I was asked by a previous client if I wanted to rebuild a Pulstar anodized purple hub (complete with suspected bent axle) and a period-matching Hope ULW front hub. When the anodized purple craze hit I was a teenager with little money and a worn-out steel mountain bike. I would read Mountain Bike Action and drool over all the cool parts at the time…Pulstar hubs, Caramba crank, Answer handlebars, Ringle seatposts…all of which were available in gouge-your-eyes-out-purple.
Destined for a commuter bike these wheels are a flash back! The Wheelsmith spokes are available locally in directpull, however souring purple nipples was difficult (hmm, I wonder why?) I eventually tracked some down from one of my suppliers in the United States and set about replacing this suspected bent axle. Luckily the axle wasn’t bent, but there were no bearings on the driveside of the hub and the bearing on the non-driveside was worn out and gritty. Most modern hubs are very simple to pull apart and often only require two tools. This Pulstar required the following 6 tools:
- 15mm cone wrench
- 2x 17mm box-wrench
- 2x 13mm box-wrench
- 1x 10mm Allen key
Not exactly mechanic-friendly. Its a strange design similar to Spinergy’s where a cup-and-cone freehub body is bolted to the machined hub shell and a sealed bearing is pressed into the non-driveside; a combination of a normal Shimano hub and a normal sealed-bearing hub. Calculating spoke lengths wasn’t easy and I must confess that I got it wrong the first time (doh! Anyone want to buy some 262mm directpull spokes??)
The Hope ULW hub (“Ultra Light Weight”) features two teeny-tiny sealed bearings, aluminum flanges and axle, and a titanium shell. At 68 grams it’s a similar weight to current American Classic hubs although it does use larger bearings. I laced the front two-cross to add a bit more uniqueness and again used purple spoke nipples.
