Tom -
I've been a fan of the Mavic 500 series hubs for along time, originally issued in the mid 80's I believe, or maybe slightly earlier. I have used most all versions (500, 501, 510, etc.) pretty extensively over the years. I've never had axle breaking problems, but then again I've never broken a Campy axle either (although I did bend a few). The 510 series were marketed as MTB hubs, but there doesn't seem to be much difference between them that I can see. Can't really speak to how sturdy they'd be for off-road/loaded touring, but I think there are among the best of the sealed-bearing hubs of the era. Last year I built up a set of wheels with an NOS pair of 510s for my resurrected Merckx Grand Prix. It seemed fitting, since I had used 500RDs on it in it's first build in '89.
http://www.wooljersey.com/
I probably still have a few wheelsets built around 500s and 501s, some with many miles, as well as several new and used versions of the hubs kicking around the shop.
Wayne Bingham Lovettsville VA USA
On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 2:29 PM, Tom Dalton <tom_s_dalton@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Do these hubs have strong axles? I'm considering using a 501 rear hub on a set of wheels I plan to build. These wheels will get a little bit of offroad use, and a small protion of that use might see the bike loaded with panniers. I think a casette hub would really be the way to go, but I'm considering keeping it old school (and avoiding buying more crap) by using a Mavic hub I bought for $5 at a swap meet.
>
> I imagine that these axles are not up to Phil Wood or Maxicar standards, or whatever, but I'm wondering if they are significantly better than Campy... which do tend to break when used for 6 or 7 speed spacing.
>
> Tom Dalton