Originally Posted by
Chombi
Just make sure you service (Clean, repack and adjust as needed) the hubs before your big ride. If you can find the smaller bearings for it, go ahead and change them out while you have them apart just for good due diligence. It's also a good excuse to find out the condition of the races and cones on the hub anyway, before your ride. It had lasted on the bike this long so there might not be anything wrong with it that will make it fail on your ride, so must have gotten a good one. If you do find the chance or reason to change them out in the future, I wouldn't stress about moving on away from them as there are many other classic hub alternatives that can give you as good and reliable service....plus they aren't really in many "holy grail" component lists of classic bike fans.....yet(?).
Good luck on your ride and tell us how it goes with th hubs!
Chombi
Chombi
Other then the bearing size, doesn't this apply to all hubs, except maybe the fancy sealed cartridge units. They should all, once in a while, they should be disassembled, inspected and repacked, with new balls and fresh grease.
If bike shops don't have the proper bearings, then call some industrial bearing places, lots of them sell just about any kind of bearing ball you could want. Probably the best thing to do is count the number of balls inside on both sides, note the size or take one of the balls with you, go to the place that sells industrial bearings and buy the right number of balls of the proper size. IIRC Grade 25 or better is required for bicycle use, most recommended is grade 5.