ringle wierdness

[2manyoranges]

Well that was all pretty weird regarding the 'Barcelona hubs incident' - huge price, odd inference with parts, pick up on the continent during a pandemic, when they easily can be posted.

Very odd.

But I can't see it needs any special action from the forum and a sensible decision to lock the thread after they were notionally withdrawn (although I am sure they will pop up somewhere again soon) - I think the open community thing has done its work here; people who are knowledgeable have said 'hang on a minute...this isn't right...' and the 'buyer beware aura' has begun to glow quite intensely around these bits.

Just for interest:

Ringle Hubs Self Destruct!

Back in the day (~1991-2) I built up my first custom bike, and as was the fashion at the time, I tried to use as little Shimano as possible. I still haven't forgiven them for discontinuing thumb shifters, and at that time I was truly angry. The new bike would do double duty as my NORBA racer and...

www.mtbr.com

The issue of a small amount of flex in wheels throughout is a very interesting one, which I discuss quite a bit with Anthony R at Truewheels. Materials choice, design to minimise fatigue. I have absolutely thrashed contemporary wheels and they are as strong as Very Strong Things.

 

[Once A Hero]

It seems to me that though they may be NOS, they have been engineered to remove potentially unsightly starter cracks.
If they were an item I was looking to sell, they would be advertised as NOS/unlaced, but for display purposes only.

I have a bunch of nice looking Hope hubs, but all with cracks, so they just sit on a shelf in my workshop looking nice.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Was going to say. If we had a show us your cracked Hope hubs, it may be a long thread.

The Tye-Dye (aka splash) hubs only ran for a year iirc. 1993ish?
@elite504 would know more

I doubt it was crack hiding, more part of the stuff they got rid off as seconds, possibly poor hole alignment error etc. Who knows without looking at them.

 

[M-Power]

Agree, most likely a faulty production sample which they maybe experimented with to produce splash ano. Afaik these hubs were made from an alloy which was very prone to failure. I have a NOS never ridden wheel set on a garage queen. I detensioned the spokes after building to reduce the likelihood flange failure.

 

[FluffyChicken]

7075 I think, much like the Nukeproof I was reading about, the chap that came in and altered the Nukeproof to stop them cracking was talking about moving to one of the 6000 series and of course better material placement, I forget which.

Which reminds me, I need to know more about the Nukeproof and how to rebuild a rear. This ones bearings are rattling around, it's a newer design but I'll start a different post.

 

[M-Power]

Was gonna say NP as well but there are others. Some variants of Grafton cranks were prone to failure too as they were made from a substandard alloy by a dodgy supplier according to the man himself. Bullseyes seem to be bullet proof. Have a set on my 89 FAT and they have been around Europe touring a few times and slammed many thousands of times from a good height. I have the first gen carbon NPs from 91, still mint but put them on my daughters bike. I would never trust them at my weight !