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American Classic hub failure



 
 
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  #1  
Old August 11th 03, 07:11 PM
WiScottsin
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Default American Classic hub failure


"John S" wrote in message
om...
Over the weekend my AC rear hub began to disengage whenever I stopped
pedaling. It would take a few slow revs of freewheeling to get it to
re-engage again. I had to ride 30 miles home this way. It was a real
hassle.

I took it apart and noticed a wire hooked into the freehub body,
protruding slightly. When the freehub body is installed, the end of
the wire rests against the cam plate. The end of the wire gets caught
in the holes of the cam plate, turning it slightly and engaging the
pawls. This wire was occasionally not hooking onto the holes on the
cam plate. I bent it out and it started working again. This design
does not inspire a lot of confidence in me with this hub.

Anybody who rides these hubs had any experience such as this? Should
I junk this hub and go back to Campy?

John


I always had good luck with AC components, although I haven't seen any of
the newer stuff in a few years. You don't mention how old the hub is/how
many miles are on it ?- sometimes things wear out (even Campy ;-)


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  #3  
Old August 12th 03, 01:52 PM
Qui si parla Campagnolo
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Posts: n/a
Default American Classic hub failure

John s- Over the weekend my AC rear hub began to disengage whenever I stopped
pedaling. It would take a few slow revs of freewheeling to get it to
re-engage again. I had to ride 30 miles home this way. It was a real
hassle. BRBR
Anybody who rides these hubs had any experience such as this? Should
I junk this hub and go back to Campy? BRBR

Yes...go back to Campagnolo...

Peter Chisholm
Vecchio's Bicicletteria
1833 Pearl St.
Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535
http://www.vecchios.com
"Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"
  #4  
Old August 12th 03, 03:09 PM
David Kunz
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Posts: n/a
Default American Classic hub failure

Boyd Speerschneider wrote:
(John S) wrote in
om:


Over the weekend my AC rear hub began to disengage whenever I stopped
pedaling. It would take a few slow revs of freewheeling to get it to
re-engage again. I had to ride 30 miles home this way. It was a real
hassle.

I took it apart and noticed a wire hooked into the freehub body,
protruding slightly. When the freehub body is installed, the end of
the wire rests against the cam plate. The end of the wire gets caught
in the holes of the cam plate, turning it slightly and engaging the
pawls. This wire was occasionally not hooking onto the holes on the
cam plate. I bent it out and it started working again. This design
does not inspire a lot of confidence in me with this hub.

Anybody who rides these hubs had any experience such as this? Should
I junk this hub and go back to Campy?

John



I would suggest getting in touch with their customer service department at:

http://www.amclassic.com

If they can't help you over the phone, they will be happy to do warranty work
with a very short turn around.

- Boyd S.


I had the opposite experience with them. Hub bearings failed in 3
months. They said it couldn't happen. My LBS worked on them and they
agreed to warrenty 2 of the 4 bearings. My LBS talked some more to them
and they finally said they'd cover all 4 bearings, including sufficient
bearing seals that each bearing would have it's own. 4 bearings arrived
at the shop, but the shop was charged for 2 of them and there were only
2 seals so only the outer side of the outer bearings could be sealed
(IMO, water intrusion caused the damage).

I'll never buy American Classic again...

David

  #5  
Old August 13th 03, 03:14 AM
Boyd Speerschneider
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Posts: n/a
Default American Classic hub failure

David Kunz wrote in
link.net:

Boyd Speerschneider wrote:
(John S) wrote in
om:


Over the weekend my AC rear hub began to disengage whenever I stopped
pedaling. It would take a few slow revs of freewheeling to get it to
re-engage again. I had to ride 30 miles home this way. It was a real
hassle.

I took it apart and noticed a wire hooked into the freehub body,
protruding slightly. When the freehub body is installed, the end of
the wire rests against the cam plate. The end of the wire gets caught
in the holes of the cam plate, turning it slightly and engaging the
pawls. This wire was occasionally not hooking onto the holes on the
cam plate. I bent it out and it started working again. This design
does not inspire a lot of confidence in me with this hub.

Anybody who rides these hubs had any experience such as this? Should
I junk this hub and go back to Campy?

John



I would suggest getting in touch with their customer service department
at:

http://www.amclassic.com

If they can't help you over the phone, they will be happy to do
warranty work with a very short turn around.

- Boyd S.


I had the opposite experience with them. Hub bearings failed in 3
months. They said it couldn't happen. My LBS worked on them and they
agreed to warrenty 2 of the 4 bearings. My LBS talked some more to them
and they finally said they'd cover all 4 bearings, including sufficient
bearing seals that each bearing would have it's own. 4 bearings arrived
at the shop, but the shop was charged for 2 of them and there were only
2 seals so only the outer side of the outer bearings could be sealed
(IMO, water intrusion caused the damage).

I'll never buy American Classic again...

David


David,

I used to work at American Classic in the warranty department.
I'm assuming you had one of the hubs with a grease port.
With this hub, it is imperative that you only need seals on the outer side
of the outer bearings. This is because the grease you (should regulary)
inject into the greaseport needs to work its way around to all the
bearings.
I would bet a lot of money that you neglected to do this.
If you had, there would be no "water damage".

Just my $0.02,

- Boyd S.

ps. How many other companies warranty against neglect?
  #7  
Old August 13th 03, 05:31 AM
bfd
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default American Classic hub failure


"Boyd Speerschneider" wrote in message
...
(Qui si parla Campagnolo) wrote in
:

John s- Over the weekend my AC rear hub began to disengage whenever I
stopped pedaling. It would take a few slow revs of freewheeling to get
it to re-engage again. I had to ride 30 miles home this way. It was a
real hassle. BRBR
Anybody who rides these hubs had any experience such as this? Should
I junk this hub and go back to Campy? BRBR

Yes...go back to Campagnolo...

Peter Chisholm
Vecchio's Bicicletteria
1833 Pearl St.
Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535
http://www.vecchios.com
"Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"


And while you're at it, trade in that light alluminum frame for a heavy
italian steel one.

Why not, that *light alluminum* frame is really going to make you faster
right?....


  #8  
Old August 13th 03, 09:21 AM
David Kunz
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Posts: n/a
Default American Classic hub failure

Boyd Speerschneider wrote:

David Kunz wrote in
link.net:


Boyd Speerschneider wrote:

(John S) wrote in
e.com:



Over the weekend my AC rear hub began to disengage whenever I stopped
pedaling. It would take a few slow revs of freewheeling to get it to
re-engage again. I had to ride 30 miles home this way. It was a real
hassle.

I took it apart and noticed a wire hooked into the freehub body,
protruding slightly. When the freehub body is installed, the end of
the wire rests against the cam plate. The end of the wire gets caught
in the holes of the cam plate, turning it slightly and engaging the
pawls. This wire was occasionally not hooking onto the holes on the
cam plate. I bent it out and it started working again. This design
does not inspire a lot of confidence in me with this hub.

Anybody who rides these hubs had any experience such as this? Should
I junk this hub and go back to Campy?

John


I would suggest getting in touch with their customer service department
at:

http://www.amclassic.com

If they can't help you over the phone, they will be happy to do
warranty work with a very short turn around.

- Boyd S.


I had the opposite experience with them. Hub bearings failed in 3
months. They said it couldn't happen. My LBS worked on them and they
agreed to warrenty 2 of the 4 bearings. My LBS talked some more to them
and they finally said they'd cover all 4 bearings, including sufficient
bearing seals that each bearing would have it's own. 4 bearings arrived
at the shop, but the shop was charged for 2 of them and there were only
2 seals so only the outer side of the outer bearings could be sealed
(IMO, water intrusion caused the damage).

I'll never buy American Classic again...

David



David,

I used to work at American Classic in the warranty department.
I'm assuming you had one of the hubs with a grease port.
With this hub, it is imperative that you only need seals on the outer side
of the outer bearings. This is because the grease you (should regulary)
inject into the greaseport needs to work its way around to all the
bearings.
I would bet a lot of money that you neglected to do this.
If you had, there would be no "water damage".

Just my $0.02,

- Boyd S.

ps. How many other companies warranty against neglect?


No. I did it regularly. I was going though hubs destroying bearings
trying to find one that was strong enough for me -- and I was very
conscious of greasing the bearings. I was working the the head wrench
of my LBS, so I had decent guidance.

The grease port was the reason that I bought the hub. But, after about
2 or 3 months, the grease started coming out past the seals and dumping
on my rear disc rotor which instantly gave me no rear braking and
trashed the pads (why I think that it was water intrusion -- if the
grease comes out, water can get in). One of the bearings had totally
collapsed (just balls inside the hub), it's mate on the same side was in
bad shape, the other 2 were questionable.

And, when I put the 2 replacement bearings in with the 2 new outer
seals, it stopped the seaping for a whole 2 weeks sigh. That's why I
wanted to go to a regular bearing seal style and just pull 'em apart
every couple of months and grease the bearings.

I replaced it with a Chris King; borrowed, then bought a Chris King tool
for maintenance; and have had 2 years of trouble-free riding (well... at
least my hubs have been trouble free ).

David

  #9  
Old August 13th 03, 01:51 PM
Qui si parla Campagnolo
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Posts: n/a
Default American Classic hub failure

Boyd- And while you're at it, trade in that light alluminum frame for a heavy

italian steel one. BRBR

Naw...a light Nobilette steel one...I bet a guy with a DA/Schwinn Fastback that
my lugged steel, steel fork, C-Record weighed less than his..it did-mine 19
lbs, his 19.2...

Peter Chisholm
Vecchio's Bicicletteria
1833 Pearl St.
Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535
http://www.vecchios.com
"Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"
  #10  
Old August 13th 03, 04:02 PM
Boyd Speerschneider
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Posts: n/a
Default American Classic hub failure

(Qui si parla Campagnolo) wrote in
:

Boyd- And while you're at it, trade in that light alluminum frame for
a heavy

italian steel one. BRBR

Naw...a light Nobilette steel one...I bet a guy with a DA/Schwinn
Fastback that my lugged steel, steel fork, C-Record weighed less than
his..it did-mine 19 lbs, his 19.2...

Peter Chisholm
Vecchio's Bicicletteria
1833 Pearl St.
Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535
http://www.vecchios.com
"Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"


Did he have some Barney Rubble stone wheels on it or what?
Or was his a 64cm and yours was a 52cm?

Just curious,

- Boyd S.
 




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