Miche Primato Hub Bearings

Just in case anyone is interested I took the front axle to a machine shop today. They reckoned it would be quite a job to machine a new one. First they'd have to take a 10mm bar down to 9mm and then would tap the thread on the lathe. They couldnt use a standard die as they dont come in 9x1, said it would take him the best part of an hour to do.

The rear axle might be easier to do as it's 10mm though.

The original bearings were sealed on both sides in my case and they were very easy to get out, just a bit of fiddling with the bearing nut was required.

No wonder British industry is failing. Best part of an hour? That would inlcude 2 fag breaks, a long shit, and nipping out for a butty, no doubt. Been a while since I used a lathe, but taking 1mm off of 150mm of bar, and then threading it on the lathe should be 10 minutes max. They are the two easiest things to do - as long as you have the right feed gears for a 1mm thread, and if you don't, then you just can't do it . I guess the machine shop you went to didn't have the 'No Job To Small' slogan on their cards.

You should be able to buy a plain axle somewhere.
(Harris Cyclery do them http://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?id=2111 but would need to ship from US)