Some years ago, Issue 12 of Rouleur reawakened an obsession in me, one with a peculiar nature to it that only bicycle parts can invoke. For as long as I can remember, Royce hubs have seemed like the ultimate bicycle component: painstakingly hand-crafted to the tightest tolerances for error in the industry. With a reputation for indestructibility, ulta-high performance, and unmatched beauty, their appeal was made irresistible by the fact that they are completely unknown and seemingly impossible to come by in the United States.
Back in the early nineties, when the Internet was but a sparkle in Al Gore’s eye, Cycling coverage in the States was much more sparse than it is today. Television coverage was non-existent, VeloNews and Winning were the only two worthwhile cycling periodicals, and if an American won a race, it might make the back page of the Sports section in some papers that week. I filled my days devouring and re-devouring any Cycling-related books I could find, watching whatever VHS cassettes World Cycling Productions made available, and leafing through all of the Cycling Magazines my family gathered for me during trips abroad.
It is therefor impossible for me to say exactly when it was that I first heard of Royce and how I got my hands on the story, but it was of Will Fotheringham famously recounting that during the 1993 Tour de France, he was asked to bring a specialty wheelset over from the UK for Robert Millar, who at that stage in his career was struggling a bit and hungered for any advantage he could find. The wheels were built around a set of Royce hubs.
Having no means to learn anything real about the company, it took on the mystical. It was all rumors, but the name kept creeping about; Sean Yates used their components and Chris Boardman – the quintessential Bike Geek – was said to absolutely love their bits and had a particular affinity for their bottom bracket axels which he used in all his time trial bikes. For Boardman’s 2000 Athlete’s Hour Record, Royce was in charge of the wheels and supplied the hubs, machined the nipples, and customized the spokes (the nipples were recessed into the rims).
Then the trail went cold.
With not enough fuel to sustain the burn, the fire eventually died down, until that issue of Rouleur turned up in my mailbox with a dozen pages dedicated to the company and to Boardman’s attempt on the Hour. With the power of the Internet at my disposal and the information provided by the article, I was able to discover much more about them than ever before, but the rationalization to buy a set of hubs – should I even be able to track some down – didn’t present itself until Keepers Tour and its inevitable justification for building a set of indestructible wheels.
Royce is a small company, who focuses primarily on building their parts to order. They don’t mass-produce and provide stock the way companies like Shimano, Chris King, or even Campagnolo do. They work closely with select riders and work to provide highly specialized equipment; while they do produce standard road hubs, their production is limited and are generally fairly hard to come by.
One of the things I love most about handmade products is the small irregularities that remind you that a person – not a machine – crafted the product you hold in your hands. The finish on Royce hubs is otherworldly, but at the same time, the marks of a craftsman are upon them everywhere; in those small ways, the hubs I own are different from every other set in the world.
Handmade hubs also take time to break in. The Royce hubs, as they emerged from their box, held a stiffness in their bearings that would require several hundred kilometeres before they would adopt the feathery lightness for which they’re known. Having to ride the lightness into a set of hubs bonds you to them in a way a perfectly machined set will never do; with every turn of the silky bearings echoes each kilometer you worked together to arrive at where you are.
My handmade wheels – with the Golden Tickets and Royce hubs, represent for me the ultimate in customized bicycle components. They are not as fast as my Zipp wheels, and not as light. But in our short months together, we have already built a story that only serves to strengthen my love for Cycling. When my wheels and I return from Belgium in April, battered and bruised after carrying each other over the harshest and most sacred roads in Europe, the story will have become only richer.
Vive La Vie Velominatus.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/frank@velominati.com/Royce/”/]
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View Comments
@Buck Rogers
I am postulating that Francois (as in François Marie Boyaux - FMB) travels to Paraguay or India and sucks the rubber from the trees by the mouthful and returns home in France to spit it out in order to make the tires. At least that would explain their cost.
But boy, are they stunners. I'll be hard-pressed to ride another brand of tubbie as I get more and more into them, which I assume will happen. They are just crazy supple, too. And light. Crazy.
@frank
Really not helping my jealousy and envy here, Fronk.
@Buck Rogers
Thanks Buck! I was concerned that 32 spokes 14/15 with the Heds might ride harshly; a few posts in various palce suggested you could run fewer spokes than say with a Nemesis. But my bet is that 27mm Pave's put the cush on big time.
Were you thinking you wanted 32 hole rims fro strength?
Eager to hear the post strade bianche/grave/pave ride report!
@teleguy57
Yes, purely for strength. These are my rough-road-race-wheels and will most likely be my every day trainers as well. I have a decent set of wheels that I will use on regular races but wanted something beefier for Paris- Roubaix and the like.
+1 to scaler and Oli
just rub it a bit, reapply
methodically, layer it, for mine it takes 3 days, one layer base to the rim, then 24hrs, reapply to rim and tyres and wait for final coat 24hrs later.
The prior rim cement actually cumulatively adds a base, so as Oli mentioned, just get the lumps off.
Some do like Buck mentions, and clean it pure. Its another way to do it, clean every time. & to each his own
@Oli
Oli, I didn't say DT spokes would be crap, I just said that their hubs are
overrated. DT spokes are fine, that's right, but still rather ordinary spokes.
I had a few (but not many) failures of DT double-butted spokes in the past.
From my experience, the Sapim CX-Ray are unsurpassed and something special that
would be the perfect match for the Royce hubs.
(But I must admit, I don't know about the longevity of other Sapim spokes.
Maybe when you compare their Race or Laser spokes to DT Competition or Revolution,
DT spokes last longer. But still, I would consider CX-Ray spokes the best off-the-rack spokes.)
@grumbledook
Have you tried Aerolites? Easily the equal of the CX-Ray. And you're of course entitled to your opinion on your favourite, but DT are no more "ordinary" than Sapim.
@Oli
Whatever. Both spokes would have been a better choice for a Royce-based wheel than any double-butted spoke. And when you talk to professional wheelbuilders they do prefer the slightly bladed spokes because they can build a better wheel since they can prevent the spoke from being twisted while adjusting the tension. And DT as well as Sapim using the best of their alloys for the Aerolite and CX Ray, resp.. (Your preference may also depend on which side of the ocean you live. This is true for other preferences as well: While DT hubs seem to be much admired in the US, over here in Europe it's Chris King.)
Ok, just for context - I am a "professional wheelbuilder". I've been building wheels for over thirty years; wheels for National Champions, Commonwealth Games medalists and riders at all levels, wheels that I'm proud to say are renowned for their reliability and ride quality.
I disagree entirely that Aerolites or CX_Rays would have been a better choice for Frank, and point out that Aerolites and CX_Rays are great spokes in their application but any "professional wheelbuilder" worth his salt will choose the specific spoke for the specific application, not use one type of spoke in all cases.
The main reason for Aerolite/CX-Rays (other than aero reasons, of course) is for building super high-tension wheels of great stiffness, not necessarily what you need in a wheel for riding the cobbles where some resilience and give are paramount. With oiled threads wind-up is reduced on spokes anyway, so using that type of spoke just to be able to "prevent the spoke from being twisted while adjusting the tension" isn't really the best reason, IMO.
Anyway, someone wise pointed out earlier in the day that arguing on the internet just makes us both look stupid, so I'll leave it there and let people decide for themselves with both points of view on the table.
Cheers, Oli
@Oli
Completely agree. And the rest of what you've been writing is fine with me too.
(There is one "+" for the Aerolites/CXRays, and that's the weight, which could add up to a 100 g/wheel.)