danielgaz

Well, I am close to a wheel build and was wondering what people thought about White Industries H2/H3 hubs or Dura-Ace 7900 hubs. I know that one is sealed cartridge (White) and the other is cup/cone (DA7900), and that the White Industries weigh about 100 grams less than the DA7900. Other than that, it's opinions of you riders and wheel-builders that matter most!

Thanks in advance!

sbxx1985 

WI makes good hubs.

halfspeed

With cup and cone you get larger bearing balls so there's more contact area and, theoretically, longer lifespan. OTOH, they aren't sealed as well so they need to be overhauled now and then to actually get that lifespan. Also, I don't think Shimano recommends front radial lacing on their hubs, so that's something to consider as well.

If it were my wheels, I'd get the Whites and save the weight. Actually, I just built a rear training wheel with a Novatech hub, Kinlin XR-270 rim and 28 Sapim Race spokes laced radial NDS, 2X DS.

Both WI and Shimano have excellent reputations and either will outlast your rims.

halfspeed

And one more thing, if you're considering bladed spokes, make sure they fit your hub of choice's holes.

canam73

I like them both, but I think they are a bit closer in weight. Like 375 for the DA and 350 for the WI.

rm -rf

I reviewed the WI rear hub adjustment and rebuild pdf before I got my new wheels.

One thing that sold me was maintenance. It's easy to disassemble and adjust the hub. Bearings are standard sizes and just need a bearing puller to replace them. (have the LBS do it). The H3 rear has 5 sets of bearings (Shimano) or 6 sets (Campagnolo) with an oversized steel axle. That's strong. The Campagnolo hub has two pairs of smaller bearings under the titanium freehub, and two larger bearings for the hub itself.

It's since gotten a good review in this extensive road hubs review by fairwheel bikes. (Search H3 -- the rear hub is way down near the end of this interesting set of reviews)

SushiJoe

Alchemy ELFs are pretty nice and light too.

Tunnelrat81

I've been very happy with my WI hubs so far. I built up my set last year and haven't had any trouble with them. I think they look classy (in polished Aluminum finish) and they spin extremely smoothly. I was impressed when I built them and had them on the truing stand...I could spin the wheel, touch the cassette body to stop it then release, and the mechanism was working so nicely (low friction) that the lightweight cassette body would stay still for a bit before slowly winding back up to the speed of the spinning wheel. That, to me, was impressive since my other wheels will FAR more quickly spin the cassette body back up to the wheels speed even WITH a heavy cassette mounted. I don't think you can go wrong with them. They are high quality, well designed, and built by a small company right here in California. What's not to love. Oh, and they have a very nice sounding freewheel too.

-Jeremy

Triguy

The weights of the two are much closer than you states
Dura Ace - 380ish
White Industries - 365ish

Really, IF the Dura Ace comes in the spoke counts you would need/want; I'd go for those.