[Eric_H]

Relatively simple

I just got a used Reynolds Stratus wheel with a Campy freehub. Everything I've heard is that it's really easy to switch the freehub to Shimano. My bike shop, however, is very skeptical that it's so simple. The wheel has a White Industries hub. Has anyone done this? I'm going to call White Industries, but it'd be good to know if anyone has successfully made the switch from Campy to Shimano on the Reynolds Stratuses.

Thanks.

I have not performed the operation, but I know the White hubs can be converted from Campy to Shimano and vice-versa. It does involve the purchase of a new axle assembly and the freehub body. Also, the wheel will need to be re-dished because the Shimano freehub body is shorter than the Campy one. Basically when you swap the axle and freehub from Campy to Shimano, the ends of the axle that sit in the dropout will shift away from the drive-side and as a result the wheel will have to shift away as well. The bonus is that the tension in the wheel will be slightly more even between drive and non-drive side.

The White design differs from other wheelsets in its requirements to have the wheel re-dished. Mavic's freehub design allows for a simple swap of freehub bodies between Campy and Shimano - the Shimano body uses a spacer to take up the extra space required for Campy. No wheel re-dishing required. I think Zipp is similar and requires no re-dishing, and it is also similar to switch a Campy pre-built wheel with Campy freehub (say Eurus) to the Campy-made Shimano freehub.