Dear all,
Bob Freitas wrote about the difficulty of removing the disc adapter from a Phil hub which has been cut prior to it's removal. I was recently shown a method by which such problems can be overcome by my good friend Neil Bain of Bain's Bikes here in Edinburgh. It involves the use of what he called 'cranked spokes'. You'll need to start with some reasonably long ones, as it involves cutting them down a bit. You start by cutting the head from enough spokes for one side of the wheel, leaving you with a set of straight spokes, threaded at one end. Now, measure your required spoke length from the threaded end and put a 90 degree bend in the spoke at this point. Next put another, opposite, 90 degree bend in the spoke a flange width away towards the cut end of the spoke. These can now be inserted into the hub from the 'wrong' direction, and you can lace up a wheel, and remove the disc adapter (or freewheel, if you have that particular problem).
Regards,
Jim Young,
Edinburgh, Scotland.