drspilker

I recently lucked into a set of rims, and I'm really excited to build a wheelset with them for my polo bike (2010's trek T1). Problem is, they're drilled for 40h, which I was initially happy with for the extra strength. I've been having a bear of a time finding any 120mm, 40h rear freewheel hubs from known manufacturers.

Short of coordinating a custom drilling, it seems like my options are a set of no-name hubs with sealed bearings that I could replace with some higher quality set, or vintage track hubs (Campagnolo, Airlite, etc) off of ebay/new-old-stock sites that I could work with. Unless there are any modern 40h track hubs that I might've just missed out on?

Can you offer any advice here? How does the quality of older hubs compare to modern alternatives (Paul components is popular among polo players)? Am I signing up for way more than I bargained for by potentially rebuilding a vintage hub? I enjoy tinkering as long as it's achievable, so taking one of these apart seems like it could be fun. Will my freewheel fit on older hubs?

I see sealed bearings recommended often for polo, is this just due to the ease of maintenance? Do loose or sealed bearings differ in durability at all? Would these older hubs hold up to the occasional crash and a lot of bike hopping any worse to the alternative?

If it'd work without any major concerns, I think it'd be cool to do this with the old hubs. But if they're far more likely to fail, I'll just go with the cheaper ones, or maybe spend on a 36h rim and build two front wheels with the 40h's.

Bike/build details:
Frame: Trek T1
Rims: Velocity Aileron 40h
Freewheel: White Industries Trials SS

veganbikes

I mean are you married to the rims? You can get new Velocity rims easily and for me I would rather just have the 36 hole something easier to find parts for. I get that you get some free or cheap rims and they are good rims but I cannot recall any 40h stuff at least nothing new. Maybe Phil Wood might have something and it would be a great match or possibly White Industries (I would reach out and ask). For bike polo I would not want a vintage hub. I want something burly and modern or at least new and unbuilt so I can make sure they are put together right and all of that.

I am no Polo expert but having known some BP players durability was a key component.

ron521

I used to have a Triumph bicycle that had 40 spokes on the rear wheel, and 32 spokes on the front. This makes sense in theory, because the rear wheel carries most of the weight, and all of the torque from the drive. However, in practice, it doesn't make much of an advantage, and bikes with 36 (or even 32) spokes on both wheels seem to hold up just as well.

PhilFo 

Suntour offered the Superbe and Superbe Pro rear track hubs in 40 hole drilling for tandems. You can't get a better hub from any era, by any manufacturer (my opinion).
Aside from those, there are certainly other 40 hole rear hubs available, again the more modern ones would have been for track tandem use and older would have been for the classic 32h front, 40h rear lacing of British bikes. The single piece hub you're looking for would be a BH Racelite, the Airlites are 3 piece.
Phil