Quote from: BbCurly on October 26, 2026, 02:31:13 AMMuch appreciated!

Yeah i'm definitely not pushing big watts

You know there's the university scientific world, where you can discuss and define everything down to the nano cosmos.
And then there's the real world, which allows for much more freedom

I ride 21H 2:1 wheels... as that is really a lower amount of spokes and the rim is low profile i was careful in choosing the components. And I would never advise them for a 100kg rider.  Bike, water clothes and me are ~60kg.
I don't think they would fail, as they are tensioned almost 50/50. But they might feel wobbly for high torques.

I am pretty convinced with 74kg you are not on the limit where the wheels must be perfectly even tensioned. Unless you are super strong and know that you have the tendency to kill your equipment (i have a friend who does it. But he's pretty much aware of it )

Choose what you want. Both will do the job.

You can also look at other well known companies for similar wheels.. budget is a valid and important requirement. Totally agreed.

Quote from: BbCurly on October 23, 2026, 03:28:40 PMIs it something you take into consideration before purchasing a set of road wheels?

I build my wheels.
And yes I check if the hubs and rims harmonize. You will never have perfect even tension. Unless 2:1 build and also then you can't mix blindly all hubs and rims.
I accept more lower tension for me as i don't have a high torque, but for strong riders I am more rigid.
Because it should not happen that the spokes get zero tension. That leads to spoke failure. And
.. even if it's not a failure issue. Low tensioned spokes can squeal with strong riders.
It all depends on the requirements. But if i can get asymmetrical rims with the same spec as symmetrical.. yes i definitely take the first.
2:1 is also something i prefer , with symmetric rims then. But as I also like straight pull this is not a very common hub type.

In the end: if it does what you want it doesn't have to be the 100% solution.
If you are 50kg  everything will work . But if you're more like 120kg.. then you go closer to the limits and then all that considerations get important.

In the most cases asymmetric rims reduce the asymmetrical tensions on left and ride side. usually the asymmetry does not even out the tension differences completely, just shifts it a little bit.

There are rare combinations which really need a symmetrical rim (2:1 or if the hub was designed specifically to match symmetrical rims), but for the most systems it gives a much better tension on the low tension side.

Why a lot of symmetrical designs are still produced? Well. "Never change a running system"  It works in many wheels although it's not the best design.

Quote from: 00Garza on September 30, 2026, 01:40:01 PM
Being a tall skinny guy I have yet to find anything long sleeved that fits me well, chinese or western. 

Well .. if you can get jerseys that have a good fit on the shoulder.  Go to a taylor and they can slim the jersey on the side seams and sleeves (if needed) pretty easy.
Only the shoulder area should stay untouched, as then it gets complicated and that means expensive.
I am not kidding...that's a serious advice. Being far away from the common body shape doesn't mean to have no options. Adaptation is a valid option. And a bit less expensive than full custom taylored jerseys?

Quote from: FrostedDyslexia on September 24, 2026, 05:50:40 PM
Might be worth to compare prices with these guys: https://motionparts.de/

They were the one shop where I found NTN bearings for my hubs (and some non-standard size I needed that's apparently hard to source - not ntn though, zen).
Also at very reasonable prices.

edit: Ah, to add to the topic. My Elitewheels Aero+ (different hub than Edge) ceramic bearings were also pretty shot after just one year and that wasn't a year with a lot of riding. Neither did I ride through full on rain. Damp roads - maybe a couple of times. System weight probably like 106-107kg.

Always good to have options. Unless i can't find a bearing in my usual shop, i will just stick to them . They are very close to my place, just supporting also a local vendor a bit . 

For the esrly failure of the elite ceramic bearings... i heard of a story where the bearings where damaged at one position on the front wheel after the bike was on the power trainer for winter time. The conclusion was that the bare weight on the front wheel which wasn't spinning at all obviously damaged them 
I could imagine that the ceramic created dents from the static load in the cage side walls and then basically you're lost

Quote from: Jason_BladeX on September 25, 2026, 08:51:11 AM
That's a really interesting point about the bearing fit.

Press fitting is actually a very delicate part of hub design and assembly.

You are a bit overthinking... that's my feeling. Pressing in to much or not much enough is just happening.  That's even described in older DTSWISS manual.  If pressed in to much, push it very slightly out again until it spins well.

It's luckily no rocket science 

Quote from: Jason_BladeX on September 24, 2026, 08:45:56 AM
I've always thought water contamination could be one of the biggest causes of bearing failure. It's probably not just the water itself, once water carries fine sand, dirt or other contaminants past the seals and into the bearing, you can immediately feel the grittiness.

What I don't know yet is whether the ceramic bearing setup itself is more sensitive to this kind of contamination, or whether the bigger factors are the seals, grease, tolerances and steel races. That's something I think is worth investigating.

The fact that your front hub has been fine after switching to good steel bearings is also very interesting. For us, long term reliability matters more than simply having "ceramic bearings" on the spec sheet.

Thanks for sharing the actual mileage and riding conditions, this kind of real world information is exactly what I'm looking for.

I'd be very interested to hear how the steel bearings hold up after you've put some more mileage on them. If you happen to know the bearing model as well, that would also be useful, since the sealing design can vary quite a lot between different bearings.

For sure any kind of dirt influences the system. It's basically grinding.
I wanted to open the failed ceramic bearings... I am very sure I didn't throw them away, but just one day after the maintenance I couldn't find them. 
For the rear I try to be better..I usually open failed units to investigate what led to the failure.
I use 2RS sealed bearings, but I can't even tell you the brand
I have a good online shop, where I just order them and they are not specified with regards to the underlying company in most cases.. i don't go for the cheapest but also not the most expensive.
For the replacement I need to check if I have the correct sizes on my stock... maybe... but as I am perfect in procrastinating it could take a bit..i hate to exchange bearings.. sometimes they are too much pressed in which makes them sticky.. and if not pressed in enough the free hub touches them and you create  a fixie unintentionally. 



Just for information, the shop where I buy all bearings (don't know how shipping is to other countries) .. they have also an amazing amount of headset bearings for super reasonable prices. If there's "ACR" in the abbreviation, I am very sure it is Acros. It has been like this several times now.
https://www.kugellager-shop.net/

Quote from: Jason_BladeX on September 23, 2026, 08:05:22 AM
That makes a lot of sense.

This is actually one of the reasons I'm looking more closely at the bearing choice for our next wheel builds.

If the goal is long term reliability rather than marginal gains, it sounds like a high quality steel bearing with good sealing may be the more sensible choice for a bicycle hub.

I'm curious what others think though, especially people who have put 10000+ km on their hubs. For those riders, what has actually failed first over the long term: the bearings, freehub, spoke hole or something else?

I'd rather optimize the wheelset around the part that actually limits its service life than spend money on something that only looks better on a spec sheet.

Well.. my H Work hubs came with ceramic bearing.. that was just for advertisement at exhibitions (I got a color swatch which is usually shown at exhibitions)
My conclusion: i had to change the front bearings in less than a year. After replacement everything is fine at the front. And today I spinned the rear wheel in my fingers... feels like i have a pepper mill..
This is now roughly 1,5 years , every good and bad weather, cycling trough winter. I kept care of good protection from water and salt with high viscosity grease, so that's not the issue... but that's a very fast dead I need to admit.
Of course if water enters the inner it's a sudden death. (Alson know that  )
Mileage is something around 5000km. I can't tell it more precise , as I use 3 wheelsets  on that bike and didn't track it too precise.

So what to do:
I will exchange the rear also with decent steel bearings and then everything will be absolutely fine. That's how it is on the front since I changed.

Quote from: Jason_BladeX on September 21, 2026, 06:12:39 AM
Seems like a lot of people prefer steel bearings over ceramic in here.

Ceramic bearings haven't been invented for the usage in a bicycle. Less well sealed because invented for high rpm (like turbine )... it's just not the right spot in a bike. Also the very hard ceramic is more likely to damage the steel parts of the bearing during mechanic shocks.
It's just much more expensive and not even better in the used environment.

If i was a turbine... but even 100 rpm is not fast. 

Another voice pro H Works hubs

Whereas I am not heavy but ride a lot, i built some wheels for a very strong rider. Though he is not very heavy, he manages to destroy freehubs sometimes.
The h works wheels are still
fine.

Ratchet sound is there, yes. It's not that loud as elite (that's pretty easy as elite is just super loud).
I got a color swatch for my wheels and the anodizing process is also very reliable. They are as teal as they have been when they were new. Despite sun, bad weather, salt...

I searched several times for 650B rims

With hook: almost nothing.
Hookless: from MTB sector , but they are usually rather low height rims.


Also the bad availability of tyres in 650B tells the same thing.
For 700C you are basically drowning in tons of options, good tyres for 650B are rare.

Quote from: Uberflo on August 26, 2026, 04:09:35 AM
I doubt that anything over 45 mm will work with current SRAM 2by AXS.

At least AF/ carbonda is clearly stating that in the spec. 2x is stated with 45mm limit. 
A bit sad, with 45mm it's not really a crazy difference to my 505 which allows for 42 with 2x

Quote from: hubba on August 20, 2026, 07:51:04 AM
I have multiple bibs and jerseys in use nothing smells except the straps on these bibs it's weird. I think I have to change the straps from some old bibs to these.

So you are not even considering checking the points....
Next time you don't want help but just complain..
Mark it clearly, so nobody will waste time

Quote from: hubba on August 19, 2026, 12:49:41 AM
Anyone got a smell problem with Darevie bibs that have this style straps?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008329021857.html

They are very comfortable bibs but they are close to unusable to me now. No matter how good I wash them the straps start to smell horrible pretty soon. It's somehow related to the net like structure they have.
I've had countless bibs over the years and never had a any kind of smell problems I often have to neutralize the smell with vinegar.

Nothing smelly here. I am very picky about bad smells at clothes.
Check your laundry machine.  Even if it's supposed to clean clothes it must be cleaned - the rubber sealings catch a lot of stuff that can create bad smell. Also the machine must run at high temperatures from time to time, otherwise some clothes (not all?) can get really bad smells .