Bicycle Mechanics - Joy-tech hub = new wheel

I found the issue with the creaking that I was having with my bike. It was from the free hub body. My LBS tries their hardest to take the hub apart (it is a joy-tech hub) and they call me up to tell me that the hub is apparently made to not be servicable. Of course they can't order a replacement since it is an off brand and there isn't a shimano replacement. So it looks like I now need to get a new wheel.

How are Shimano 105 wheels and hubs?

Was it a Botique Wheel? If so, Yeah, you're out of luck.

If it was a normal spoke count wheel any Shimano hub should be able to be laced in.

That said, here's Drew's First rule of Road Wheels:

Botique Jobs tend to have
A: Irreplacable Parts
or
B: Expensive Parts

Case in point, if you're referring to a Shimano 105 (WH-R5600) with the Straight pull spokes, If you ever break a spoke you're gonna have a fun time finding a shop that stocks a replacement. If they do, or when they order it, you're going to pay for that fancy wheel.

If you want Something Botique Light but User Servicable, go with the Shimano R500 wheels. They are'nt that fancy, but that's a good thing in this case.

If you want something strong/reliable, Get any Tiagra or higher hub hand laced to a good Mavic or Sun Rim. Another advantage of having hand laced wheels, you have a lot more control over the quality process if you go with a good builder... and can pick the spokes you want.

If you want all out reliability/servicability, go with DT Champions. If you want Durability/lightweight, go with DT Revolutions... they're lighter and stronger, plus will be a little more aero. If you want all out Aero... go with DT Aeros.

Whatever you do, if you get a wheel built with something other than standard spokes, make sure to get some spares while you're at it, just in case.

Thanks for the advice. I'll make sure to get some extra spokes. This LBS is pretty good so, I think it will be ok. The wheel is the stock wheel that I got with my Ironhorse bike, a mavic cxp-22 rim and the crazy cheap hub :-( sigh, It probably saved them $10. Now it is costing me $150.

I contacted Ironhorse and they are sending me a new wheel to replace the old one. Rather than having a joy-tech hub it will have a Shimano 2200 hub in it. That should solve my problem, whew. I'm totally shocked that I actually got a replacement.

I have two questions now:
1) How bad is a 2200 hub? I assume that is at least as good as the joytech one.
2) Is the hub upgradable at some point to another shimano hub?

I contacted Ironhorse and they are sending me a new wheel to replace the old one. Rather than having a joy-tech hub it will have a Shimano 2200 hub in it. That should solve my problem, whew. I'm totally shocked that I actually got a replacement.

I have two questions now:
1) How bad is a 2200 hub? I assume that is at least as good as the joytech one.
2) Is the hub upgradable at some point to another shimano hub?

The 2200 hub is at the low end of the Shimano "road" line, but actually it's a fine hub. A couple of years ago, I bought a very inexpensive pre-built wheelset for one of my old bikes, it was built up with the 2200 hubs, Sun M13II rims, and 36 spokes. The rims were 700c. I banged the rear rim very hard in a pothole recently and ruined the rim, so I'm replacing the wheels. But as far as the 2200 hubs, I have no complaints. I serviced the hubs once, they're cup and cone bearings of course, nothing unusual. Considering I paid $80 for the entire wheelset, I can't complain at all.

The 2200 rear hubs have a modern Shimano freehub that's 8/9/10 speed compatible. The hub shells are big and robust, they remind me more of mountain bike hubs than road hubs, in fact I think they may be commonly used on hybrid bikes. The rear hub is a 130mm hub-

P.S. As to your question about the hub being upgradeable, the answer is no, it is what it is. You could rebuild the wheels with different hubs, but you get into a time/money feasibilty thing there that probably makes that option not viable either. Bottom line, the hubs are functionally fine-

thanks, that helps

thanks, that helps

Indeed, +1 for just sticking with the Shimano 2200 Hubs.

When you're building up from scratch it's worth it to get the best you can for the hubs, since they're not much more incrementally...

But if you got it replaced on warranty like that, the 2200 will be more than fine. I've got a wheelset with them and it's identical aside from weight and perhaps a tiny bit of smoothness to the other shimano road hubs.