koosk

I'm considering paying a lofty sum of money for some phil hubs and bottom bracket for my LHT. Do any of you folks use their touring hubs? What about their ti bb? Likes/dislikes/worth it? Any feedback is appreciated.

gamecock

If you want trouble free, that's the way to go. I know nothing about their Ti stuff. The regular stuff is bombproof.

jdom

Don't they make alot of noise.If there the hubs I think they are then I wouldn't have them on my bike.
I like as much peace and quite as I can get on my tours.

fietsbob

I ran a older Phil Freewheel Hub, 48 hole , for a lot if trouble free miles.
ove 10+ years,

The axles are so strong , one of the selling points of Cassette hubs goes away.

their BBs are fine, Ti loses it's benefit on a Touring bike
as your gear pick, leaving things out, saves more weight.

MassiveD

I would buy the PW in a hearbeat in freewheel format. The most recent hubs I bought were White industries, for cassettes. I wish I had bought the PWs for freewheel, now that I see the dish. That said the whites are excellent for cassetes, and much lighter and cheaper than PW, while having essentially the same rep. But unlike Phil they don't specifically support the touring market. PW goes back far enough that the touring market actually counted.

I probably wouldn't buy the Ti BB since the shaft is not high diameter rotating weight. And the weight difference in minimal, and the steel is stronger, but all that said, if as a budget line for both weight and money, it makes sense for you then do it. But for me it doesn't really help, and Ti has some odd features. Flexible, more galling.

I don't claim to be up to date on PW stuff and they are doing cool new stuff but... One of the selling points for the cheaper White cassette hub is that unlike the Phil tank it has a Ti shell (the weak point on cassette hubs). That makes more sense to me than a ti quill I will be beating on with all my considerable weight and muscle.

NukeouT

I have a PW BB in one of my bikes, and it is the best BB I have ever had.

fuzz2050

I had a PW bottom bracket, but it was stolen (and the bike around it) before I had any chance to form an opinion on it's longevity. Easily the most expensive part of that bike...

rekmeyata

I have a 40 hole Wood hub for the rear, but for the front not because I have dynamo and Wood doesn't offer those which is ok since most of the stress is on the back anyways so there is no need for a Wood hub on the front if your not going with a dynamo. Shimano XTR hub for the front would work great and last a long time. By the way I went with the cheaper Shimano Dynohub, I like it.

Bike Hermit

If you bought the LHT complete, the hubs are Shimano XT, and these are very durable and smooth and light enough. The bottom bracket, on the other hand is a cheap p.o.s. Shimano. Definitely replace it with the Phil bb.

antokelly

thats a great answer made me laugh ,sorry about your b/b and bike though.

cyccommute 

I think the hubs you are thinking about are Chris King. The Phils are louder than a Shimano unit but they aren't all that loud. But I gladly put up some freehub noise for the durability and ease of maintenance of the Phils. A 5mm allen wrench takes the hub completely apart. If you have to replace a spoke, the whole freehub body comes out and you don't have to remove the cassette (not all that easy out on the road) to fit the new spoke.

I also swear that they roll easier. On any bike ride, I consistently out coast any one around me.

Shimagnolo

I bought a pair of Phil hubs in the 90's.
The freehub was buzzy, but no big deal.

After 14 yrs, the freehub started making noise, so I sent it in for the flat rate overhaul.
It came back with an (apparently) new freehub, and was dead silent.
The silence had me so curious that I called them to ask about it.
They told me that just packing it full of grease will do that.
Indeed, it eventually started making a typical freehub sound eventually.

About 18 months after that, i needed to send in the front hub for overhaul.

fietsbob

seems someone needs to either learn the DIY on that , or just know how to add
a bit of light oil and live with the pawl/ratchet sound .

antokelly

so these seem to be the cream of the crop but are they heavy hubs and what kind of money for a set of wheels

looking for a lighter set of wheels .i have sun rhyno on xt hubs 36 spoke great wheels buy heavy
so would a phil wood wheel be lighter .

escii_35

Good story.

I own a 135 spaced freewheel hub. (1/3 the price of the cassette). For touring dem cheezy 7 speed 12-28's work just fine. As long as the big box stores are selling $129 dollar bikes I have no worries regarding cheep and available 7 speed free's.

PS: Mega's as just icky.

Shimagnolo

The freehub was shot. You really think PW would have replaced the freehub assembly if all it needed was lube???

koosk

so it sounds like most of you guys are using the freehub in lieu of the cassette hub. that seems like a good option considering the price difference. on that note, why is the cassette hub so much more expensive?

for the bb, the consensus is to use steel, with ti cups? did I understand that properly?

desertdork

I have a set of Phil hubs on a bike. They're nicely made, and Phil has one of the best reputations for customer service. I hope they'll be with me for many years. Whenever the time to replace the bearings should ever arrive, I can tap out the bearings and replace myself. Plus, the rear freehub is relatively simple to service.

The rear hub also allows the cassette to be removed without special tools if d/s spoke replacement is necessary. If I wanted to save a few dollars, I'd probably start with choosing a different front hub, as I don't know the front Phil hub to be highly advantageous over other available hubs. I'd also be just fine with a Shimano UN-54 BB in lieu of the Phil BB. I own and use both, and I haven't experienced the Shimano to be functionally inferior. The savings between the front hub and BB should be ~$300.

desertdork

"Freehub" connotes "cassette hub." I think you meant freewheel vs freehub.

FWIW, I have the freehub.

koosk

so are you able to easily disassemble both the freewheel and freehub/cassette hub in the field, or just one of them?

desertdork

https://www.philwood.com/products/hubshome.php

Phil has two different designs.

FSA = "field serviceable axle"
FSC = "field serviceable cassette"

On both designs, the axle has endcaps which accept hex wrenches. By inserting a 5mm hex wrench into each end, the user is able to break loose one of the endcaps and thereby separate the axle into two pieces; this allows you to remove the axle and tap out the cartridge bearings for replacement.

On the FSC hub, this also allows the user to easily remove the cassette body ("freehub") without requiring the removal of the cassette from the cassette body. On most hubs, you need to remove the cassette to gain access to the bolt that secures the cassette body. With the cassette body removed with the attached cassette, you can service the ratchet ring and pawls...AND you can replace a broken driveside spoke. If you break a DS spoke on most hubs, you'll need a chainwhip, cassette lockring tool and a large wrench to access the broken spoke. These aren't light tools, and that's part of the attraction of Phil hubs for touring.

On the FSA hubs, the freewheel is secured via machined threads on the hub body. I believe removal of the freewheel is the same as it is on any other freewheel hub. The attraction of FSA hubs is that they're designed to be stronger and handle stress better than other freewheel hubs, and they are significantly less costly than FSC hubs.

fietsbob

My freewheel phil hub was 1st generation, a stainless steel tube,
with aluminum spoke flanges.
axle was a pressed in assembly.. never needed service, so It got none.
48 spoke, so 1 broken spoke left 47 spares.
the threads for the freewheel were in stainless steel.. ,
Borrowed a big adjustable wrench, removed the freewheel ,
replaced the spoke, a few days later..

all I bring is the freewheel remover.

Bike Hermit

Or this

sauerwald

I have a relatively new commuter bike (5,000 miles on it) with a phil rear hub and a phil bb - no issues yet. I also have an older tandem (1974 Paramount Tandem) with phil hubs front and rear - no idea how many miles - no issues with the phil parts on that bike either.

tmac100

I have 2 black PW 48 hole hubs that were never laced when I bought them on e-bay. I also have a BB that was never used - bought on e-bay too.They have provided excellent service on my touring bike. I also have several sets of older PW hubs for when I retire and decide to build some wheels....

They cost heaps, but they are essentially trouble free - or less troublesome than Shimano and other similar brands in my experience. Their use depends on your personal tolerance to PITA effects.