American Classic Hubs

Price Paid:  $0.00 at lbs

Favorite Ride:
rolling hills

Bike Setup:
cadd8

Summary:
Bought mine at the lbs
Thought they might be alternative to the a set of dura ace hubs, l was wrong!
Although the weight was fine, and they appeared well made, once again l was wrong.
Had them built up with open pro rims 32 spoke count.
After 300 miles the rear has failed, something l know would not have happened with a set of shimano hubs.
The cassette side bearing failed gouging the axle. The weels where never ridden in the rain.
Although their has been a lot said about the the narrow spacing of the rear hub, l had no issues with it other than the wheel being not stiff laterally.
True to the design purpose it did not go out of the true at any point even with a couple of hard hits though some pot holes.
The front hub is still fine, for how long
only time will tell.
Now l have to replace the hubs and discard perfectly good dt swiss spokes.
l will not be buying any AC stuff again.
lt is not my gob to rnd their stuff and a recall should have been issued.

Strengths:
light
rear stayed true
great appearance

Weaknesses:
rear hub is basically crap
having to weight for the fronts to fail

Similar Products Used:
shimano, campag, joytech

Price Paid:  $2500.00 at LBS

Favorite Ride:
Calfee

Bike Setup:
Calfee Luna Carbon F/F
Dura Ace 9 Components

Summary:
Rear hub unbelievably noisy. Have had bearings replaced, per Am Classic instructions. Been to LBS three separate times. Only solution offered by AC was to send it in so they could "look at it".
I would not buy again.

Strengths:
Attractive looks

Weaknesses:
Noisy, Does not spin as well as Rolf Prima, Dura Ace.

Similar Products Used:
Rolf Prima, Dura Ace, Ultegra, Mavic

Price Paid:  $0.00

Favorite Ride:
Fuji Aloha

Bike Setup:
factory setup

Summary:
Had an American Classic HH-220 Superlight rear hub go bad with less than 400 miles on it. It was mounted to Ritchey OCR wheels. This was the standard issue hub/wheel for the Aloha in 2002 (not sure if they continued with that trend in '03, hopefully not). As with the previous review a bearing went out.

Strengths:
Lightweight and fast

Weaknesses:
Poor material choice for bearings

Price Paid:  $80.00 at Colorado Cyclist

Favorite Ride:
Ironman Canada bike course

Bike Setup:
KHS aero turbo tri bike.

Summary:
I bought this 24 hole front hub built on a Zipp 440 rim. It has only been used in triathlons. It is a few years old but has only 500 miles on it. One of the bearings has gone bad and needed to be replaced. I got replacements from American classic for $5.00 a piece.
The bearings are easy to tap out and replace but I am very disappointed that they went bad so fast. After disassembling the hub I noticed that the axel is turned out of a standard piece of aluminum bar stock. It still has the lot number painted on it where it was not machined.
I guess that is OK but it looks like something that was made in someones basement. The outside shell is very nicely polished so they put the time into polishing where is necessary. The hub is very light and looks nice, hopefully the replacement bearing will last longer that the original ones

Strengths:
Light, nice external finish.

Weaknesses:
Bearing went bad after only 500 miles.

Similar Products Used:
Shimano, Campagnolo