i dont know much about hub construction, but id assume that for the hype they would have excellent housing and bearing construction. i have formulas and they ride very smooth. but i guess im just curious as to why every one with a bianchi pista needs phil woods?

I never wanted Phils for my Pista. In fact, I built up my old Pista frame using some cheap $ss Suzue Junior hubs. Does the job.

If you are an aspiring olympic class track racer; hubs are important and are worth spending some coin on.
If you ride in skinny jeans down to the corner store to pick up a sixpack of PBR tallboys, any hub that still rolls should be fine.

It's also worth noting that much of a hub's performance depends on the bearings, and you can swap really nice bearings into a so-so hub on the cheap. Overall hub construction may not be the same, but as mentioned above, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference unless you're a pretty serious rider. In all honesty, a good proportion of the folks buying high end hubs are mostly interested in the bling, though they often have some explanation about needing an ultra-high performance hub in order to justify the cost. Nothing wrong with going for the bling, but it's still good to be honest with yourself.

thats exactly how i feel about it. i guess im not understanding why everyone is so concerned with phil wood hubs. .....parents should hate their kids.

I'm using origin 8 hubs with my Deep V's. I also ride a Pista. I don't have any complaints.

People buy phils because they are trendy. They are well built and durable, but for all practical purposes, a pair of formulas, dimensions, surlys (etc.) will do the exact same job. Phil owners like to wax poetic about the smoothness of Phil bearings, but its mostly hype...anyone claiming they can feel a difference between phil bearings and other hubs is delusional. Bearings (even good ones) are very cheap and easily replaced anyway. If you want to throw money towards a nice wheelset, you are better off spending the bulk of it on good rims and spokes.

sometimes you just need sweet looking hubs to match a sweet looking frame

I don't know why else the people I know that have them would have them, they aren't fast riders.

thats what i thought. i just cant wrap my head around why people speak so highly of them when theyre not even serious riders. i guess trend is the key here.

"I'm using origin 8 hubs with my Deep V's. I also ride a Pista. I don't have any complaints."

here, i dont have anything against pistas; just using them as an example. some folks i know ride pistas with phil woods and speak of high performance.

I personally think Phil hubs are ugly.

thank you sir. i can relate.

In response to this post and several others above that mention perforamace and speed, its worth clarifying that while Phils are indeed nice hubs, they are heavy and the seals produce drag. They aren't really designed to be high performance racing hubs.

Phil's are great hubs. They're chunky and ugly, but spin smooth and are damn near bulletproof. The only real strength over formulas is the durability. Formulas, however, are a superb hub set. I upgraded from formulas to dura ace and I fell in loooveeee.

Very good point. In the day they were the preferred hub for road tandems and rando touring bikes. They were one of the very few sealed hubs available at the time and were very stout. I have several sets of wheels with them that are over 30 years old with the original bearings. It is possible to detach the outer seals and regrease the bearings. I also have Phil BBs in several of my vintage rides. As to the folks that speak of performance, the best performance (low rolling resistance) is obtained from high quality adjustable open loose bearing hubs and low viscosity grease or oil.

+1


...and there's nothing wrong with that

I ride Phil hubs because they are totally bomb-proof, which is important when riding through mine-fields every day.

Had the Phils, the WI, the Pauls, Surlys, and the Formulas. I don't buy Phils because they're trendy.

Phils are the only hub I've ever owned that doesn't need adjustment out the box, with the exception of my formulas. My formulas bent at the flange after a minor wreck, but for the price I believe they're solid hubs.

I don't have any need to try open ball hubs, so no point of reference from open to sealed here.

I just finished a Phil ISO to H+Son. Tell me this hub isn't beautiful:

growing up seeing rolf, bontrager, and american racing hub flanges fail (first hand) i respect a good strong hub like a phil woods. we have them on our tandem but i run campys on singles.

great hubs that are worth the price that very few here actually need.

if you're a clyde, riding tandem, or your livelihood depends on your bike, then phil hubs make sense. If this doesn't apply to you, then there are other hubs that probably suit your needs better.

I ride Phils because I weigh 235 pounds, they come in black, they don't have any trick decoration cut-outs, I have the money, and Cane Creek won't sell me a set of their hubs.

In hindsight, I kinda wish I'd gone with Pauls.

Next wheel set, I plan on trying Dura Ace low flange hubs.

I'm no clyde, not riding tandem, nor does my livelihood depend on it, but Phils make sense to me bc it's a good product.

Ken, I have not been happy with my experience w Paul hubs, but I guess for the price they're not a bad choice. Paul also sucks ass in the customer service dept.

i don't see how phils could be considered "ugly" but are they worth it for regular street riding? no.

Why not?

it's called internal justification over the fact that one has just spent $300+ on hubs where a set of $40 hubs from IRO would've been more than enough. I agree there is nothing wrong with going for the bling. It's only natural, and probably even a little healthy once in a while. What's wrong is when you have to lie to yourself in order to justify the expense. A person should never have to feel guilty over a purchase. If they do, then it probably wasn't meant to be.

because my formulas have never treated me wrong on the street.

i didn't say there was anything wrong with having them for whatever reason you choose. But do you need them?

you like them because they are pretty? Nice, I think they are too. And that's a perfectly ok reason to buy them.