Hi

I am collecting parts for a Surly Disc Trucker. The bike will mainly be used for commuting. On my current commuter I am running an XT M-770 rear hub and a Schmidt dyno hub front. The XT hub has stood up well to road salt and apr 15000 km of abuse - BUT IF the bearing race is damaged in the hub shell I will have to replace the hub which means rebuilding wheel. In order to avoid that risk, since the rim will not be subject to any wear,I am now considering a Hope Pro EVO 2 rear hub. Have any of Yoyu experience from these in commuting? How well do they satnd up to road salt etc...

Kind regards

Martin

Hope hubs have a terrible reputation over on MTBR.com, some claim they come with cheap cartridge bearings. The Hope aluminum freehub is a weakness too. I just build up two wheelsets for my gravel grinder/commuter/tourer, both have Shimano 756 rear hubs, the new A version is very easy to adjust and will last longer than an aluminum freehub'ed Hope hub. I'd stick with what works and keep it properly adjusted.

Mid priced Shimano will be Fine. as there will be a high likelihood you will find spare parts in the small town bike shops on Tours..
Relatively simple to pull the axle out and clean and re Lubricate the axle bearings abd replace loose balls, to prevent wear and grit damage.

more exotic stuff lowers that likelihood odds.
Touring cyclists on Campagnolo stuff have small town shops needing to special order stuff.
which Out here our local shop often calls the next Shop Down the coast they get it via overnight shipping
to be on hand when the rider gets there a couple days later..

Phil Woods Cassette hubs are able to Be field serviced If you want to invest in a one time $500-ish Hub
here's one with a 6 bolt disc Mount at $450
https://www.bikeparts.com/search_resu...sOPRoCCBTw_wcB

OTOH Rohloff hubs have a Decade+ of proven reliability track record world wide, so there is that direction too .. no derailleurs to damage.

.. just an annual oil change and 1 cog to wear and flip and use 2x as long. .. with the chain a 1/8" or 3/32nd"

Hi.

Thanks guys for your input and for sharing your experience.
Yepp, I have considered options like Rohloff and Chris King, but I simply can not afford it. And as I still have not managed to ruin any hub shell bearing race, I am leaning towards the XT 756 rear hub after all. It is kind of sexy (?) in its robustness with high flanges and supersmoth c&c bearings. Also I will very soon invest in a nice little smallparts cleaner which will simplify the bearing maintenance. I will on the other hand make no compromise with the front hub - SON it is! IŽll spend my hard earned extra cash there instead. Happy cyling!

Kind regards

Martin

You could ride quite some distance on pitted races if necessary. However, pitting the races is rare if you keep maintenance up. Periodically clean and pack the grease. Replace pitted cones as soon as you discover them. Keep cones adjusted properly.

I'm not sure why sealed bearings haven't had wider acceptance. Certainly some brands have been using them for decades. And, of course, they do also wear out eventually. On a global tour, you could bring the spare cones for a standard hub, or spare sealed cartridges for a cartridge hub if you wished.

Some of the newer Shimano hubs use an oversized cone that isn't readily available yet.