PHIL WOOD TRACK PRO LOW FLANGE FRONT HUB

Design and construction

Phil Wood's bearings are the point. They are full-contact sealed cartridge bearings, meaning the seal rubs the inner race rather than floating above it, which adds a little drag and keeps water out completely; packed with Phil's own waterproof grease, they run for years in the worst conditions. The touring hub uses a 6061 axle and 6902 bearings, with a Carbonyte low-drag bearing upgrade available, and the shell is machined thick because a touring hub is not where weight is saved. Wide flanges give the rear wheel lateral stiffness under a load.

A front hub is a bearing carrier with flanges, and that is the whole job of the front Pro track low flange: two sealed bearings on a stiff axle, end caps for your fork's standard, and flanges spaced to give the spokes a good bracing angle on the rotor side. There is nothing to engage and nothing to swap. Everything written about freehubs and engagement applies to the rear hub only; what you get up front is the same shell quality and the same seals without any of the moving parts.

How it rides

A Phil Wood Pro track wheel rolls with noticeably less drag than the standard hub thanks to the Carbonyte bearings, which on a velodrome is worth having, and it keeps the permanence Phil hubs are known for. It is the Phil track hub for racing.

A front wheel is where you feel a hub least and a build most. With no drive torque to carry, the front Pro track low flange can be laced two-cross or even radial on the non-rotor side on a rim-brake bike, which makes a lighter, more direct-feeling wheel; on a disc bike we lace both sides crossed so the rotor's braking torque has spokes to pull against. Either way the front wheel is the one that steers, and a stiff, true front wheel is most of what makes a bike feel precise.

Specifications

This listing

This is the rim-brake version: Bolt On 9x100mm, QR 5x100mm, 20h, 24h, 28h, 32h drilling, about 193g, in polished, black. Same internals and flanges as every other Pro track low flange; only the mount and axle differ.

This is the rim-brake Pro track low flange, with no rotor mount at all: a lighter, simpler shell for road, track and classic frames that stop on the rim. It builds into the lightest wheel the model can make and it is the version to choose for a rim-brake bike; the disc versions of the same hub have their own listings.

Sizes, fit and compatibility

J-bend spokes in any gauge; we build most track wheels with DT Champion or Sapim Race and Laser spokes and brass nipples.

It pairs naturally with the H Plus Son Archetype and TB14, Velocity Deep V and Fusion, and any track rim in the catalog that matches its drilling. Pick track or fixed-gear as your bike type in the configurator and it recommends a spoke count and lacing pattern.

Put it in a custom wheel

Build a custom wheel around the Phil Wood Track Pro Low Flange Front Hub — the link drops you into our Custom Wheel Program with this hub pinned, ready for you to choose the rest. It is set up for track and road single-speed builds.

Building it at ProWheelBuilder

Phil Wood makes the Pro track low flange; ProWheelBuilder is an independent custom wheel builder in Georgia and not the manufacturer. Every Pro track low flange wheel we build gets spokes cut from the measured ERD of the rim, staged tensioning with a gauge, stress relief and a final true before it ships.

In the configurator you will only see parts that fit this drilling; combinations that are not made are struck through, and the price updates as you pick.