I’m considering swtiching from my Profile hub to a KH/Onza one on my MUni. A couple questions:
Does anybody know if a KH/Onza hub will fit in a KH pro frame? (the old, expensive ones, from before cheaper options existed)
Will I be able reuse the spokes? According to the spoke calculator, the Profile/DX32 combo requires 235.52mm spokes, while the KH/DX32 combo requires 235.72mm. Is .2mm within the margin of error for building a wheel?
Ben
just a thought why are you switching them? 
What size bearings does your KH Pro frame accept? If they are 40mm OD, then you’ll need to get 37 x 20 x 9mm bearings (6009 bearings) and use a shim. I’m getting this done currently to upgrade my muni to a KH/Onza crankset.
While you might be able to re-use your spokes most wheel-builders will recommend against this practise. They say that if spokes are reused the wheel won’t be as strong as one made with new spokes.
While I don’t have any experience with that frame, I imagine it has 40mm bearing holders which means you will have the much discussed problem of needing a 40mm od x 19mm id bearing which is only available as an elusive Torker replacement part. The bearing adapter shells that I made for a muni I am assembling soon allow using a 37mm od x 20mm id x 9mm wide bearing. (photo below) I can sell you a set if you want to go that route.
The KH hub is a viable option when building from scratch, but I am curious about what would make you want to switch from one to the other.
Scott
Edit: Tony beat me to it.
What size bearings does the new KH/Onza use? If I recall correctly they’re using a 6004 bearing (20mm ID x 42mm OD x 12mm wide).
If your KH Pro frame takes a 40mm OD bearing then you could go with the Torker DX bearings. The Torker DX bearings are 20mm ID x 40mm OD x 12mm wide. You have to order them from Torker through your bike shop. If you go that route I’d order a large supply to last you a couple years at least because I don’t expect that custom bearing size to be available for long.
You’re going to have to check what OD bearing your KH Pro frame takes. Mine is a first generation frame and takes the 1-5/8" OD bearings. Later KH Pro frames switched to a 40mm OD bearing.
And how well has your Profile hub held up? You had it pinned to stop the keyway slop. Did that fix hold up?
when taking the kh 24 with the onzas on it to the shore(for a test drive) I found it to be very smooth so yeah they are a good hub and cranks
The pin solution did not hold up in it’s current form. It was solid throughout the CA MUni weekend, but slowly devoloped the same slop it had originally. Dave Stockton wants to take the hub back to the machine shop that pinned it and try to work something out, so I may end up going that route and sticking with the hub.
I am curious about the new KH hub though. I’m interested to try the new crank size, (yes, I know I could get Profile cranks in that length) and it may be a more permanent solution to the Profile keyway slop. It also has a wider flange, which is good for wheel strength. No warrenty on the cranks, however. I’ve never bent the Profiles, but having the warrenty is still nice.
I think my KH pro frame takes 1-5/8" OD bearings, but I’m not positive. It’s from the second production run, I believe. I’m going to be in Toronto this weekend for Toque, so assuming Darren has some hubs in stock I should be able to physically test to see what fits. I also wonder if the bearing spacing will work out.
Thanks for the offer for bearing shims, Scott. I may take you up on that.
Bummer that the pin fix didn’t hold. I thought that it would work. I may eventually have to do something similar to one of my Profile hubs. I hope that an adequate solution can be found.
Me too… it wasn’t just a pin fix, by the way. We put in a new key the full length of the hub shell, tight enough so that the installation of the hub pressed out aluminum. Then the pins were installed at right angles to that. The pins were supposed to be just for kicks; the key was supposed to do the actual work. Ben sponsored the project financially; thanks to him for helping us all investigate this.
Re: Profile to KH
“TonyMelton” <TonyMelton@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> writes:
> While you -might- be able to re-use your spokes most wheel-builders will
> recommend against this practise. They say that if spokes are reused the
> wheel won’t be as strong as one made with new spokes.
Specifically, spokes bend to fit the hub they are attached to. If you
change hubs, the spokes will need to bend again to fit the new shape.
Unfortunately, the already bent spokes won’t “unbend” from the old
shape completely and they’ll fatigue faster than new spokes.
New spokes are less useful if you are changing rims.
Hope this helps.
Ken
Ben,
Sorry to hear about the trouble you are having.
In my previous post I mistyped 40mm x 19mm when it should have been 40 x 20. And I forgot that some older frames used 1-5/8" OD as JC said. I can make the bearing adapters that size also if you need them.
That is surprising that the full keyway fix didn’t hold up.
Scott
I don’t understand why the “key way slop” is not covered by Profile’s warranty.
I have never seen a hub with the problem.
What problem does “key way slop” produce?
It is covered. It still costs you a wheel rebuild though.
It is not common, and I think it just happens to hubs that are on the outer bounds of manufacturing tolerance, and are also ridden very hard.
Even slight slop or backlash on a unicycle is at least irritating, and once it starts it will get worse.
One idea for a basic solution to minor keyway slop is to remove the hub shell and heavily anodize it. Anodized aluminum is harder than the regular oxide coat that aluminum actually forms. Also, anodizing can add 0.002-0.003" to a part, thus filling in any slop in the keyway.