs (one NOS) tucked away for a really nice build someday.

Haven't gotten into Dura-Ace stuff, though. Some of it is really cool, but I don't want to sign myself up for the heartbreak of unobtainable replacement parts.