Originally Posted by
nfmisso
Sealed bearings; aka cartridge - but not replaceable, it is bonded together like a BB cartridge. Freehub. I am beginning to think that it maybe made by Quanta. It is a very beefy rear hub, the 14mm axle steps down to 10mm at the ends only to go thru the drop outs.
Hmm, I found some sources online that said they had ball bearings. That (for me anyway) is a non starter. Maybe that information was not correct. But it still doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies. As I mentioned before I've been stranded in a foreign country with non-working hub internals, and it was totally gut wrenching.
I'm a total bike geek, so I was thinking about this today while I was driving to church. If'n I was going to be using a 135 hub with some spacers/shims, I think i'd rather use an inexpensive, known good MTB hub like a Shimano M-580 (Deore LX I think...) which is $49.99 at Peter White Cycles and take my chances with 36 spokes with a high quality wheel build, 2.3/2.0 double butted and something like a Sun CR-18 rim which is $31.
I've found that the biggest difference in wheel quality is the experience of the constructor. In my experience anyway. I would be confident in a well constructed 36 hole wheel if someone like Peter built it, at lest, with the smooth roads that we ride on.
The Shimano hubs are fully rebuildable and everyone knows how to work on them. Cup and cone, yes, but easy to work on and well sealed.
[edit] upon further thought, the MTB hub does not have the provisioning for the drum brake...scratch that idea.