Hope 150mm rear hub MASSIVE gap

[coreygun]

I've been looking at buying some wheels on ebay, and now I see there are loads of different rear axle and hub widths - 135 / 142 / 152 etc. and the point being that the thicker axle helps with rear end stiffness, and the wider hub means the spokes can be spaced further out, creating a stiffer wheel.

So then I came across a 150mm Hope Pro II hub, with a huge gap between the spoke flange and disc mount; now, I'm no expert, but if you're making a hub 150mm wide to be able to space the spokes wider, surely this gap just defeats the point?

 

[scottproonly]

Re:

Yeah totally agree. I bought one of these hubs without seeing it first and was unimpressed by the gap as well.
That being said the wheel I had built with mavic 521 rims is holding up to my massive clydeness!
Kes

P.s. I also noticed that the hub put the 11t sprocket closer to the dropout than any other hub I've seen but no problems so far

 

[kyle888]

Re:

Hi,
I’m guessing that it may be intentional on Hope’s part you would still get the benefit of a stiffer rear as it’s widening the rear triangle. I’m guessing that widening the spoke angle made the wheel too stiff and removed the compliant flex that would help with traction when the bike is leant over through fast bumpy turns. I may be wrong on this but too much stiffness can be worse than flex when it comes to traction.

Kyle

 

[mattr]

Or alternatively, that's the spacing they need for a zero dish wheel? Or to use equal length spokes on both sides?

Just checked, yes it is. 26.5mm offset on both sides. Right hand flange is controlled by freehub length. Left hand side is just made the same. Moving left hand flange over any further makes the wheel weaker......

 

[coreygun]

I see.

 

[scottproonly]

Re:

My Chris King 150mm hub is totally different with the flanges much further apart. Is this then weaker?
Kes

 

[coreygun]

Well I put some thought into this earlier, looking at diagrams of hub spacing, and I came to these conclusions...

• • Yes, zero dish (equal spacing) will produce a wheel with equal loads on each side.

• • But I suppose if you had a hub 300mm wide - but slightly uneven spacing - it would still be stronger than an 'even 150mm'. But within the confines, I presume the tests showed '53mm even' was better than say, '60mm uneven'.

 

[mattr]

Pretty much the conclusion i came to.