SS/Fixed Hubs available in the UK

I have some daft questions in my chest this seems the place to dispose of them starting with are there any forged hubs made today and does that make them stronger, maybe for only some types of lacing than others?

Shimano hubs are all forged. some hubs are forged and cnc'd but its a different forging process.

the thickness of the flanges and how much material is above the spoke holes is a factor in radial spoke lacing. also the spoke holes themselves, some are drilled, others are cold forged/'coined'

Shimano hubs are all forged

While Shimano (as other Japanese premiere vendors) are big on cold forging their high end hubs tend to NOT be cold forged but spun. Our favorite NJS Dura Ace 7600 and 7710 track hubs are good examples. With a probable few exceptions--- such as the Campagnolo C-Record--- most all NJS certified hubs, I think, were spun.

Other methods of forming round metal parts include hydroforming, stamping, forging and casting. These other methods generally have a higher fixed cost, but a lower variable cost than metal spinning. As machinery for commercial applications has improved, parts are being spun with thicker materials in excess of 25mm thick steel. Conventional spinning also wastes a considerably smaller amount of material than other methods.
Objects can be built using one piece of material to produce parts without seams. Without seams, a part can withstand higher internal or external pressure exerted on it. For example: scuba tanks and CO2 cartridges.
One disadvantage of metal spinning is that if a crack forms or the object is dented, it must be scrapped. Repairing the object is not cost-effective.

Spinning results in stronger more failure resistant hubs.

While Shimano (as other Japanese premiere vendors) are big on cold forging their high end hubs tend to NOT be cold forged but spun. Our favorite NJS Dura Ace 7600 and **7710 **track hubs are good examples. With a probable few exceptions--- such as the Campagnolo C-Record--- most all NJS certified hubs, I think, were spun.

Spinning results in stronger more failure resistant hubs.

7710 are forged

I think only the 7600 hubs were spun,
perhaps Suzue and Sansin also.

can this be checked by ourselves somehow?

I've been told off enough about this, but I really want a gold rear wheel!
Well. As gold as can be whilst not to expensive and sensible weight etc.

Thinking planet x rear hub (I'm told it's rebranded novia tech)
Gold spokes (any idea where I can get em?)
brass nipps.
Open pro rim (black)

Would you do anything differently?

Anyone know the UK distributor of Formula and Novatec hubs? Google throws up nothing

Or if anyone knows of an easily available, low flange, 28 hole rear hub in black I'm all ears.

I did try and find a distributor as well;

While the firm doesn’t have a specific UK distributor, Novatec has a Slovakia warehouse from which it supplies UK customers. However the brand told BikeBiz it would welcome discussions to set up a distribution network on these shores.

From here.

There are ebay sellers whom you can contact to get that low flange hubs, but they're usually in the states or the far east.

After almost 7 years I stripped all the threads on my Novatec hubs.

I will reuse my old rim (HALO Aerotrack 32h) and am looking now for a budget-friendly hub with decent quality. Any ideas?

I feel like that needs an explanation in order to get a sensible/useful recommendation.

How did you strip the threads? You say hubs, does this mean you've stripped multiple hubs?

Immediate suggestion would be a converted XT hub and Velosolo style bolt on cogs (though given the severe drop in quality I've seen in the Velosolo cogs I may think twice about recommending that system to anyone now) but there's a lot of people giving Novatecs a pretty hard time and I haven't heard of too many of them stripping.

I've certainly seen track riders that are changing gears multiple times per session mess the threads up but they seem pretty bombproof for normal road use.

Can you elaborate on the “drop in quality” of the velosolo cogs? I have an older one that is really nice.

I stripped the lockring threads on one hub. While skidding the lockring just blew off twice and ripped the threads with the lockring. I‘ve used two different types of lockrings: the Novatec one which came with the hub and a Dura Ace one.

I used to grease the threads on the hub maybe that was wrong? (https://dynamicbikecare.com/product/carbon-assembly-paste-5g/)

I do kinda like the Idea of a converted XT-hub? What parts do I need if I want to convert the hub by myself and save a few quid? If the VeloSolo cog sucks maybe there is another vendor/option/version of a bolt on style cog?

Novatec

Are there any rear track hubs these days that aren't the old school style skinny hub with higher flanges?
Thinking more like modern road hubs where the hub body is chunkier.
Like Raketa without the price tag

I would say goldtec would meet that description, Phil wood too but perhaps not the high flange ones.

How about Chubb!

Chub hub is certainly on the extreme end of that! :)
Phil Wood whilst being the ideal/dream one really, especially as it has my first name on, is a bit spenny.
I was hoping for something novatec priced

Yeah, I have an ancient shiny cog that’s still going strong but I’ve bought a couple more recently that have had a matte finish that has crackled up and flaked off.

Image below is of a 19t I bought for myself and put a couple hundred miles max on. I emailed them about it and they gave me a partial refund and said that they had had issues with their plater, made it sound like only a small batch would be affected. That was Dec 2020.

I then built a wheel for a customer about 4 months ago and bought a cog to go with it (think it was a 15t or 16t). After maybe 2 months they asked me to rebuild the wheel with a coaster hub and when they sent the wheel back I noticed the cog was the same. It was on a minivelo so doubt it’d seen a very high mileage.

When I contacted them Velosolo did say that it was just cosmetic and the steel underneath wouldn’t be any weaker or anything but I think the bits where the finish has flaked off have corroded quicker and having a cog dump these metal flakes into your chain is far from ideal.

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To convert a hub you just need an axle and 20MM worth of spacers.

I’ve always just bought front hubs and converted them myself, I’ve bought the Velosolo spacers once or twice, they do make a nicer job of it than just stacking random washers!

There’s other brands doing bolt on cogs, think Bikepunx do them, Hope made them for a brief period, maybe Gusset?

I’d get a Bikepunx one next time I need one I think, I have a chainring and a ss cassette type sprocket from then that are both pretty nice. Stainless so no coating to worry about.

Yeah because when converting on my own I would save what… like half the price of what VeloSolo is asking?

Oh guys. Chub hub… ummm delicious. Maybe somebody is selling one? :D

Probably aye. Lol.

Spa had the hubs at a decent price, was a wee while ago though.

Ahhh, I see. Thanks for the info. I had a Soma track sprocket do the same flaky plating thing a while back. Never affected performance, but I’d prefer it not to happen.