big_rider

Over the past week or so, I have been going through and doing some annual service on our bikes. Part of that service included going through the hubs, cleaning them, and re-lubing which, as you probably already surmised by that statement, means that I have Shimano hubs on every bike.

I don't mind doing hub service, but it got me thinking about hubs, and how Shimano hubs seem to need a little more TLC than do others. So I looked up Chris King, DT Swiss, and White Industries hubs, and can't believe the price compared to Shimano. I haven't ever really had any "real" problems with Shimano hubs other than an outside locknut coming loose once (luckily I caught it before it did any damage) and lack of cleaning which led to pitted cup and cones.

I don't mean to stir up the pot too much (ok maybe a little) but, are the other hubs really worth the money? I am not uber weight conscious, and even then, the other companies are not that much lighter. I guess I like the thought of maintenance free bearings on some fancy hubs like Chris King, DT Swiss, or White Industries but I don't know if they are really worth it. You still have to make adjustments to the hubs. I have never had a hub fail. So other than a really annoying freewheel buzz, what are the benefits to these hubs? You can buy 5-6 Shimano XT rear hubs for the prices of one of these companies rear hubs. Is there any way that it is worth spending the extra money?

wahoonc

Those other hubs might be over engineered for what you plan to do? What I do is find the best bang for the buck and roll with it. I have found that once you reach a certain price point the gain in performance, lighter weight, etc is going to way to expensive for my tastes. But this comes from a guy that loves his old loose ball Raleigh hubs...

Aaron

Jeff Wills

I've had a Shimano rear hub fail after thousands of miles and several go-arounds of customization (freehub swaps). Beyond that, they've never let me down. The cachet of Phil, King, et al is nice, but a this customized & polished XT hub cost me $40 and some elbow grease. I'll probably put it in my will:

nubcake

I have had probably 4 or 5 shimano freehubs fail on me in the years I have been riding. I think from a performance per dollar standpoint xt hubs are very hard to top, free hubs are not terribly expensive or hard to change.

With that being said I have upgraded to King hubs on my mountain bike for a few reasons. I am that guy that will go over the top in building something...but then not replace it until it is very outdated and very very worn. I wanted a hubset that I can put 10k miles off road on and not have to worry about. I am doing more and more big rides that will have me miles from the nearest road and I do not want to have to worry about freehub failures. I have also never seen a King hub need bearings replaced, even when they have been raced on for 5+ years with no service at all, I have pulled them apart, cleaned and re-greased and they were as smooth as new. The quick engagement is nice as well but does not make that big of a difference except on super techy climbs.

The DT's that have come through the shop are pretty damn reliable as well, same with Hopes. I9, not so much, have seen issues with pawls and replaced plenty of bearings in I9's.

With all that being said, it sounds like your current shimanos have worked great for you and you are a big easier on freehubs so it is by no means a "need" for you to upgrade, but they sure are pretty...

cyclist2000

I haven't had any problems with any of my hubs over 40 years of riding. But I only have 2 bikes with shimano hubs. the rest of my hubs are Campy record and a set of Phil's. My Phil's are 30 years old and still roll great.

Burton

Thats probably a very personal question and you'll probable get a lot of opinions.

Since I'm in the middle of lacing a 1990 Shimano XT FH-M732 6/7speed SIS compatible rear hub and a 1998 Shimano XT HB-M730-F front hub to new Mavic 719 rims, I guess my vote would be 'no'.


These have seen a lot of milage already and I'll be using them as a touring wheelset.

wahoonc

Got to thinking about this last night while I was puttering about in my shop. The bike I have with the most miles on it is a 197? Raleigh Sports, it has the 3 speed Sturmey-Archer AW hub on the rear and a stock, not great quality Raleigh front hub. That bike has over 30,000 miles on it with nothing more than routine maintenance. I have never replaced bearings, cones or races. It still rolls. I also have a set of LePree hubs that have a lot of miles on them (15k?).

I guess a lot depends on how heavily you use them and how often you service them. FWIW both the hubs on the Raleigh are oil hubs. I typically repacked the grease in the outer bearings once a year or so and added oil once every couple of weeks.

Aaron

cyccommute 

Shimano stuff is just fine...damn them!...but you do get certain features with the higher end hubs that make them desirable. Phil Wood hubs, for example, come apart with a 5 mm Allen wrench which makes servicing them a dream. They don't need service all that often but they are much easier to work on if you do need to work on them. The rear hub's cassette even comes out completely making spoke replacement on touring wheels much simpler.

The White Industry hubs I have roll more smoothly than any other hub I've ever owned. I've spun them on the repair stand and come back 5 minutes later to a wheel that is still going around at a very good clip.

If you want a hub that you never have to worry about go with a Phil or a White Industries or similar hub (watch out for proprietary parts). If bearings in any of them starts to drag, you just replace the bearings and ride. No regular maintenance or messing around with them.

Nightshade

Hubs fail? Nah, never!

fietsbob

Phil Wood and Bullseye ,Freewheel hubs , a freewheel removal .
and solvent dunk cures any issues in them , short of broken pawls.

My touring bike now has black Bullseye tandem hubs, and Enduro bearing upgrade.
a few setscrews are all that need be loosened to pull the axle out,
and then drop the bearings out.

big_rider

Great discussion here.
Wahoonc: sounds like those hubs are from the bygone era of build it so it never breaks. That reminds me of Charlie Cunningham and the WTB Grease Guard feature built into hubs. I am sure those things are similar, they probably last forever if you always grease them.

I always carry cone wrenches with me while touring in case something were to happen, but bearing adjustment on the road can be frustrating, most fixes in the field are though I guess. It sounds like these other hubs are easier to service, which could be a huge benefit. I might have to give some of these other hubs a shot some day, probably when I need hubs that absolutely cannot fail. However, I am still not convinced that the more expensive hubs are any less prone to failure, just maybe that they are easier to service. There are plenty of reports of Shimano hubs failing, but lets face it. Shimano makes very low end components as well as robust high end. They out sell all others by a wide margin, and due to that, there must be a larger number of failures. This is starting to get too philosophical!
Someday I will give one of these boutique hubs a shot, then I guess I can make an assessment.

cyccommute 

Structurally, there's no difference between Shimano and other hubs. But cone and cup bearings are more likely to fail due to infiltration of dirt and water into the bearings. If cassette bearings fail, you just replace the unit and keep riding. No cones to replace or even adjust, either.

There are cheaper hubs than the Phil Wood, White Industries or Chris King that use cassette bearings, too.

Seb71

Aren't those called cartridge bearings?

MichaelW

The perfect hub used to be Shimano XT but no longer.
Shimano hubs have their bearings as far apart as possible to support the axles, virtually eliminating the issue of axle breakage (remember those?) Shimano hold the patents so no-one else can make them.
Cartridge bearing hubs sometimes have cartridges under the freewheel but not always. Unsuppored axles need to be beefier to prevent breakage and in practice, they are built strong enough.
Shimano freewheels suffer from small pawles compared to cartridge hubs and Campagnolo ball bearing hubs. The latest generation of Shimano hubs use fat aluminium axles for reduced weight and "improved stiffness" so something has to be smaller; that is generally the thickness of the splined shell. There have been reports of shells splitting under heavy loading.
I use a new series LX hub which is different to the old LX (seals not as good) but retains the steel axle and thicker splined shell.
Some cartridge-bearing hubs use a light weight aluminium splined shell. This get gouged by thin, steel sprockets and are best used with high end sprocket sets which carrier systems.

Why are Shimano hubs so cheap compared to high end cartridge hubs? Shimano's key technology is cold forging of aluminium. They can churn out squillions of high-precision, well finished parts for fishing reels and hubs, with excellent grain structure and durability. The boutique cartridge hubs have to be carved out of a single billet of metal by expensive CNC machines in a slow process that involves slicing across the grain of the metal.

fietsbob

the modest priced hubs I'm seeing on bikes that get assembled these days
are featuring a rubber seal around the axle ends
that would be pretty good at keeping crud at a minimum.

mass production tends to minimize grease to lower the grease cost per unit.

so I would add grease to the bearings when I took the bike home.

lblanch60

Bought a custom wheel set with Alchemy hubs. I've been very pleased.