News broke early this morning that Phil Wood, the sealed-bearing hub and bottom bracket innovator who founded the company that bears his name, passed away at his farm in Iowa earlier this week. He was 84 years old.

Wood founded Phil Wood & Co. in 1971 to sell maintenance-free hubs. The company grew over the years and continued to create innovative cycling components like bottom brackets, pedals, tubing, disc brakes and a really cool professional-grade spoke cutting and threading machine, which you can see in action in this video clip.

Wood sold the company in 1991, and moved to Iowa in 1995 where he remained away from the glitz and glamour of the bicycle industry. Lavada, his wife of fifty years, preceded Wood in death in December of 2009.

Memorial arrangements are pending.