I Just Bought These - I'm A Bit Shocked

I just won these wheels for £32 - I'm right in thinking that I have an absolute bargain right??? Can anyone tell me what's wrong with them, or has eBay finally come good???

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330111711050

They sound superb.

I'm always wary of buying wheels second hand, but if those wheels match the description of them then I think you've got a winner.

the pic is rubbish which is why they went for a low price, hopefully they look the shiz when they turn up.

£32!!!!!

Bargain of the milennium.

"These wheels were originally road wheels but have been re-dished and had new track spindals fitted."

...otherwise known as a suicide hub.

And they're tubs... Which to me isn't a big deal but I do like having a proper lockring.

trampsparadise "These wheels were originally road wheels but have been re-dished and had new track spindals fitted."

...otherwise known as a suicide hub.

trampsparadise And they're tubs... Which to me isn't a big deal but I do like having a proper lockring.

Can u explain what u mean by Sucide? and also what 'tubs' are - I assumed it meant the Continental TUBular tyres seen in the pic??

a suicide hub is when the lockring is on the same thread and going in the same direction, just had to convert my freewheel side into this, not really advised the lock ring won't properly hold on the cog,
tubs are called tubeulars, innertube and tyres all in one, and are usually glued on different type of rim, no lip.

yeah I wouldnt ride them fixed but still an absolute bargain. re-redish them for road use (you might need to find a longer rear axle) and sell them on if you don't have a suitable road bike.

Are they meant specifically for the track and not for urban road use? i.e. no skidding? Do u think I'll be able to re-use the Record Hubs on different rims?

Tubulars are great for both road and track. They're what a lot of pro's use. The perceived cons surround the need to carry a spare tyre (can't patch an innertube or just carry a spare innertube), and the need to glue. But the pros are higher pressure, less rolling resistance, can be ridden for a short while whilst flat, flats do not damage the rims.

The hubs are for road/single-speed, you could go fixed if you want to do a suicide hub setup. There's a thread on BikeForums.net asking who has actually had an accident because of a suicide hub, the answer was a couple of people. The gist is, you better be checking it frequently and applying a high standard to maintenance of it if you want it to keep you safe for riding fixed.

jonaent Are they meant specifically for the track and not for urban road use? i.e. no skidding? Do u think I'll be able to re-use the Record Hubs on different rims?

I believe you can get away riding on the track without a lockring, but you'd have to ask someone who has actually used a track more than once (i.e. not me).

Tubs have many advantages on road and track as velocity boy says, but they are probably not the best choice for urban fixed (more debris on the road for punctures, and can be more expensive to replace if you wear through them quickly from skidding). Up to you though.

well i guess suicide hub is fine for a track because there is no need to skid or backpedal hard as you are not stopping or slowing down too much....on two track bikes i've bought in the past there was no lockring on the hub so.....and for street riding????? if you wanna go that way i recommend gluing the lockring to the hub and pray everytime you backpedal or skid....and you'd want to run a brake cuz you probably want to stop somehow when the hub explodes, unless you are ted shredd.....:-)

Basically these are a pair of old Campagnolo road hubs fitted with a new axle to match the spacing of a track bike (120mm over 126mm). However, old campa hubs had threading on them to screw on the casette. So they are suitable to have a track cog screwed on them if you find the right diameter.
But seing that there old road hubs there is only threading in one direction whereas with track hubs you have double counter direction threading so that you can 'lock' your cog onto the hub using a lockring. You can 'fix' this by using the ring that comes on an old bottom bracket to function as a lockring, but if you want to do skids etc. this is far from ideal. Riding on the track doesn't usually ask for a lockring so that's where they are fine.

Tubs means that the tire is sort of wrapped round the innertube and then glued on to the rim. Again, fine when your riding on a track but expensive and hard to work with if you want to do skids etc because of the labour intensiveness and high skills demanded to change one.

Well, the seller never got back to me - it's been 2 weeks and I haven't heard anything and he has no PayPal so looks like i'll never see them. In a way I'm glad - I didn't really want them after all i've learnt in this thread.... Thanks guys