Hub quandary.
 

So I have worn out my stock Alex Adventurer rims on my LHT. I need new rims. Okay I am fine with that. I will go with Mavic A719s unless I get a resounding suggestion otherwise.

I have deore xt (m770) on the front and back. They are in great to excellent shape. Been looking at options on relace and build to the 719s. All fine and good.

I also have been looking online at full wheel sets, specifically 719s to XT hubs. I then ran across a place selling 719s laced to LX hubs. I emailed and asked about lacing them to XTs.

The reply was as follows:

"We could not build a touring rim on today's xt hub. In their desire to make a light weight hub, Shimano's XT hub flanges are made of an alloy that is way too light weight to hold up against any weight placed on them. The XT is now a racing hubset. The hub we use is made by Shimano specifically for touring. From design to production, it is created only for heavy duty touring."

Is this true? When did shimano make the change? Did they change numbers (i.e. m770 to m7xx) to reflect this? I assumes LX was lower in the hierarchy?

So am LX reviews or help, tips, suggestions, offers of free wheel sets.

I am 180+ pounds wet, ride an LHT fendered and racked, 35 pound kid in a seat on the back and panniers full of the days needs and desires (bike and all roll in at about 285 pounds). I ride nearly year round, rain won't stop me, snow and ice will.

I don't know anything about the XT hubs no longer being "good enough" for touring based on the flange material... that's a new one for me. That said, there was a bad run of XT hubs where the freewheel was cracking and as far as I know, there is no way to distinguish the good from the bad; it was a problem for a while and newer stock should be safe... but, you never know what you are buying, especially from an online vender.

LX is not lower in the hierarchy, SLX is. The LX line has moved to a touring/commuting category all it's own and is no longer considered part of the mtb lineup. Unfortunately, the LX line up is being pushed more in Europe and can be hard to find parts in the US (and presumably, Canada).

Handspun/QBP used to make the LX/Mavic 719 wheels for touring. They currently build an XT paired with the DT Swiss touring rim (TK 540). They use the XT hub with the six point connection for a rotor and not center-lock, so maybe that's the dividing line?

Quality Wheels Pavement Series 6 Rear Wheel 700c Shimano XT / Mavic A719 - Modern Bike
Quality Wheels Pavement Series 6 Front Wheel 700c Shimano XT / Mavic A719 - Modern Bike

My current rear wheel is holding up well for my 200# of excess... although I did need to true it a bit a couple of times.
http://www.treefortbikes.com/product...29er-Rear.html

I generally like the QBP/Quality Wheels/ Handspun but they recently changed their website which annoys me, because the old site actually listed their product numbers and now I'd have to d/l the qbp catalog to figure that out.

Thanks. This helped, I decided to go with the LX 719 combo on my own. I have XT hubs from original build (m770s) that never gave me an issue, other than the free body a few times. I had to have that replaced last summer.

Now I have excellent XT hubs I can take time and lace new rims too and sell myself! Or just sell the hubs to cover the shipping on the new wheelset.

Yeah new stuff!

There was a few bad XT hubs a few years back but that was just a short term production problem. I doubt that the XT is so delicate that it can't be used for touring. It is a mountain bike hub, after all, and is designed for the rigors of mountain biking which are equal to or greater than touring or commuting. I also question the idea that LX is "from design to production...created only for heavy duty touring". The LX hub is a mountain bike hub as well. Bicycle people can be an opinionated lot with some odd opinions based on little evidence.

That said, much of Shimano's higher end line doesn't come in 36 hole hubs anymore. That may be the real reason that the wheel company won't build with XT. The best way of getting the wheels you want is to build your own. Or you could find a replacement rim for the Alex rim. If the rim has the same effective rim diameter (ERD), it's simple to loosen the spokes on the existing wheel and transfer the spokes to the other rim.