Ever See A Center Hub Separate From The Spokes??

[vhatley]

Only been doin this for 7 or 8 years, and thought I had seen most anything that could shock me, but here it is....

A buddy came by and was having major issues with the chain on a china doll Murray BC. Chain was toast, so I whipped out a new one, and managed to get a good placement for running without the tensioner.

I rode the bike a bit, had pretty good power it seemed, but the rear hub was slipping a little when I pressed hard on the pedals. (Later he told me it started that AFTER the chain came off the first time.)

I looked at and adjusted the hub bearings, just a bit, it seemed the bearings were a little loose when I shook the tire. All else seemed pretty good. I sent him down the road. THAT didn't last 5 minutes...

When he came back the rear hub was badly screwed up, the center hub barrel had come separated from the ring the spokes hook in to...on both sides. Take a look at the pics...I wondering: What the EFF went wrong here?!?

Never seen this before, is it me, weak bike rim, or bad manufacturing? The bike was bought from a local builder that I have steadily been cleaning up for, (he drills a LOT of holes, that's how I ALWAYS know it's him,) but could it be something I missed he did? Let's hear it, even IF I screwed up, the customer is watching this post...and trying to decide if he wants to keep at it with the bikes. He likes riding them, but this bad build is kicking him in the butt...

 

[bairdco]

I had an older Bendix hub seperate on one side. Thought my cones were loose, wouldn't tighten up, and when I took the wheel off the bike, the spoke flange went "TWAAANG" and blew apart.

A lot of hubs have the spoke flanges pressed on to the shell, with tiny splines to hold it. If you look close at most of these, the splines are crushed and little bits of metal are squishing out. But they still usually hold together.

Not a common problem, but they can come apart.

One solution is an old bmx trick from the early days when people rode coaster brakes, is to weld the flange on. I did that to a shimano on my race bike and it's nuke-proof.

Or you could find an older hub with a forged, one piece shell.

Again, it's not a common problem, and I've put thousands of miles on pressed flange hubs with no worries, but obviously, It can happen.

 

[vhatley]

Thanks for the tips. After examination and the input of a few of the FB groups I'm in I have made the determination that the cause was threefold:

Loose rag joint. Checked 4 random bolts, all were loose.
Inexperienced rider. Think he may have been a little rough with the brake at high speed, it was a little touchy.
Bad Manufacture. Mostly this, it's a WalMart Bike. (Need I say more?)

 

[KCvale]

Thanks for the tips.
After examination and the input of a few of the FB groups I'm in
I have made the determination that the cause was threefold:

Loose rag joint. Checked 4 random bolts, all were loose.
Inexperienced rider...
Think he may have been a little rough with the brake at high speed, it was a little touchy.
Bad Manufacture.
Mostly this, it's a WalMart Bike. (Need I say more?)

Nope, no need to say more, Huffy's suck as pedal bikes, putting an engine on one just brings their glaring poor quality to light.

 

[ZipTie]

Mashing down on a coaster brake at 25 mph on any of these hubs especially a huffy and something's gonna give out. It's why I add disc or pull brakes front and rear.
Bummer on the hub. Huffs have great spokes and rims but its connected to a cheap brake.