I have a Hi-E wheelset. The front is 28 spoke radial-laced. The rear is 32 spoke, 4 cross. The rims are the super-light Super Champion Medaille d'Or. The rear hub is currently spaced at 120 mm. I'd love to change the spacing to 126. I obviously have no 126 mm axle for HI-E hubs. Does Hi-E still exist or is there anyone that can make this modification? I have a full machine shop so I could machine my own axle. However, I can't figure out how to get the darn thing apart as it appears to be a sealed unit. BTW, I am impressed with the quality of these hubs. They're extremely light and spin beautifully with absolutely no play.
George Allen Lexington, Ky
At 03:52 AM 7/13/2005, Mark Bulgier wrote:
>Hi all, I'm back on the list after being an archives-only reader for
>awhile.
>
>The recent discussion of weird Hi-E spoking patterns interested me,
>partly because I have a 40-hole Hi-E rim and I'm looking for just the
>right rear hub. Er I mean, correct rear hub - it's not for a tricycle.
>;) I'm hoping to find a Hi-E rear hub with 24 holes right and 16 holes
>left. Any spacing, but 120 is 1st choice. Or actually I could make do
>with any Hi-E rear hub that has 24 holes on the right, as long as it has
>at least 16 holes on the left - more holes on the left would be OK.
>
>The front wheel for this set has the elusive, some might say insane,
>Siamese Spokes. Anyone seen those? The fact that they are aluminum not
>steel isn't even the weirdest thing about them. This wheel has 40 holes
>at the rim (and they all have spokes in nipples in them) but only 20
>holes at the hub. How's that work? The spokes are threaded for nipples
>at both ends, and instead of terminating at the hub, they just do a
>dog-leg bend through the hub and keep on going to the rim on the other
>side of the wheel. Picture here if that helps envision it:
>http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Parts/Wheels/Siamese_Spokes.JPG
>
>The rims, in case you haven't held or beheld one, are also near that
>border between wacky and insane - not sure which side they're on. Made
>from a thin sheet of high-strength aluminum alloy that's bent around, as
>Larry Black put it, like making rain gutters, the two edges overlap so
>that the part of the rim that the spoke nipples pull on is double
>thickness. There's a pretty good view of that at
>http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Parts/Wheels/Hi-E_rim(1).JPG Look inside
>the valve hole, you can see the double thickness; also what appears to
>be glue between the two layers, unless that's just spooge. My cheesy
>little scale can't really be trusted but it shows my 40-hole rim as 220
>grams, anyone know if that's the claimed weight or near what others have
>weighed them as? I think that would make it the all time lightweight
>champ, even lighter than the Scheeren Weltmeister. There's another
>picture, showing the riveted joint opposite the valve hole, at:
>http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Parts/Wheels/Hi-E_rim(2).JPG
>
>My next Hi-E question is: Who knows what is missing from my Hi-E pedals?
>I bought them recently from a reputable dealer, and they came with
>threads (for the crank) looking like this:
>http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Parts/Cranks_Pedals/Hi-E_pedal_threads_clos
>eup.jpg
>
>I think the problem shows clearly in the photo: The shoulder at the base
>of the threads is recessed down inside the bearing housing, so the
>bearing housing hits the crank long before the thread shoulder tightens
>against the crank. No way this can work; my only thought is there must
>be a bushing that's missing.
>
>Notice the Hi-E pedal on Dale's website (are those your pedals Dale?)
>http://www.classicrendezvous.com/USA/Hi_E_pedals.htm (upper photo)
>Those threads stick out past the bearing housing like they should.
>Dale, or whoever owns those pedals, do you know or could I get you to
>look, are those separate bushings over the threads, or are yours
>designed different than mine?
>
>Final question for the night: Does anyone know if Harlan still operates,
>still sells Hi-E parts? OK one more question, a follow-up if I may, got
>any contact information for him? (or the new owners if he sold the
>business - I know he wanted to sell it a number of years ago)(Hard to
>imagine anyone but Harlan Meyers running Hi-E though!)
>
>Thanks, to anyone who's still reading, for sticking it out!