Bicycle Hub Essay

1016 Words5 Pages
Types and history of Bicycle Hubs: Various hub problems have motivated to cyclists to new designs. There are several hubs that not especially well-known, although far from obscure. Each was used for a while, then disappeared. Two have since reappeared and become standard. Thus, it seems the idea was good yet something did not work out. How and why did the originals fail? For the most part, the following is speculation. However, there are many differences between earlier and current designs. Wright Sealed-Bearing Oil-Bath Hub: Hub bearing life is reduced greatly by grit intrusion, water intrusion, and/or lack of lubricant. These problems were especially severe in the early days of cycling, when (a) materials were typically poor; (b) roads were typically dusty or muddy; and (c) cyclists typically used their equipment extensively as autos were not widely available and cyclists were not typically so wealthy as to replace major components every few thousand km.To address the problem of short bearing life, Orville and Wilbur Wright introduced oil-bath hubs with seals to keep the oil in and contaminants out. The hubs were produced with their "Van Cleve" bicycle starting in approximately 1896. Construction: The hub varies from conventional cup-and-cone bearings in several ways. The cones face outward, rest on stops on the axles. The cups face inward and are threaded in to the hub shell, with one or two lock rings (unclear) to hold the adjustment. A second set of cones face inward and act as spacers. Cones are used as spacers so that when the first set of cones fail, the two sets can be swapped. A felt seal sits between the small radius of the cones and the inner diameter of the cups in the hub shell. These seal both works to keep grit out, and to keep oil from dribbling from the hub when the bicycle is leaned over. The hub shell has one or more pluggable holes, used to
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