[CR]Phil Wood

(Example: Production Builders:Cinelli)

From: <Ebbikes@aol.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 20:49:41 EST
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Phil Wood

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