I have a set of the Grand Bois high flange hubs and they are very sweet and lovely. I suppose the Novatec would be similar. They certainly look nearly the same.
It is worth mentioning that they do have an audible and distinctive ratcheting sound when coasting or backpedaling (although not Chris King swarm of bees level). If you prefer the silent operation of Shimano hubs like Ultegra, LX etc., it's something to consider. KJ On Friday, January 16, 2015 at 12:04:51 PM UTC-5, Brewster Fong wrote: > > > On Thursday, January 15, 2015 at 9:34:40 AM UTC-8, Jim Bronson wrote: >> >> I got in on a post-Christmas sale and bought a pair of Pacenti SL23 >> 650B 32h rims for half price. They are a more-triangulated rim >> somewhat like the Deep V (but wider) which for whatever reason I seem >> to have better luck with not breaking spokes and so forth, probably >> because they can take higher spoke tension to begin with. These >> particular rims are rated for 125kgf max. >> >> I was wanting to get an SP Dynohub for the front build, which I will >> buy from Rivendell because they have a good price and I like >> supporting them. For the rear, I was perusing the Interwebs for a NOS >> Ultegra 6600 or 6700 rear hub (before settling for a 105 hub) when I >> came across these Ambrosio Zenith hubs. They come in a fairly shiny >> silver, which was attractive to me because I have been programmed by >> RBW to love shiny silver things. >> >> Ambrosio doesn't appear to have resellers in the USA but I found one >> on a UK site for $63.53 USD with $12.20 Royal Mail shipping, so a >> little less than $76 shipped to my door. This compares favorably with >> the costs of a NOS Ultegra hub that I was seeking out, and the hub is >> much nicer looking than the Ultegra hub to boot. >> >> There aren't that many opinions about these hubs out there, but they >> generally seem positive. Doing further research, these Ambrosio hubs >> are actually made by Novatec, who makes hubs for a lot of different >> companies that sell bike parts. Including even the Grand Bois hubs >> apparently, and those are over $100 more. >> >> Opinions on Novatec hubs seem to vary on the quality of bearings that >> were used in the first place in manufacturing for the particular >> variant. I have no doubt that Jan specifies very high quality >> bearings for his Grand Bois hubs, for example. >> >> Of course if I buy this I am hoping that Ambrosio specs the good >> stuff, but, I could always replace the sealed bearings with something >> better. >> >> Thoughts? >> > > Good solid hubs for the money. Jan Heine use to sell these as the Grand > Bois hubs: > > http://www.bikequarterly.com/images/GBHubMR.JPG > > He raved about them how good they were and for under $76, it's pretty much > the best hub you can get new! Good Luck! > >> >> -Jim >> >> >> P.S: if Novatec builds so many hubs for 3rd parties to OEM, why >> doesn't Rivendell get in on the action? I could see a Silver branded >> hub in beautiful polished silver. Maybe the required minimum order >> for a branded hub is more than Riv could commit to? >> >> >> >> -- >> Keep the metal side up and the rubber side down! >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
