# Disc Brakes ROAD hubs???



## dhbomber (Apr 5, 2013)

Hello! First time here! 
Yeah, I'm planning on building a road bike...It's been a long time since I've been riding my fixed gear a lot and I'm pretty hooked on being on road. As a mtb'er I'm leaning towards disc brakes. And I like being the odd duck...

The thing here...the frame I want to buy is a chinese carbon frame...either a hong-fu or one on ebay...They are 135mm spaced in the back...Were can I find or who makes 135mm disc brake hubs with 24 or 28 holes? Preferably light weight...And it wouldn't hurt for it to be at a low price...and black 

HELP!

Ps. these would be laced to 35mm high carbon clinchers


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## cda 455 (Aug 9, 2010)

dhbomber said:


> Hello! First time here!
> Yeah, I'm planning on building a road bike...It's been a long time since I've been riding my fixed gear a lot and I'm pretty hooked on being on road. As a mtb'er I'm leaning towards disc brakes. And I like being the odd duck...
> 
> The thing here...the frame I want to buy is a chinese carbon frame...either a hong-fu or one on ebay...They are 135mm spaced in the back...Were can I find or who makes 135mm disc brake hubs with 24 or 28 holes? Preferably light weight...And it wouldn't hurt for it to be at a low price...and black
> ...



I don't think you'll find a disc hub with less than 32H.


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## dhbomber (Apr 5, 2013)

I'm pretty sure there are a lot of options for mtb disc hubs, but I'm looking for something "road" specific, or maybe CX disc specific...Chris King is coming out with R45 hubs for disc...but I don't think I can justify spending over $500 for hubs....it's just too much!

Anyone else?


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## Randy99CL (Mar 27, 2013)

I've got a cross bike with discs and am building a wheelset, with 25s, for road work. All the disc hubs I've found are 135mm mountain hubs but the terminology doesn't matter.
My budget is tight so I've not even looked at the CKs or those in that price range.

People have recommended to me that you shouldn't use less than 32 spokes with disc brakes. I haven't found any disc hubs with fewer than 28 holes, but I haven't checked them all.

I'm buying these:Rotaz / Chin Haur and using 28 spokes front and 32 rear just to be different. 3 cross front and rear, don't even think about radial.

Also, DT Swiss makes spokes especially for disc brake wheels, called SuperComp (if I remember correctly). The strange thing is that they are really light and 14-17-15 triple-butted. They recommend that you use a lot of spokes that are thin at the rim end but heavy at the hub.


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## ericTheHalf (Apr 5, 2008)

You don't have to use every hole in the hub. I've got 36H hubs with 18 spokes on the front where every other hole was skipped. I'd have to double check the back, but if memory serves, every third hole was skipped. These are not disc brakes BTW.


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## Randy99CL (Mar 27, 2013)

There is a lot to consider here...

I read an article that said that a disc brake can put more force into a hub than the strongest rider can with pedals, so both wheels need to be at least as sturdy as a normal_ rear_ wheel.

And the people that lace radial on the non-drive side of a rear? Nope, John Allen says not to do that with a disc brake wheel. It's easy to imagine how that would put uneven stress on the spokes and rim.

Some have said that any carbon rim you use has to be "disc certified." Can you pull the nipples through the rim?? Seems unlikely but I haven't tested it.

As far as road or mountain hubs, as I wrote before, the name doesn't matter. Disc hubs have high flanges because they're usually stronger. And I like that those Rotaz hubs are forged instead of cast.

It is likely that you'll be ok with light butted spokes (and alloy nips) but you have to have a lot of them to spread the load around the rim.

Mountain bikes don't get the traction that a road bike does so there's not yet as much good info on how strong road disc wheels need to be. I can imagine that a 50+ MPH descent with grippy tires and 160mm rotor would put a helluva lot of strain on a front wheel.

Low spoke counts and radial lacing aren't worth the risk of catastrophic failure.


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## dhbomber (Apr 5, 2013)

Radial is a NO GO on wheels with disc brakes....so yeah I took that in consideration.

My dad has used dt swiss hubs with a 28 hole drilling with 29" dt swiss 28h rims without a problem! He is pretty rough on the downhills, and he really beats the hell out of the wheels RACE ONLY. SO I'm pretty sure 28 holes for road are enough. I'm no race, I'm quite skilled when it comes to maneuvering a bike, so I won't be so tough on the wheels.

Those ROTAZ look good! I would like a lighter rear hub but at that price you can't beat those hubs!

I haven't thought about the problems that can arise with the use of carbon clinchers...or cabron rims for the matter. Yes, they can pull out from the rim...but I don't know, I think I can run the risk, as like I say, I'm not going to be very tough on them...and I have a pretty good wheel builder friend!


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## Randy99CL (Mar 27, 2013)

I was looking online at three disc 29er wheelsets, from Easton, SRAM and Mavic, that all have 24 spokes front and rear. I was surprised.

They all have straight-pull spokes, naturally, that's what makes them strong enough.


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## Mr Evil (Aug 12, 2011)

I've been looking at disc hubs recently, and have come across a few in 28h or less. For instance, Acros make some 24h hubs. And some of the more expensive hub manufaturers will drill hubs with any number of holes that you ask for. Of course none of these options are cheap.


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## Randy99CL (Mar 27, 2013)

I found a thread from a year ago. Anyone considering road discs should read this:

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/components-wrenching/brakes-disc-rim-road-bike-277057.html

Very interesting, and make sure that you hit the link in the 3rd post to read the full story.


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## Randy99CL (Mar 27, 2013)

Mr Evil said:


> Acros make some 24h hubs. And some of the more expensive hub manufaturers will drill hubs with any number of holes that you ask for. Of course none of these options are cheap.


Again, even though we can get 24 or fewer spoke hubs are you willing to try it? The article that I linked to in the other post states what I said here before: that road bikes get more traction and put more stress on the wheels than off-roaders.
I prefer using double or triple butted spokes and alloy nips with light rims so I'll not run fewer than 28.

Another thought: after reading that article, if I lived in an area with long descents I'd consider going with 180/160 rotors instead of the 160/140 that I have now. But then the bigger rotors would put even more stress on the wheel.


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## Mr Evil (Aug 12, 2011)

Randy99CL said:


> I found a thread from a year ago. Anyone considering road discs should read this:
> 
> http://forums.roadbikereview.com/components-wrenching/brakes-disc-rim-road-bike-277057.html
> 
> Very interesting, and make sure that you hit the link in the 3rd post to read the full story.


Interesting indeed, but it has little bearing on wheel strength. The closest it gets is this quote...


Shimano said:


> To handle the narrower spoke flange width, you’re going to either have to add four spokes to the front wheel or about 40g to the rim to make it strong enough.


... which doesn't rule out 24 spoke wheels at all. Considering that low spoke count disc wheels for tandems (which see even greater forces than road bikes) exist, I don't think it's as big a problem as you think.


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## demonrider (Jul 18, 2012)

I was looking for the same thing and ended up going with 28/28 wheelset Shimano XT 7xx hubs laced to Velocity Blunt sl rims which are around 430g each. The wheelset is well over 1900gr, but I wanted something cost effective, reliable and rugged (it's a cross bike). I think you might be able to get Hope hubs in 28/28 and be a bit lighter than Shimano XT. I would suggest checking out Chainreaction Cycles and their collection of disc hubs.

Another entirely different and lighter option would be *Volagi Ignite* wheelsets. They have three different price/weight levels.


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## Randy99CL (Mar 27, 2013)

The question on my mind now is what is the weakest part of a disc wheel? If you go with low spoke counts do the nipples pull through the rim? Spokes break?

If I had any old parts laying around it would be fun to lace up a wheel with maybe 12 spokes and test it to see what breaks first.


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## ziscwg (Apr 19, 2010)

Randy99CL said:


> I found a thread from a year ago. Anyone considering road discs should read this:
> 
> http://forums.roadbikereview.com/components-wrenching/brakes-disc-rim-road-bike-277057.html
> 
> Very interesting, and make sure that you hit the link in the 3rd post to read the full story.


You may or may not want to put too much stock in that "bright bulb" that tried that mod.

He used a superlite rotor (_Ashima's minimalist Ai2_) with a lot of cutouts on a mountain decent. That's like putting your lightest/thinest race tires on and riding a gravel road with pot holes. Sure it will work for a bit, but your are bound to have an issue sooner than later.

He admits the bad rotor choice, but if you testing something, would you not error on the side of stopping, not crashing?


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## AndreyT (Dec 1, 2011)

dhbomber said:


> Were can I find or who makes 135mm disc brake hubs with 24 or 28 holes?


Stan's (Home Page). They offer 24/28 disc wheelsets and also sell hubs.


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## mrcreosote (Sep 9, 2010)

dhbomber said:


> Hello! First time here!
> Yeah, I'm planning on building a road bike...It's been a long time since I've been riding my fixed gear a lot and I'm pretty hooked on being on road. As a mtb'er I'm leaning towards disc brakes. And I like being the odd duck...
> 
> The thing here...the frame I want to buy is a chinese carbon frame...either a hong-fu or one on ebay...They are 135mm spaced in the back...Were can I find or who makes 135mm disc brake hubs with 24 or 28 holes? Preferably light weight...And it wouldn't hurt for it to be at a low price...and black
> ...


Is this the kind of thing you are looking for?

Hubs-CX


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## steel rider (Oct 24, 2003)

dhbomber said:


> Hello! First time here!
> Yeah, I'm planning on building a road bike...It's been a long time since I've been riding my fixed gear a lot and I'm pretty hooked on being on road. As a mtb'er I'm leaning towards disc brakes. And I like being the odd duck...
> 
> The thing here...the frame I want to buy is a chinese carbon frame...either a hong-fu or one on ebay...They are 135mm spaced in the back...Were can I find or who makes 135mm disc brake hubs with 24 or 28 holes? Preferably light weight...And it wouldn't hurt for it to be at a low price...and black
> ...


I got White Industries hubs on my road disk setup. Not sure what the spoke count is but they are black. Have fun.


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