Second hand wheels - am I expecting too much?

I haven't bought many old wheels but honestly I'm not sure I'll bother anymore.

My latest purchase was Mavic Open 4CD on Campag Record Large Flange hubs with new-looking stainless spokes. They even had tyres and tubes which looked in good nick. The rim sidewalls were virtually untouched and the eyelets were nice and shiny. I gave them a quick spin when I picked them up and all seemed well. Unfortunately a couple of months passed before I found time to inspect them properly. Getting the tyres off resulted in showers of rust on the garage floor and the sight of all the eyelets rusted beyond belief. It's a mystery to me how they could be so bad in the tyre well yet perfect on the outside.

Next I dismantled the hubs to find one ball bearing missing from each side on the rear with the remaining ones badly pitted, both races and both cones badly pitted too. All I'm left with is a hub shell and an axle/QR.

The front hub is a bit better, just one ball bearing missing and the rest are usable, both races ok but both cones are shot.

Given that the hubs are dated 1962 am I expecting too much for the bearings to be in better nick than this? Maybe it's just me that lavishes care and attention on my Campag Record hubs.

As for the rims I think they're toast but I'll upload some pictures later for some expert guidance if you don't mind?

In the meantime I'm now looking for 2 x #737 hub races, 2 x 10x26 32/R cones, 2 x 8x26 25/R cones to at least get the hubs back in proper order.

It's all rather depressing and not helping my increasingly expensive Ellis Briggs restoration come to fruition any time soon.

Sorry for droning on but I think I needed to get that out.
Mark.

Re:

I have bought quite a few hubs and wheels over the last few years.

I am afraid to say condition can vary "miles apart"
The sellers are often not expert enough or transparent enough to detect or warn of the possible shortcomings.
It is true I find the campa record hubs to be some of the most durable ones in terms or quality
Quite often , a good clean and they are back on track

But clearly, the storage issue is paramount - where have the wheels been kept and was the previous or many previous owners careful about it ?

So a personnal check - ie buying only with physical handover is to me the most important thing
Second would be buying from an expert forum where the vast majority knows what they are selling and are being honnest about the state.

ebay or local small ads sites are to be considered as much more risky sources - hence potential nasty surprises :?

finally - the older the hubs or rims , the riskier the purchase :idea:
1962 is on the riskier side I am afraid
I restore bikes from the 30's to 50's period and here it is even worse and you can't find any spare parts :roll:

aw, that sucks.
I suppose wear is to be expected and on something that old i would be expecting some rusty bits, but that sounds a bit much
and you wouldnt know unless you dismantled, maybe seller was genuinely unaware. I have certainly sold hubs and wheels without a thorough inspection first (but nothing taht old)

C'mon 55yr old wheels you have to expect something to be up with them. As for your eyelets clean all the loose rust off them and treat them all with Holts cure rust this will sort them out and prevent anymore rusting.

I think it also depends on how much you pay;. £300 quid a pair would make me expect something half decent whilst £100 would lead me to expect the unexpected

Shaun

Thanks for the reality check guys, I guess the state of the hubs was to be expected but the rims are a lot more recent and I've never seen eyelets that rusty in the tyre well. This one has nothing left of the shoulder over the rim if you get what I mean. Is it still strong enough to ride on or is that eyelet going to pull through?

now that is rusty! :shock: looks like the eyelet has completely rusted away? If that's the case then I wouldn't ride them myself, if the eyelets have disintegrated, there's nothing holding the spokes to the rim.

foz":1qz5zwzo said:

now that is rusty! :shock: looks like the eyelet has completely rusted away? If that's the case then I wouldn't ride them myself, if the eyelets have disintegrated, there's nothing holding the spokes to the rim.

Click to expand...

The weird thing is the other end of the eyelet is in perfect condition so in effect the double eyelet is now a single eyelet!

Don't let it put you off. I build all my own wheels, for example, and they might have a bit of deliberately left patina but things like spokes and bearings have to be immaculate for the miles I put on them. The '38 BSA I sold on here recently, I'd have no qualms doing 100 miles on those wheels and I can see now why people are a bit suspicious when they buy wheels off me when I'm done with them! I think you just have to judge carefully what you're looking at and try to case out the owner. Some components can be vulnerable to specific damage over time, particularly the older stuff where designs weren't perfect.

I've heard of guys removing one bearing per side... clan and use new bearings the right size ( you can find awful incorrect ball bearings ) and regrease... hopefully you can replace the rims if they're too bad to use?