Originally Posted by
vtchuck
With those Normandy hubs, you could try a technique we used BITH. Clean out the grease ... repack with Simichrome. Spin the hubs with an electric drill
for 10 minutes or so to "polish" .... thoroughly clean and put in new bearings and grease. Competition hubs at a Sport price.
YMMV... don't try this at home
For another perspective on the topic:
In 1975 or so, Bicycling Magazine sent a writer to cover the Tour de France. The writer wrote a report that included a description of an encounter with a Peugeot mechanic in which the writer, having idly picked up the front wheel from Tour winner Bernard Thevenet's bike and turned the axle, pointed out to the mechanic that the bearings felt gravelly. The mechanic glanced over and said briefly, "It does not slow him down."