Phil Wood Hubs

It's no secret that there's a proliferation of fixed gear bicycles riddling the streets of this city of ours. The idea of a track bike has been romanticized and idealized as a lifestyle choice and accessory to the urban dweller. It's true, it's simplicity in design and functionality is appealing for those of us in this world who have little mechanical inclination. Even if the ability to fix things is a skill one has but the desire to do so is lacking then a fixed gear bike has appeal. Yes, there are no gears to adjust, and if run without brakes then it's of little relevance if rims run dead straight and one certainly won't wear out their brake shoes or rims. It would seem almost too good to be true that a bike exists of such purity and lacking in frivolous adornments and mechanical bobbles that only weigh down the heart and soul (and pocket books) of its rider. But once one has regressed to the purest form of the bicycle the next logical step seems to be to personalize the machine to reflect the characteristics and charisma of its owner. And so we see many a treasured and rare item find its way on to these track bikes, beautiful items like Sugino SuperMighty cranksets, or "Sherrif's star" Campagnolo hubs. It's the latter phenomenon I would like to address.

While the aesthetic appeal of track specific or NJS items is too subjective to argue (though I really am left wondering why quill stems have so much appeal in today's market) I can say this, it makes little if any practical sense to run old school DuraAce and Campagnolo track hubs on your city bike. I'm a sucker for aesthetics, it's true, and I am way too easily distracted by shiny things. I have a NOS Campagnolo rear Sherrif's star track hub that's never been built in my collection of "stuff" and it really is a beautiful thing, but it will never see the road. Why? Because it doesn't have any seals. Neither do those really cool high flange Dura Ace hubs with the blue inlays and the old font DuraAce written on them. Shimano includes little plastic rings with their hubs that they call seals but they aren't seals in the traditional sense. Track hubs are designed to be ridden on, well, this may sound dumb, on the track. Most tracks are indoors, safe from water, dirt, etc and even outdoor tracks of which there are plenty won't get used if it's raining or if there's any debris on the running surface it is quickly swept away for reasons of safety. To ensure their products run as smoothly and as quickly as possible at the upper levels of competition Shimano and Campagnolo have removed the drag inducing seals that are so necessary on their road worthy hubs.

This is where our good friend Phil Wood comes in. Phil is friends with Paul of Paul Components and there are a couple of people that both Phil and Paul know from the Orient who are all experienced travelers of the roads. They come in proper dress for rain and dust and dirt and hair and bird droppings and whatever else they meet along their respective journeys and by this I mean their precious lubricated parts are hidden behind tight and effective seals. The Phil Wood hub in the picture above, well, that's just about the sweetest thing you'll ever see when it comes to road worthy hubs. It's not quite as beautiful as the Campagnolo hub but it's getting pretty close with its elegant SLR cutouts (that save a whole 14grams!!!) that are reminiscent of the older Campagnolo hubs with similarly relieved high flanges.

It makes sense if you're going to invest in a track bike for its simplistic mechanical attributes that you get the hubs that are equally spirited. And please, even if the Bush administration is vague on its interrogation techniques, exposing classic track hubs to water is indeed a form of torturing them.

I stole this...

Yup, it's not mine, I didn't come up with it, I found it on another cycling blog, but I chuckled out loud when I read it and after paying for enough gas to move a Uhaul from Calgary to Vancouver on the weekend I have to say I wish I'd seen this sign first.

Ways to change the world

It doesn't look all that imposing in the box. In fact, it's really rather boring being brown and all and pretty much non-descript. There's a suggestion to the UPS carrier printed on the side suggesting that despite the appearance of this box it is, in fact, not oversized and under the maximum allowable 130 inches. And like a lot of things it has a top and and a bottom though most things don't need an arrow to tell the user which way is what. And that's it. Who'd a thunk the way to save the world would fit in a "normal" sized, uni-directional box?

Opening the box isn't nearly as exciting an event either when compared to what Pandora went through, or even the Raiders of the Lost Ark Nazis. It mostly looks like a bike partly dissembled and wrapped in plastic. I guess that's kinda what it is at this point.




What comes out of that box though is chock full of potential. It's a pretty stellar bike, really, with all the luxuries one would hope a good bike might have. It has fenders, lights, gears, a rack, brakes, but the light doesn't need batteries because it plugs into a dyno hub that gives you free electricity, and the brakes are hydraulic and disc driven meaning they'll stop you even when the sky has cracked open and is dumping untold amounts of precipitation upon you like Vancouver skies are wont to do periodically. The fenders are real metal meaning they won't crack when they get cold and if you do something like drop a small animal or box on them and they get bent you can likely bend them back instead of throwing them out and starting all over again.

But like that wasn't enough the good people who put this bike together said, "hey, let's put on a decent seat so that the first thing the customer does when they get this bike is ride it instead of cursing about how uncomfortable it is to sit on the damn thing." The Civia Hyland does, indeed, come with a saddle that is more liked than not. It's not a cheap seat but that's cool, because this bike is in no way about cutting corners to make a price point. This bike is all about providing the customer with a complete package that doesn't beg for upgrades and modifications to make it suitable. This bike is about doing it right the first time.

For instance, the bike comes with what is likely the best available stem and seatpost as stock items, Thomson components the both of them. I have never in my ten years in the industry seen a Thomson seatpost break and the manufacturer quite proudly showed their stem holding up a small car in a poster they gave away at Interbike a few years ago.

IT'S IN THE DETAILS:





Sometimes the details get lost when looking at the bigger picture. The goal with Civia was to make a pretty damn good city/commuter bike, one that wouldn't leave the customer wanting for more, for upgrades, for some sort of modification to make it a bit better. Civia was looking for the holy grail of city bikes. But while doing so they didn't forget about the little things. Cables are neatly tucked into grooves to keep the lines of the bike nice and clean, the bike not only has gears but it has enough gears to get you up the steepest of hills with ease and allow you to rocket down the other side at some stupid irresponsible speed but with eight gears to choose from all provided by an internally geared rear hub so you won't be worried about cross chaining and you won't be going from too hard a gear to too easy a gear because the "in between" ratios are missing like they are on most three speed hubs. The tires have a full circumference reflective strip and a puncture resistant belt. It's good to be seen but it's better to not have to stop for flats. There's also grips that bolt on meaning they won't slip around on the bar when they get wet. Bolt on grips isn't new technology but it's good technology and it's rarely seen on commuter bikes so it's nice to see it come stock on the Hyland.

And just to show they were proud of what they've done Civia took the time to bolt on a rather elegant headbadge to each frame. Special bikes deserve headbadges and I'm quite happy that this bike got one.

So how does this bike change the world? Simple. You ride it. Every day and everywhere, you ride your bike. It's that simple. And the folks at Civia have made it that much easier for you to do just that, ride your bike.