Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - rate your hubs!

put these hubs in order from best to worst.....paul, phil wood, white industries, soma, formula, suzue, campagnolo, surly, I.R.O, Kohswell, Miche

by what standards? i mean, you can sorta categorize them "generally", but to the kid that doesn't care about anything other than having a functional hub for the time being --- there's not really a preference. for the person who will race on the track --- much different. for the person who will ride 25 miles each way every day over hills and bad streets with bad weather --- different again.

generally, i go: campy tied with dura ace tied with suntour, then phil, then all the rest of them.

haha.

Uhm I can't. Raise your hand if you've actually tried all these hubs, and have significant firsthand experience in order to compare and contrast.

Anybody? Beuhler? Dolface?

There was a thread about this recently though

miche arent bad... and shimano with campy r at the same level but since i havent test any brand new campy or shimano dura ace (2004 or + 2003) I would say again that miche rolling is a lot smoother than campy and shimano hubs... Oh i have to include here a set of mavic track hubs that awesome...

So i would say mavic, miche, campy/shimano... Im talking about smoothiness ok? btw all of them are the same quality what the hell :p

UM

definitely depends on what you intend to use the hubs for. since i don't ride track and i don't care to spend a small fortune on a wheelset i think formula's are the best thing going. i've had two wheelsets with them and have been nothing but pleased.

IRO is first in my rating system based on letter economy. Second is a tie between Phil, Soma and Paul.

IRO is first in my rating system based on letter economy.

second that. I've come close to using a the entire list you have ther (though some in MTB/road applications). The fact of the matter is that trickle down technology and specialization of labor has made for some killer hubs at a great price in the Forumal/IROs. If anyone remembers the mid 90s splash ano/CNC everything craze, sealed cartidge hubs with this level of performance would have been about 250-300 bucks minimum....


now...who here is guilty of owning purple ano ringle' components?

I've heard a lot of complaints on the formulas, but I like them, smooth and (so far) durable

definitely depends on what you intend to use the hubs for. since i don't ride track and i don't care to spend a small fortune on a wheelset i think formula's are the best thing going. i've had two wheelsets with them and have been nothing but pleased.

+1

I went from the cheapest wheelset possible (the stock ones that come with KHS Flites) to Dura Ace and I'd like to say that Shimano can have my illegitamate love babies. What a difference.

I've used phils, miche's, form/Iro, suzue jr and van dessel. The only one that really sucked was the suzue jr. yet I rode on it for almost 2 years. The rest seamed comparable, but rims were all over the place. I'd dare say rims are a bit more of an issue with me.

Mine gave me super powers. But I won't tell you what they (the hubs) are. I want to remain unique.

But, yeah, I'd rate them (the super powers) up there with sex and scotch.

I'm sorry I'm not much help.

As people have already posted, different hubs for different applications.

Campy hubs are awesome, but I wouldn't use them on my weather/beater bike. Phils are dependable as an old friend, but imo, heavy. Suntours are nice and buttery but I've heard they have dependability problems, same with durace. Suzues come in a wide variety of flavors.

Of the hubs I've used:
Suzue NJS - relatively inexpensive, decent quality
Phil - $$, but solid, and definitely worth it for a daily rider
Suzue SB - even less than the NJS, sealed, I've had no problems
Suntour Superbe - BUTTER, $$$, replacment parts difficult to find and expensive
Campagnolo record - Light, smooth, $$$
Dura-ace 7600 - pretty, smooth, $$$, dubious reliability on the street, or so I've heard

My $0.02
YMMV...

I say suzue sb's are the working man's hubs. the most bang for the buck. smooth. dependable. all-weather. they'll even give you a hug when you're feeling down...

put these hubs in order from best to worst.....paul, phil wood, white industries, soma, formula, suzue, campagnolo, surly, I.R.O, Kohswell, Miche

Ok i'll hazard a guess, even though I'm pulling this out of thin air:

1.) Phil Wood
2.) Campagnolo Record Pista
3.) Suzue Pro Max
4.) Formula / IRO / Velocity
5.) Paul Track
6.) Soma SoMax
7.) Kogswell
8.) Surly Track
9.) Miche Primato Pista

White Industries ENO Hub - class of it's own


What about Dura Ace & Level?

primato's are higher qual. than surlys and forumulas.
They are like middle ground, its just that nobody ever mentions them.

i love my surly tracks. theyre a great set of hubs thus far. butter.

Ok i'll hazard a guess, even though I'm pulling this out of thin air:

1.) Phil Wood
2.) Campagnolo Record Pista
3.) Suzue Pro Max
4.) Formula / IRO / Velocity
5.) Paul Track
6.) Soma SoMax
7.) Kogswell
8.) Surly Track
9.) Miche Primato Pista

White Industries ENO Hub - class of it's own


What about Dura Ace & Level?

You're totally wrong.

Based on my real world 100% genuine experience:

1)Kogswell
2)Formula

And Miche is totally up there in the running, as soon as I get a set and then ride them for a while, but they're already #2 without even having been seen in real life.

The rest all tie, but Paul wins out because they're the smallest company run by blind nuns and that kind of stuff. But I hain't rid 'em either.

You're totally wrong.

http://home.comcast.net/~k_laster/orly.jpeg

Based on my real world experience:

1) Suntour Superbe Pro NJS
2) Phil track hubs / Suzue Pro Max NJS
4) Dura ace (small flange)
5) Suzue Pro Max SB

<-- would put IRO/Forumla/Kogswell/On-ones here, but have never owned any, just ridden some

6) Surly
7) Suicide hub
8) NOS Normandy track hubs
9) Suzue Basic Jrs

So what about Zipp hubs. Mine have been on 4 bikes now and I have never needed to replace the bearings.

I really want to hear a review about the mavic ellipse. If anyone has any comments with out, just feel free to shout it out.

put these hubs in order from best to worst.....paul, phil wood, white industries, soma, formula, suzue, campagnolo, surly, I.R.O, Kohswell, Miche

I've used all the hubs that I've rated. I have no experience with Miche, Soma or Paul so I will not rate them.

I try to leave myself out of rating events. But since I've been riding fixed gear for thirty years and since I have a bit of inside info on how hubs are made, I'm gonna participate.

I'm also gonna call Kogswell hubs as I see them. I don't ask anyone to believe me on the Kogswell ratings. Instead I challenge anyone who knows hubs and who has not used our hubs to contact me about getting a hub to test. And if my rating Kogswell hubs offends you, please ignore it.

I'm gonna assume that you mean -track- hubs (nearly all hubs can be used as singlespeed hubs and since half of this forum is dedicated to singlespeeding....).

And since you didn't give a dimension upon which to rate the hubs, I'll choose a couple.

And all my ratings are for the rear hub only. Front hubs don't matter much. A good one is just about as good as a krappy one.

Dimension 1, quality

1 - Phil Wood
2 - White
3 - Kogswell
4 - Shimano (I added them)
5 - Campagnolo
6 - Suzue (ProMax)
7 - Surly
8 - Formula (IRO, Nashbar, Velocity, etc)

Dimension 2, value

1 - Kogswell
2 - Suzue (ProMax)
3 - Shimano (I added them)
4 - Formula (IRO, Nashbar, Velocity, etc)
5 - Phil Wood
6 - Campagnolo
7 - Surly
8 - White

Dimension 3, suitability to road and track use

suitable for road -AND- track use

1 - Kogswell
2 - Phil Wood
3 - White
4 - Surly

suitable for track use only

1 - Shimano (I added them)
2 - Campagnolo
3 - Suzue (ProMax)
4 - Formula (IRO, Nashbar, Velocity, etc)

Shimano, Campagnolo and Suzue engineer these hubs
for track use - they work on the street, but they shine
on the track.

Its so ****ing cool that there are quality industry people who post here (like Kogswell) and give some honest opinions on the way things are.

Thanks for posting your rankings

pic

hee hee, I forgot to put on the obnoxiously playful silliness button on my post, thinking that it would be pretty obvious that I have limited experience.

My rankings are still for real though. Just note that they omit most of the hubs that are ever discussed here.

big ups to kogswell / Matt!

aul, phil wood, white industries, soma, formula, suzue, campagnolo, surly, I.R.O, Kohswell, Miche

phi wood, paul, campagnolo, level, suzue, miche, formula/iro, kogswell, surly

i added level, and i didnt even know soma made hubs. surlys are bad, i have had to replace my bearings 3 times in the past year.