1997 Nuke Proof Reactor hardtail

[ishaw]

Cheers. I've no idea at the moment how much the bearing will cost to make but if it's not madly expensive, anyone interested in one?

 

[gis_guru]

Yes I believe I am interested, thanks.

 

[ishaw]

Cool. I'll keep you posted once I find out.

 

[lowntegra]

hey guys, been following this build for a little while. very cool! i loved these unique beasts back in the day. not sure if you've seen this, probably have, but theres another one on ebay right now. and i have dealt with the seller before on a "NOS" nuke proof rear hub.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nukeproof-React ... 2346b77489

i'd be happy to share my story if you're interested.....

 

[syncrosfan]

Lemme guess... the NOS rear hub wasn't so NOS? I got my frame from that seller and he did the worst packing job I have ever seen. But first he sent me the wrong frame which was a medium even though I specifically asked for the large one and two of the same side fork legs. I had to send everything back trying to hint to him how to properly pack a frame but when I got the second large frame back it was the same shitty packing job. I didn't want to raise a big fuss about it because I thought he was sitting on a Nuke Proof goldmine and maybe I could score some super rare parts off him... turns out he's probably sitting on some reject leftover parts? Hope my frame is not going to fall apart....

 

[lowntegra]

you nailed it. kind of. ill see if i can find the ebay messages, but i think the short of it is that he (or his father?) knew, or knows the guys who ran nuke proof back in the day, and he somehow acquired all of their old stock....

the original auction for the hub seemed legit so i pulled the trigger on a best offer and he accepted. well, the hub arrived without too much wait, and i find out one of the flanges is cracked! (where the carbon tube is bonded into the aluminum). non drive side. he was pretty good about it, i sent the one back, and had another "NOS" hub at my door in short time.

now, when i examined this new hub further, the bearings seemed not so smooth. so i disassemble to investigate. sure enough, one of the non drive side cartridge bearings was (in fact new), but did have a rough spot. [disclaimer: i do know what i am doing, was head mechanic at a shop for 10+ years.]
also while apart, i investigate the situation with the drive side, and specifically the cassette body, and bearings in there. i pull it all apart, and find what looks to be homemade spacers and sleeves...!??? wtf? these were definitely not quality production pieces, even for a small company like nuke proof. also there is a large c-clip that is designed to retain the bearings + sleeve inside the cassette body, that will not fully fit in to the inner groove, because the sleeve is not pressed far enough into the body. also axle ends are very rough, and sharp.
i email the seller again, kinda explaining what i am finding, and he says that yes some of those parts are not NOS, but that he is reproducing them in his shop based on the original factory drawings....... interesting. so that makes sense now. not really feeling like wasting any more time, or sending this thing back again, i leave it at that, figuring i can "make it work" somehow.
i have now had it apart and back together numerous times, with little progress. i have managed to get it spinning smoothly, and the cassette body now ratchets and freewheels nicely. there is, however, a slight amount of slop (laterally at the rim) that i cannot remove. it being a sealed cartidge style hub, there are no adjustments to speak of. i may be trashing it soon, and looking for a nice M952 xtr unit. which i should have done in the first place to match the front.
ill see if i can find those old messages. stay tuned.....

 

[lowntegra]

found it.

"Dear XXXXXXX,

Hi there the new hub is on its way. tracking # is XXXXXXXXXXXX. I have a few around , most this style. I have a bunch of nos parts to start making them again. After they closed the doors a friend of my dads bought out all they had. he didn't do anything with it and about 10 years ago I got it all. I am just now getting back into them. Lot of one off parts, a few frames, a lot of prints. cool stuff! Thanks for working with me on this. sorry I missed the crack.

XXXXXX

- XXXXXXX"

 

[syncrosfan]

Yupp he got mostly the reject leftover parts. That being said Nuke Proof are notorious for sometimes horrendous build quality. I do like the company and products a lot but quality was not their strong point. They used mainly shitty Chinese bearings (which kind of defeats the point of a high-end hub). I got a set of NOS atom bomb hubs (legit ones) and the first thing I did was knock out the original bearings and replace them with quality SKF bearings (even though the original bearings were spinning ok).
Is the free-hub on your hub, a Shimano one, or a proprietary one? I have a couple Nuke Proof hubs and I have taken them apart and they all had Shimano bolt on free-hubs.
Maybe yours was a prototype with a proprietary system?

 

[lowntegra]

yeah, proprietary nukey one it seems.... pretty sure it's ti. looks to be cast, then machined. three exposed pawls. simple coil wire spring around them.

inside it, is an aluminum sleeve, with two bearings in it. in between those bearings, sits a small aluminum spacer.

honestly, not a very good design from a engineering standpoint, simple yes, but no way to adjust it......the machining has to be perfect otherwise youre SOL. ill snap some pics once i take it apart again. im getting good at it...haha

 

[ishaw]

I can repeat some of the horror with the frame I bought. Packaged badly and as a result seat tube was pinched. Should be ok and got a 50% refund. Still, that won't cover the fact that I need to have the bb and bottle bosses tapped with a thread that wasn't mentioned in the listing. I hope the bars and hub I bought are ok, not got them yet.