Do you have any proof that this actually happened? Check out Genesis and find out that the chicken was created and then laid an egg.

Back to cones, if you can find an old full service bike shop, many times they have old stock sitting around. I was able to restore a few bikes that way.

Agree with everything here. It has started to rain here, and I intend to commute right through the winter. So I have brought out my winter wheelset with the Campagnolo Record freewheel hubs. Best bad-weather hubs ever. Unlike lower-end hubs built with cartridge bearings, which trap water and turn into a rusty mess, the Record hubs have convenient injection ports.

Put the grease *** in the port and in seconds all the old grease and water is ejected and refreshed with the new!

I did not say they were better, merely that finding replacements was easier. Except for Campy most cones were not only not well sealed but downright rough until they were broken in, which typically took a few hundred miles.

I don't know how this thread moved into bashing cartridge bearings but, honestly, I'd like to know what "low-end" hubs with cartridge bearings you guys are talking about. I've been riding bikes for 30+ years and building my own wheels for 25 years and I can't every recall finding a "low-end cartridge" hub much less one that traps water and turns into a rusty mess. I've owned numeous cartridge bearing hubs and the cheapest ones I ever owned was a set of Suntour that came OEM on my Miyata Ridge Runner. Considering that I paid almost $400 for the Ridge Runner in 1985 and it was equipped with top of the line Suntour equipment, I wouldn't call them "low-end". I've had lots of trouble free cartridge bearing hubs since but none of them have been "low-end".

And considering that I never had to replace the bearings (nor even work on them) until I got rid of the broken frame 10 years of hard mountain bike riding later, I'd say I got pretty good hubs out of the deal. No cone equipped mountain bike wheel I've owned since...even with Shimano's far better sealing system...has lasted that long.

Replacing cones is no big deal. If worn or damaged out they go.

After a lot of searching I have concluded that the only way to get replacement cones for the m525 front hub is to buy new a front hub and take the cones, which seems stupid to me, so I am going to use this as an excuse to get a new wheelset for my winter bike. These cheapies lasted 4 winters so I figure I got my money's worth out of them.

I'm leaning toward a wheelset I found on amazon with XT m770 hubs for around $200. Replacement cones are available, and I will plan on servicing the hubs a little more frequently to avoid pitting in the first place. I also looked at options from velocity, velo-orange, paul, white industries and phil wood, but figured that for a winter bike in Chicago those higher end hubs wouldn't be worth it because the salt is going to kill anything eventually. I may also post this on the winter forum, but I'm interested in hearing others' opinions. for reference I will ride these somewhere between 1,000-1,500 miles each winter on studded tires.

I have a rear wheel with an Acera X hub that I bought in 1996. Replaced 3 rims, 2 cone sets & bearings, never did anything to the freehub. Still running OK after some 100,000 km.
And yes, there are very low end made in China hubs w/sealed bearings (the bearings are the cheapest kind too).

Sigh... The shop(s) failed you here. But given the relative motivation level for selling some inexpensive picky parts vs. a new wheelset, we should have predicted the outcome. Plus circa 2014, I can't be sure that most shop staff have ever serviced hubs.

OK. You're going for a wheelset. The XT choice is the best. Not just in the best balance between performance and price, but the best choice - period.

For a number of tedious technical reasons, the XT hubs are simply better than all of the others you list. They are better designed, sealed and constructed. Shimano hubs are an outstanding bargain, and if maintained on even a minimal schedule, will provide top-end performance - for a lifetime.

And contrary to your experience to date, the world is awash with Shimano replacement parts. Really.

Thanks for the advice, Dave. I ordered a Mavic XM 719 / Shimano Deore XT 780 wheelset. Hopefully I will get them before winter.

The grease was supposed to catch the "boulders." You just had to repack the hub before particles worked their way into the path of the bearing balls.

It's probably unusual now because bike mech. first suggest you to change the wheel when replacing a cone that cost about 10$ in part.

That's the first thing I was told... They make a bigger sale that way too.
It's certainly true that if some one changes the cones for you, it is not worth spending 30-40$ including labor time for an old wheel. But when you do it yourself it takes 10-20 minutes max.

I just learned that I should grease my wheels multiple times per years (every 200 miles)... My commuting cones are completely shot. One bearing exploded in the wheel! I couldn't believe how stupid I was to treat my bike like this. I always put oil on the chain and important & accessible components if I knew that earlier I would have probably saved my cone. I am pretty sure a minority of biker know that they should do that...

When greasing your bike costs 150$CA to do in a LBS I believe some prefer not caring and just ride it till it die.

Can't do that [without upsetting the sensors anyway], but I can tell you how to unscramble an egg...

I know what the grease was supposed to do. It didn't...nor could it...work in practice. Would you want to go back to that system?

Is that right? Every 200 miles!?! It's not uncommon for me to ride more than that in a week. I was thinking something like every 800-1,000 miles depending on how much of that was in the rain. Experts?

I'm not sure what "sensors" you are using or maybe you are referring to the "sensors" that the censors are using to detect inappropriate content but which came first is an easy one. The egg predates the chicken by about 1.2 billion years when sexual reproduction developed. The hard shell egg predates chickens by a few hundred million years.

Yes... the censor's sensors... And while "sensor" appears grammatically awkward it is in fact factually correct as the censoring software the censors censor with uses sensors to censor censored content. Bon mot not a forte? But thanks, you've made the punch line a "muted" point.

No, that is not right. You might have to repack the bearings every 200 miles if you rode without dust covers in hub deep sand in hurricane force winds in the Kalahari Desert but if you are going to do that kind of riding, you might want to consider a different hub sealing mechanism.

With a modern cup and cone sealed hub like the Shimano hubs, you might want to repack them every 6000 to 10,000 miles. Even that might be excessive.

If you have a cartridge bearing hub, you might need to replace the bearings after 50,000 to 100,000 miles. I'm not sure because I haven't found the end of life for my cartridge bearings yet. Most of the old cartridge bearing hubs I've owned have been replaced when I upgraded to freehubs and all of the freehub versions I have are too new...one has about 12,000 miles on it and is not showing any kind of problem.

I suspect that mooder's problem was not related to the amount of grease that was in the hub but rather to adjustment. Bearings don't "explode" in the hub spontaneously. I've seen lots of cup and cone hubs that come from the factory misadjusted. They are way too tight which will damage the bearing eventually. I've also seen caged bearings that have been ground to dust but, again, that is due to misadjustment.

On a side note, it's not hard to learn how to repack and readjust bearings.

While the censors use censoring software to sense content to censor censorable content, the software isn't a "sensor" in the classical sense.

I noticed this too. I just automatically adjust and repack new hubs.

I can assure you that I haven't done 6000 to 10000 miles (that's 10 000+km, it's A LOT) with all my wheels and the cones WERE completely shot (not just the one with the ball exploded). 200 miles was for MTB (my mistake), I've checked and it seems the recommendation is ranging between 300 and 1000 miles. It will depend if you ride your bike in the rain/snow how dusty the road is etc.
I am speaking of the shimano R500 & xero 220, low-end wheel so it's certainly possible a higher-end wheel will require less maintenance but I really doubt it can do 6 000 to 10 000 miles with no maintenance.
Edit: It could also be manufacturing default, the ball was sliced in two!

Here's my take on loose-ball hubs:

Anything half-decent is a fine thing and should last virtually forever, as long as it's properly adjusted and the lube is renewed one every gazillion km or ten years.

The problem is that they're almost always set too tight from the factory, and often are never adjusted right before the cones go.

From my limited perspective this seems to be improving a little lately, along with wheels being built with enough tension these days... sure is nice.

Yep. Shimano should usually be the first thing you think when it comes to hubs... it's like buying a Toyota.

Unless flawed, it takes a lot to destroy a ball bearing. Your bearing broken in half says to me that it was flawed.

As for a 300 to 1000 mile maintenance interval, that's excessive. Most everything I've seen suggests once a year, although I've gone far longer without issues. Make sure they are adjusted properly out of the box, however.

So for the wheels I just got for this winter (XT hubs); adjust the hubs before I put the wheels on the bike and service them in the Spring?

Yes..unless the bearings start feeling gritty or rough.