Raleigh Project One, The Front Hub, H.40B

From the 30's to the 80', the front hub's on the Raleigh Roadsters seemed to change in design every 5 years. This hub is as nice as any from the years past. After the 50's thing got cheaper and harder to service. The worst was a hub in the late 60's that used a part called a "Spicketed Cone" To remove the wheel, you would have to spread the fork to drop it out of the fork ends, It could stick and be a real problem without a repair stand.
All Raleigh Roadster front hub designs used a axle that required that the wheel be placed on the bike in only one way. Replacing the wheel incorrectly could have the cones, overtime, come loose.

All of the Raleigh Roadster front hubs, except for the Sturmey Archer "Dynohub" used this axle design. The axle has a right and a left side. The right side has a little shoulder or stop for the right cone.

The left side is the adjusting cone side. Threaded longer then the right, the cone and locknut and be adjusted at any point needed.

As long as the wheel is placed in the dropouts correctly, once the wheel is adjusted, by theory, it will not come loose.

This hub has a slotted axle for a tonged washer. There is no such washer with this years hub, so using the slot as left side/right side identification works for someone that understands the hub. Other than the slotted axle, there is no other indication of replacing the wheel correctly.

Finished with a beautifully designed oil clip, the Raleigh Roadster front hub is a work of art and another reason why we love these bicycles so much, Elegance in Mechanical and Rideable design!

Note: This oil clip design was copied by Campagnolo for the Nuovo Record Hubs without the extra little end tabs to help in removal.