Box of Hubs

No, not mine. Just a lovely photo.

Mack w/ Stripes

Japanese Track Hub Autopsy

Pics stolen from Akiya_M's Kinky Garage in Flickr.

Mack Custom Track Hubs

I'm starting to get excited as my new Mack hubs are about to arrive any day now.

Mack fixed hubs? Yep, custom per-order (semi-?)handmade track hubs from Poland. Sealed bearings, single or double fixed, low or high flange, any spoke hole drilling you might want, twelve anodizing colors to choose from at no extra cost. Also, the rear hub design is symmetric on both single and double fixed hubs to make lacing very simple.

All the reviews I've come across so far have been very positive and Maciej Wydra AKA Mr. Mack has in fact been making custom hubs already for years. His hubs have also been sold under the Gromada brand name.

Obviously his hubs design is quite close to the famous Phil Wood track hubs but Mack hubs are supposed to be lighter than Phils. And finally his prices are not too bad either for custom stuff and even the shipping prices are very reasonable. I'll post a full review once my order arrives.

"Track hubs:

- Front low flange (45mm) – 50 Euro
- Rear low flange single fixed (50mm) – 67 Euro
- Rear low flange flip-flop (50mm) – 78
- Front high flange (75mm) – 72 Euro
- Rear high flange single fixed (75mm) – 89 Euro
- Rear high flange (75mm) – 100 Euro

Anodized colors: blue, red, silver, yellow, purple, orange, gold, teal, grey, black, pink, green.

Guarantee – 2 years (excluding bearings)."

For orders & more info: mackhubs@o2.pl

White Industries Track Hubs & New Cog System

Couple of days ago I enlightened you about Sugino's new cog system. After that Tuukka (thanks!) brought to my attention the White Industries' somewhat similar system, as pictured. Along with their new track hubs they've come up with their own splined cog carrier system, which at least to me resembles more or less Miche's and Sugino's similar inventions. 

Apparently their new design includes a "Tool-less proprietary cog attachment", and even better, "...the fixed gear interface is our spline design which eliminates the issue of stripped cogs." 

I guess I'm a traditionalist because I'm not so sure about what's so special their new system.I still prefer the rotafixa method and my good old chainwhip/lockring spanner tool. On the other hand I don't swap cogs that often anyway since I prefer double fixed hubs. 

But White Industries hubs are not very affordable either with a price tag of 259 bucks. Personally I'd much rather fork out my hard earned cash for some Dura-Ace, Phil Wood, or even better, the new Profile Racing fixed hubs which are all more or less in the same price range. 

Profile Racing Fixed Hubs: 'Strong Enough For Fixed Freestyle'

Keeping my eye on the blogs and forums, I've recently noticed that more and more people talking about Profile Racing's new fixed hubs. Now I don't claim to know anything about the BMX scene but based on my limited research, it seems that Profile Racing is for BMX what Phil Wood is for the fixed gear, especially ever since Phil Wood's legendary BMX hubs are apparently sold only per special order anymore.

Basically, high-end hubs and other selected parts, all good lookin', probably super-reliable, and made in the good ol' US of A by a small-ish company who's been in the business for a long time. Today when 97% of all bike components seem to be made in Taiwan, this is kinda special.  

Or, is this just another BMX company jumping on the fixed gear bandwagon? There are plenty of those too but none them seem to have been very successful. 

Well, who cares because Profile Racing seems to be serious in what they're doing, there's a new website for their Fixed Gear venture and a 'Fixed Flow Team' of sponsored riders, guys known from Bootleg Sessions mainly, Keo, John Prolly, Tom LaMarche, SuperTed, Dustin Klein and so on. The best team any company has, because no other company (outside of the Japan) seems even to have a team, yet. 

But what about the hubs then?

"Profile Fixed Hubs are strong enough for fixed freestyle, light enough for the velodrome, and stylish enough to ride to the bar."

They look damn sturdy but are apparently much lighter than what you would expect (front 230g/rear 270g). Sealed bearings, of course. The axle nuts are the recessed hex bolt kind that thread into the hollow axle, just like in Phils. Standard choice of 28/32/36 holes. Fixed/free for now but soon also in fixed/fixed, and besides the normal 120mm width, you can get them also as 110mm or 130mm. And yes, they come in a number of lovely anodized colors. 

Only thing which I'm wondering about is the 44mm chainline but that extra 2mm probably doesn't make such a big difference anyway.

So are these hubs really the new Phils for the fixed gear tricks / freestyle generation? I don't know, time will show that, but I admit they look pretty damn convincing. Now If only I could afford them to try them out.