I bought my failed shimano used and it has a lot of miles on it. I rode halfway across France, gave up, and rode back with that hub. Possibly twice, I don't remember when it failed. Still seems wrong to make something like that disposable. But that's always the way they have done things.
Originally Posted by
steelbikeguy
Is there a hub dynamo that makes it easy replace or re-lube the hub bearings?
There was, I don't think anyone bought it. It might have been made by SP, but someone else sold it, IIRC. It had a cartridge that was easily available, but expensive. There was also a hub with a clutch, but nobody bought that either.
Originally Posted by
igarocom
The bearings are important (and SON will tell you what they use while SP will not), but there's another reason entirely as to why SON hubs last longer.
As the dynamo draws power it generates heat which causes pressure to build inside the hub. If the hub doesn't have some mechanism to pressure equalise then it'll try to pull/push through the bearings, which depending on what's around could draw in stuff that doesn't work well in bearings. SON hubs have a balloon mechanism to keep the pressure the same and prevent this from happening.
I knew one randonneur who experienced the pressure equalization problem on a rainy night in central Pennsylvania. No lights is a real bummer under those circumstances. I imagine he had had the opportunity to get the recall done and just ignored it until his hub failed. There must be ways to keep water out other than what SoN did or we'd be hearing about SP's failing more often. I'm pretty sure SP sells a lot more hubs than SoN at this point. Anyone that puts their own brand on a dynohub is selling SP's. There are lots of people using them in really rough conditions. SP might not tell you what bearings they use, but it's pretty apparent. Right now, they are so cheap that it's not really worth replacing the bearings, given that you have to unbuild the wheel.
My biggest problem with SoN hubs is the spade lug terminals. I have fixed a couple of those for other people. Once was by the side of the road with mosquitoes trying to drink all of my blood. That was fun. I fixed another at a hotel. For some reason, I had my crimpers with me. Anyone that has a SoN hub and hasn't retrofitted the coax connector is a silly person. The SP/Shimano connector is not the greatest thing, but at least you can fix it by the side of the road. Possibly at the expense of some wear on your teeth.