Wheel out of true - hub problem?
 

Inspecting my front wheel today and discovered some rolling resistance when turning by hand. When I spin it by hand and it slows right down, it hits one spot and makes a sound like the rim is touching the brake and comes to a quick stop - but looking closely there is no rub with the brakes. Could this be a problem with my front wheel being out of true and somehow causing friction in the hub?

Thanks!

Trueness is not related to the hub. Sounds as if the bearings are tight. What kind of hub & bearings ?

No.

A wheel coming out of true won't cause the hub bearings to all of a sudden become tight.

If you have resistance in the bearings on the hub then have the hub adjusted or overhauled.

If your wheel is out of true then get it trued.

If it's touching your brakes then get the wheel trued or adjust your brakes or both.

Next.

Shimano WH R500 - not sure on the bearings. I'm not set up for bike maintenance so is this something the shop could help me with or is it maybe time for a new hub?

Prebuilt Shimano wheels are using cup and cone bearing systems. You should be able to pull it apart, clean it and inspect the condition of the bearing surfaces. Repack with grease and adjust and be fine - assuming you didn't pit the hell out of the bearing surfaces from riding it over tight.

It's not really tight - only is a problem when very slowly turning the wheel by hand - just at the point of stopping on its own it grabs. Sounds like it's repairable.

Thanks for all the help everyone!!

Take off the wheel, and hold the axle and turn it by hand. It should be silky smooth with no roughness. If they are cup & cone bearings, then there should actually be a tiny bit of wiggle in the axle, that will go away once the QR is tightened.

it is repairable unless the cup is pitted. As homebrew mentions take the wheel off the bike and spin it while holding the axle. You will find it is rough. The cones are too tight and have been that way. Overhaul it and continue.

Tried it - just feel the slightest bit of grind - very faint. I'll take it into my LBS and get them to have a look.

The mentioned overhaul requires a set of cone wrenches, which will cost less than what the bike shop would charge you to do it. Just know that there are loose balls in there, and don't lose any of them when pulling the hub apart.

Yep, as others have already mentioned, sounds like the cup & cones tightened up a bit. Same thing happened to me. I rebuilt both front and rear on mine, cleaned, de-greased, re-greased, and carefully tightened it down. There should be no play when you wiggle the axle and the wheel should spin freely without a gritty feel. It took a couple tries to get the tightness just right. You may be able to get by without cone wrenches but they definitely make it easier. I think everyone should have a good bike tools set if they are mechanically inclined so they can work on their bikes themselves. You really get to know how everything works. Having good references helps too like Zinn's Art of Road Bike Maintenance and Sheldon Brown.