Bob:
If you passed through Missoula, Montana, where Bikecentennial headquarters were, (and is now Adventure Cycling) you would have gone by the Cyclist, the shop on south Higgins just over the bridge from downtown. I worked at that shop the Bikecentennial year and we were hopping that summer. We had people in the shop from all over the world. It was great and we worked 7 days a week keeping everyone on the road. One of my shop buddies led a trip that year and came back in great shape.
Robb Rasmussen
Sioux River Cyclery
Brookings,SD 57006
> I too have ridden Phil hubs continuously since 1975, when I built up my
first
> set for my Bikecentennial ride in '76. They performed perfectly, and I
rode
> those wheels for another 5 years or so. Until about 8 years ago, the hubs
> were three-piece, with a steel barrel and aluminum flanges. They changed
the
> design of the flanges somewhere around 1980, from machined to cast
aluminum,
> and the flanges on the threads started shearing off under pressure from
the
> torque of the freewheel. I had it happen on my first mountain bike and my
> tandem, around 1981 or 2, and saw several others. But of course they
always
> took care of them under warrantee, and eventually went back to a forged
and
> machined design, with greater thread contact on the shell. The current
> design, with field-serviceable bearings in an all-forged aluminum shell,
is
> by far the best, and I still recommend them wholeheartedly. I have never
> figured out why Campy, Shimano et al never made hubs this simple and
> reliable. Easily-contaminated greasy loose ball bearings - We've come a
long
> way since then!
>
> On Bikecentennial, a friend of mine had a broken drive-side spoke outside
> Virginia City, MT, and I saw him on the side of the road trying to get his
> freewheel off without the help of the little cup that Phil provided to
> prevent extracting the axle. You guessed it, he extracted his axle and
had
> to hitch in to West Yellowstone to buy a replacement wheel. Had I known
then
> what I know now, I would have just tapped the axle back in and he would
have
> been back on the road.
>
> By the way, for many years Phil sold QR's with Campy Record ends and their
> own stainless skewers. They can't get the Campy ends any more, but they
> still will provide the skewers. I built a near-symmetric 130-spaced
Record
> HIgh-Flange (yes, 28-spoke) wheel a couple years ago for my "Retro"
titanium
> bike so used the Phil skewer with a flat lever. You can get them in any
> length that QR hubs are made in.
>
> Bob Freeman