In 1994 I rebuilt my Merlin mountain bike swapping out a good amount of components. When it came to building a new wheelset, I decided to design and manufacture my own hub set. The project began with the front hub, which was built around a 12mm hollow axle. The first axle was steel, which was later replaced by a lighter titanium version. Inside the hub, two beefy 6001.2RSR ball bearings were making sure the hub would spin smoothly for years to come. Quite unusual for the time, I designed the hub body for radially laced straight pull spokes, which were hard to come by in those days. It helped to be living in the same town that DT called home. The design was quickly figured out and by spring of 1994 I had the front wheel built.
The rear hub had to wait for the following year as I left for a language year in beautiful Northern California, to which I would return in 1997 and stay for a whopping 10 years. In between though, I was back in Switzerland to design and machine the missing rear hub. The freewheel, ratchet, bearings and axle were stolen from a new DT Hügi hub and the hub body and everything else were designed around those parts. My same connection got me double-butted straight-pull DT spokes in two different lengths and the wheel was laced up.
I rode those wheels for many years. First in Switzerland, then in Sonoma County. The rear was on the bike until 1999, when I changed the Merlin to single speed. The front got a small redesign in 1996 and stayed on the bike until it was retired in 2007. I still have the two wheels and the hubs are still in fantastic condition. Since they’re one of a kind, they are going to stay with me until I push up daisies or find the Merlin a good home.
