Pearson Carbon Audax Pro: A comfy, modern & fast (ish) long-distance bike

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150862443450?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649#ht_500wt_1287

AFAIK - the Hope road hubs are not available as a radial front hub. Just FYI and all that..

I've been told that too (by Hope) but this was a while back, on an older hub.

AFAIK - the Hope road hubs are not available as a radial front hub. Just FYI and all that..

I've been told that too (by Hope) but this was a while back, on an older hub.

If you click through on the link Dammit posted up there are more pictures, including this one:

I'm not sure if you're saying that it probably isn't a radial build, or that the hubs are not meant to be built up radially though ?

Carbon on eBay

I've definitely gone off carbon, I was thinking yesterday as I rode in torrential rain how glad I was to have ceramic rims...

So I did a bit more research on the Ardennes rims, talked to Wayne about his (they're great apparently) and had quite a long chat with a very helpful chap at HED.

One thing I hadn't appreciated is that the 'Belgium' rim is a cheaper version of the Ardennes - I thought it was the same thing. The Ardennes ain't cheap - 149 for the standard rim and 199 for the scandium - which is for front use only.

Mr HED was quite candid and said that their own hubs don't fare that well in the UK with our weather and that's why they went to Hope to source hubs. The Hope SE wheels use the standard alloy rims, but the scandium does only save 28g per rim.
Slightly more dissapointingly they use bog standard Sapim leader spokes. Nothing wrong with Sapim, but I would have expected something a bit sportier.

So although I'm sure the Hope wheels would be good, I'm swinging toward the Chris King R45s built up with CX rays, although that's going to come out 300 more expensive. I don't know if Chris King's are worth that premium, although I do know my CK headset is very nice and I've never regretted splashing the cash on it. I do really like Hope hubs too.

I'm still trying to decide what exactly I'm going to end up with groupset wise too.

Hmm. It requires a lot of thought, this building one's dream bicycle business...

When do you want this bike operational?

As if this is going to be a dream bike I'd want to make sure that it is 11 speed compatible when 9,000 comes out in a few months.

Saturday night to do the Exmouth Exodus on :(

That is a factor, HED said the Hope wheels will be ready to send out on Wednesday.

I'm not bothered about keeping up with technology. 20's plenty, as those road signs say.

20 may be plenty, but equally you don't want to buy kit that is instantly out of date either.

Says the man who just bought a new Hope Pro Evo II rear wheel, but then ignore me.

If you're going to drop those sort of sums why not speak to a proper wheelbuilder and get a custom set?

They'll be able to advise you much better than anyone on here.

If you need a set by sat, then wouldn't it be better to get something cheap like aksium's on a price match from some Evans while you work out what you really want/need?

All a bit boring I know. But probably the sensible option(s).

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If you need a set by sat, then wouldn't it be better to get something cheap like aksium's on a price match from some Evans while you work out what you really want/need?

This is precisely what I'm doing with my audax bike right now, currently got cheap Novatec hubs laced to double walled 650b rims till I can afford some nice Royce laced to a decent lightweight 650b rims.

Sorry, the Saturday think was tongue in cheek, this won't be ready for weeks!

I'm now set on Ardennes rims, I just need to decide which hubs. Both are good, it's just a question of how much cash I want to splash really. If I went with the Chris King's they would be a custom set, they'll just cost more :)

What about Goldtec road hubs? A british company making some nice stuff and they can't make any noises about the weather!

Ultegra hubs? Cheap (compared to Chris King), strong (although not the lightest)

Or Hope pro 3 at effectively half the price of the chris king. (If you can stand the freewheel noise)

We could play this game for ages- "what about Royce?"

"What about tiagra?"

"What about Raven?"

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120956973789&clk_rvr_id=369994560016#ht_500wt_1158

This is easy.

(Assuming you have the money) are you;

a) the type of person who will later regret not getting the CK's with the bling spokes and just wish you'd had the balls to realise your dreams; or

b) the type of person who will enjoy the fact that you have achived value for money by purchasing an almost identical set of wheels with a few paired down components?

Everyone knows where they fall.

Evolution Imports supply Evans with that wheelset. Maybe drop them an email about getting black spokes. ;-)

This bike should have bling.
That's the impression I got about the build.

I say go for it.

This looks a good project Pete.

I don't think carbon wheels suit it tho. Also word of caution with bladed spoked wheels. I have a pair of fulcrum 3's that have been great through nearly 17000 km of grim roads and weathers but a point of caution with them and other bladed spoke wheels is that if anything goes wrong with them when out in the wilds you are stranded. I had 4 rear spokes go (out of 24 on rear) at once on a fast bumpy descent and it was unrideable. This was in a place with no phone reception, I was wearing spd-sl uber impossible to walk in disco slippers and the first two phone boxes i walked to in socks had been vandalised. In the end i knocked up a pub that was closed and the owner kindly poured me a pint whilst I phoned for rescue. When i finally got to the local bike shops they did'nt have any bladed spokes in as they were special order. I ended up having to train and walk it back to London in a massive hump about the whole experience. CSB, but just the kind of thing that could happen on an audax.

If it was me. which it isn't, and for the reasons above I'd get some simple hubs like royce or hope with low or medium depth rims. Your super lightweight means you can easily get away with a much less spoke count even for audax so they should still come out pretty light. Hope's are noisy but amazingly bombproof, I have a pair of mtb ones that are 10 years old and have been utterly abused, all I've done to them in that time is add grease to the bearings once. I've just spent all weekend thrashing round coed y brenin with them and they are still great, arguably the best value bike product I've ever brought. For me I'd get them or royce, but last i heard royce dont do black hubs as Cliff didnt like the finish, and silver ones won't looks as nice, so Hope it is, see, simple really...hahaha.

If you click through on the link Dammit posted up there are more pictures, including this one:

I'm not sure if you're saying that it probably isn't a radial build, or that the hubs are not meant to be built up radially though ?

I built a Hope hub radial once. It was old but not that old (and Ti!). It snapped at the flange before I'd even used it (it sat on my desk for a few days and just pinged one day - waiting on a rear to build up). Tried to see if Hope would warranty it. They said they wouldn't as it was built radially and 'Hope hubs are never meant to be built radially' - I've built them that way since (customer's orders, despite my warning) and they've been fine. Just warning you that it could invalidate your warranty.

..

although I'd imagine in this case your warranty will be with Evo. Anyway it was a few years back now.

The ti hubs are notorious for doing that, even when not laced radially.

I have a pair on my Colnago and have warned by enough people to keep any eye on them that I check them for cracks every few weeks. They are sensibly laced though and I do weigh sod all.

This said, there are a lot of places on the web (including shops selling them) stating that the Pro 3s should not be laced radially.

However, you can only buy Pro 3s with 28h or more, the fact HED have them drilled 20/24 suggests to me they have worked with Hope on these wheels to get custom drilling. Which would suggest Hope are aware of what they are doing.

I'd ring them now and ask, but I reckon they'll be down the pub celebrating Wiggo's win.

It's worth saying that R45s are the only Chris King hubs that are officially allowed to be built up radially, even on the back.

Blue fleet - although CX rays are bladed, they aren't bladed at the ends, so can be replaced by conventional spokes and used in hubs which aren't available in bladed drillings. Sapim also claim they are the strongest spokes in the world. These are some of the reasons I like them so much :)

Absolutely agree though, repairable by normal bike shop is essential for this bike.

Ask Hed how many sets of wheels they have had to warranty due to front flange failure?