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Mercury Wheels Unveils New Proprietary Hubs & Skewers

Written by Tyler Benedict
16 Comments
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2014-Mercury-Wheels-front-hubs01

Mercury Wheels has switched to a proprietary hub design, improving virtually every aspect. All wheels will get the new design with straight pull spokes, and the front hub is 14mm wider at the flange. It also gets a 15mm axle and larger bearings. Combined, it makes for a for a much stiffer wheel.

The rear gets 2-cross spoke lacing on both sides and the internals bump up to. six pawls from three. It also gets a 15mm axle with four oversized bearings, two per side. Founder Chris Mogridge says the changes added about 25g per wheelset, but the improved performance more than makes up for it.

Click through to see the rectangular skewers and a peek into the future…

2014-Mercury-Wheels-front-hubs02

2014-Mercury-Wheels-rear-hubs01

They’re also developing their own disc brake hubs for cyclocross and road wheels. Look for those in about two months. They’ll offer that with any of their current rims, so no disc specific rims until sometime in 2014.

2014-Mercury-Wheels-rectangular-skewer02

The new skewers use a rectangular shape to save a bit of weight without giving up strength. They’re steel, but Mogridge says they’re about the same weight as his original titanium ones.

 
Tyler Benedict
11,281 articles

Tyler Benedict is the Founder of Bikerumor.com, where he’s been writing about the latest bikes, components, and cycling technology for almost two decades. Prior to that, Tyler launched and built multiple sports nutrition brands and consumer goods companies, mostly as an excuse to travel and ride in new places.

Based in North Carolina, Tyler also loves the Vanlife & family adventure travel and is always on the lookout for the next shiny new part and off-grid adventure.

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16 Comments
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Seraph
Seraph
11 years ago

Because if there’s anything that the cycling industry needs more of, it’s proprietary things.

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Sam
Sam
11 years ago

Why not machine the whole skewer and keep a round cross-section? The levers are bulky, too. So, the wheels are proprietary, but copy everyone else’s wheels anyways.

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mudrock
mudrock
11 years ago

Stiffer wheel, wider bearing stance, what’s not to like? they fit in a frame like any other wheel. the levers are bulky so they fit in your hand.

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Aaron
Aaron
11 years ago

Interesting. Nothing seems super groundbreaking here. Wide flanges, larger bearings… all of these can be found on generic aftermarket hubs. However wide flanges almost always = stiffer wheel.

If anything, what bike hubs hubs need is better bearing preload adjustability, non-proprietary parts and easy bearing service/replacement. Of which this hub appears to have none.

Also, straight pull spokes suck. Why do they suck? because if you break a spoke (you will eventually), you’re out for a few days while you search around for a spoke that will fit your whiz-bang wheel. Every bike shop has J-bends. But many don’t have the right length butted straight pull spoke sitting around.

As for the skewers, who gives a crap? I’m pretty sure that Tune has engineered the weight-weeniest skewer imaginable… you can always get those instead.

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Mark
Mark
11 years ago

If you want to get me hot ‘n’ bothered forge it and machine it in the USA, and offer it at a competitive price.

+1 on @Aaron’s straight pull comments.

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Grundle McPundle
Grundle McPundle
11 years ago

Those skewers are not good at all. Parts bin garbage lever design, and no, a square skewer rod is not as strong as a round one… That being said, the hubs are also still pretty unimpressive. Bummer. They had made it sound like a properly engineered redesign was coming.

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Steve
Steve
11 years ago

Proprietary? How so? Other than the logo those are off the shelf hubs by a Taiwan hub vendor KT. I’m sure they are better than what they were using but don’t call it proprietary.

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I'm on a boat
I'm on a boat
11 years ago

why not use a j bend spoke in this design?
Why are there no photos of the actual wheel?
or are they just selling the spokes and their new hubs?

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patrik
patrik
11 years ago

When a small company goes proprietary, they’re renegades, shaking things up, challenging status quo, moving the industry forward, and other accolades.

When a large company goes proprietary, they’re complicating the market, making it harder to get parts, in it for themselves, and other putdowns.

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pmurf
pmurf
11 years ago

I would have said the skewers were kind of cool if KCNC hadn’t done almost the exact same thing months ago with their Grooving skewer. I’ll be impressed if someone comes out with a hollow skewer. I feel like that’d be stronger….but I’m no engineer.

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JasonK
JasonK
11 years ago

Pmurf, I’ve seen hollow chrome-moly skewers from other companies. For example:

http://www.bikehubstore.com/product-p/qr57.htm

Hollow skewers are no stronger than squared-off or regular round-section rod skewers. A hollow skewer would give you a better stiffness-to-weight ratio than a squared-off or round skewer if you cared about bending stiffness. But skewers are stressed in tension, not in bending.

For what it’s worth, I am a mechanical engineer.

P.S. The idea that squared-off skewers are somehow advantageous is pretty loopy. A smaller diameter is simpler and cheaper.

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Ron burgundy
Ron burgundy
11 years ago

Yummy

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ice man
ice man
11 years ago

That front hub is not proprietary, Hawk Racing has been using them for about 2 years now. Sl11 they spec it out with high grade Japanese bearings too. I have a pair, the adjusters are identical too. Their rear hubs look similar but radial on the non drive side. $200 less than Mercury’s current wheelset too! 25mm wide x 55mm deep!

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Matb
Matb
11 years ago

That front hub is not proprietary, Hawk Racing has been using them for about 2 years now. They call it Sl11 they spec it out with high grade Japanese bearings too. I have a pair, the adjusters look identical. Their rear hubs look similar but radial on the non drive side. $200 less than Mercury’s current wheelset too! 25mm wide x 55mm deep!
http://shop.hawk-racing.net/index.php?p=products&p2=view_prod&pid=HS.SL11
http://hawk-racing.com/products/show/46

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Neil
Neil
11 years ago

KT Taiwan parts

http://www.q-lai.com/road_z88f.html

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Dex Tao
Dex Tao
10 years ago

14 mm wider but the bearings are not at that wider position meaning the vertical loads are only being supported by those little aluminum axle endcaps which are supported by 3.5mm of its aluminum threads! An inexpensive but unsound design causing premature bearing wear and possible part breakage.
That’s why Dura Ace hubs are so coveted: Not only because of premium and adjustable bearings but their axles run all the way through to the ends – just like any traditional cup and cone system. Beautiful.
And yeah, straight pull spokes…:P

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