Convert 10sp hubs to 11sp?

Anonymous

I have some Ultegra 6500 hubs which are brand new and I need to replace some wheels which have pretty much fallen apart, so was going to get them built up. The downside is that one bike is 9sp and one is 11sp and I would like to be able to make them compatible with both bikes.

The question is, can I change the freehub on these to make them 11sp compatible? For example, would I be able to put, say a 6800 freehub on them without any troubles?

ugo.santalucia

Fear not... 6800 are profoundly different from the previous range.
If you really really want to use those, maybe just fit 10 of the 11 sprockets of a 6800 cassette and a tiny spacer if needed to lock them... you can probably live without the 12 or 13 T sprocket.
Otherwise sell them

Anonymous

Thanks ugo. That's a shame. What else looks that good in 11sp and would work well as a winter hub?

I'm thinking I probably don't need to go 32x32 at my weight.

ugo.santalucia

Why would you scrimp on spokes for a winter wheel?
This aero/performance thing is getting into an obsession...

Anonymous

It would be all round wheel for everything - like the old ones were, but it would be nice to make them a little lighter if possible. Just wondering if there is a need for 32x32 at my weight.

ugo.santalucia

coriordan wrote:

It would be all round wheel for everything - like the old ones were, but it would be nice to make them a little lighter if possible. Just wondering if there is a need for 32x32 at my weight.

Depends on the rim... with a shallow rim yes, with a deeper and or wider one no. The thing is that the weight saving is hardly worth mentioning... 5-7 grams per spoke.
The aero benefit is there in theory, but as much as I have tried, I have never been able to measure anything conclusive that beyond doubt shows a 24 spoker is faster than a 36. I always set a PB on one set and promptly matched it with the other set. Moral, I have disassembled my 24 spoke wheels and sold the components on Ebay... I really really want to believe the hype about aero stuff, but I have never been able to back it up with numbers

Anonymous

I was thinking something fairly hard wearing, not too heavy, ideally 23mm wide. Hard to see past the archetype in silver but may not look so hot on my other bike which is all black.

ugo.santalucia

coriordan wrote:

I was thinking something fairly hard wearing, not too heavy, ideally 23mm wide. Hard to see past the archetype in silver but may not look so hot on my other bike which is all black.

The dark metallic grey are a lot nicer in my view and look good on pretty much any frame. If you can stretch your budget to a Hope Mono RS hub, that's a nice piece of kit and comes in silver too.
A set of 24/28 typically comes at 1700 grams and I know folks who've climbed Box Hill in well under 6 minutes, so they are not anchors