Originally Posted by
3speed
A couple of random questions:
1) Are hub problems common? I've only done a couple thousand miles of loaded touring, so I'm still in the lower ranks of many of you, and have never done really long tours(a month-ish was the longest). I've never had a hub problem on any modern bike, though, only older freewheel bikes. Maybe I've been lucky. Should I realistically be concerned about it?
In my forty years of riding and touring I would say hub problems are rare, if you bother to maintain your hubs. I ride on heavily salted winter roads which will destroy any hub ( I've replaced "sealed" bearings on a White Industries hub after a couple of winters). I take apart my hubs twice a year, before and after winter, clean and re-grease with season appropriate waterproof grease. So far so good.
Originally Posted by
3speed
2) What is the best "bang for your buck" field serviceable disk brake hub, that will allow you to deal with a broken drive side spoke without special tools? And I'm not referring to "Well, a Phil will last forever, so it's the best value at $500/hub." There are cheaper hubs out there that will last a really long time. I'm not rich, so really expensive is not a good value for me. I was looking at the VO hubs a while back, but for some reason was hesitant. Now they only offer 11sp freehub version, so that option is gone.
Below is a Chris King hub (not my photo).
I use Shimano hubs, not even the expensive ones, whatever you find on sub $500 bikes.
