Hello there fellow cyclists,

Im building some wheels to handle anything in 4 seasons from day to day cycling, trekking, commuting, touring (fully loaded)
I was wondering if anyone had used MTB hubs for road biking? Also what is the difference between road and MTB hubs anyway? Different bearings? Im thinking the Chris Kings iso disk hubs front and back. If is just a weight thing then i do not care as an extra 200g or so per hub is worth it for the strength and durability.

Cheers

Tim-Bob

Basically, hubs is hubs. About the only thing you should be concerned about is the width of the dropout. A hub with a 130mm width is a road hub and 135mm is a mountain bike hub. If your bike has 130mm spacing, there's often enough flex in the frame to force a 135mm hub into the dropouts (5mm is only about 0.2") but it will make wheel removal more difficult. Some bikes are even designed to take either a road hub or a mountain hub by having 132.5mm OLD on the dropouts.

As for weight, that depends on the hub. The Kings are relatively light...170g front, 306g rear. Shimano XT hubs are kind of portly at about 450g (rear). White Industries XMR hub are about 100g for the front and 300g for the rear. On the plus side for the WI hubs, they don't buzz like angry bees when you coast. Phil Woods hubs are a bit heavier than the XT (200g front, 510g rear) but they offer easier field disassembly than any of the other hubs if you have to fix them.

All of them are rugged. All of them are good. The Kings and Phils are pricey. The Whites are pricey too but they a bit more affordable. The XTs are dirt cheap.

Thanks for that, yea i have a croix de fer so 135mm is what im working with.

I am running 135mm rear hub in my 130mm spaced steel rando frame.

You really want to use the correct size hub spacing if you have an Aluminum for Carbon frame. But, steel has some give to it, so should not be a problem.

Different steels seem to be more flexible than others, my rando bike is very easy to squeeze a 5mm oversize hub into. But I have a 1961 vintage 120mm spaced Columbus tubing steel frame that takes serious muscle to get a 126 mm hub into.

Shimano XT is best bang for your buck, in my opinion. You should be able to find them online for $40 or so. Have never had any problem, and they feel fast and smooth enough to me.

I don't agree. Carbon fiber and aluminum can be flexed without problems if you need to use a slightly wider hub. My Cannondale touring series bikes have 132.5mm OLD so that 130mm or 135mm hubs can be used. If you were going from a 126mm to a 135mm, the frame can't flex that much but neither can a steel frame. You'd need to cold set a steel frame for that much of a difference which I'll agree isn't an option for a carbon or aluminum frame. But if the difference is only 5mm, that's not going to cause many problems.

There's nothing wrong with an XT hub. However, there's nothing special about them either. Cup and cone works well enough if you spend the time doing yearly maintenance on them. The advantage of the other hubs I've suggested is that you don't have to spend any time maintaining them. I've got a set of Phil Woods on my commuter bike that have 17,000 all weather miles on them and I've never done anything to them. My touring bike's Phil's have 12,000 miles on them without any kind of maintenance. I don't expect to have to do anything to them for years to come.

There's also other reasons to consider high end boutique hubs. Phil's FSC, for example, can be taken apart in the field with only a 5 mm allen wrench if you should need to replace the bearings. The freehub body and cassette can be removed without removing the cassette as well. This is a handy feature if you happen to break a spoke. There's no need to carry the tools for cassette removal. White Industries hubs can be had with a titanium freehub body which saves significant weight. Chris King hubs have a very positive pawl engagement...which is also why they buzz so horribly.

And, yes, there is an elephant in the room when it comes to the "bling" factor. The XT is a good mass produced (off-shore) hub that gets the job done in a ho-hum manner. The boutique hubs are usually made in the US and are beautiful pieces of equipment. For me, the "bling" is icing on the cake of a good product. And spending a few hundred dollars on a lovely hub set keeps me from spending thousands on something foolish...like a sports car

Now lots of hubs are gaining what was MTB hubs advantage, better dirt seals.

Some steel frames are very hard to spread with just your bare hands. I have a MIELE UNO of about 1987 vintage that has a steel Tange 5 frameset. I put a 9-speed wheel on it and went for a longish ride. I flatted, removed the wheel, checked the tire for debris and inserted a new tube. Boy did I have a fight trying to get that wheel back on! I had to turn the bike upside down place the wheel in position, grab the seatstay/chainstay junctions in each hand and pull on them whilst pushing down on the wheel with my chest to get it into the dropout slots. It took a few minutes to do that and get everything lined up so that the wheel finally went into those dropuots. Needless to say I had that frame coldset from 126mm to 130mm before taking it out for another ride.

I don't think my old very stiff Cannondale frame could have even been coldset 4mm.

Cheers

I was unaware that some Aluminum frames were sold that way, thus it sounds like they planned for it in that specific case.

A friend of mine that really loved his old 126mm Cannondale gave the frame away to a charity when he wanted to switch to a 130mm drive train. He said the frame would not work with that hub and he is a bike mechanic, so I am trusting what he says.

Sounds like it worked for you, but my friend regularly talks to manufacturer reps so when he says something won't work, I don't argue.

nice! well said man. i think this sums it up for me. ill have a look into the Phil Woods hubs. they sound ace!

I am using Shimano XT M756A Rear Disc Hub 36h and M756 Front Disc Hub 36h on my Surly LHT

I'm assuming your frame needs 135 mm rear width? Mt hubs vary greatly these days. Rear can be 142mm x 12 mm through axle or boost width of 148 mm. Front for sus forks can be 100 mm x 15 mm through axle or boost width of 110 mm. Some of the better hubs can be converted as need.

I've never had much of a problem using the next wider hub than what the frame might be designed for (126mm to 130mm or 130mm to 135mm). Yes, it's a bit more difficult and may require more force but I've never been unable to do it.

And no, you can't have an aluminum frame coldset. The metal won't tolerate it.

Factory reps nor shop mechanics aren't always the best sources for doing things to bikes for which they aren't designed. I've had many, many shop mechanics tell me that something "just can't be done" when, in fact, the bike standing in front of them has had that same thing done to it. I often go outside of the "limits" of abilities of bicycle drivetrains like using gearing that shouldn't work but does.

Often the reps and mechanics get tunnel vision and aren't willing to work outside of what the factory tells them what works. I'm willing to experiment and see how far I can push the limits and still keep the bike functional.

Just wanted to mention, been really happy with the Surly hubs in the front and the DT Swiss 350 hubs in the rear.

The 350 hubs and Surly hubs are both easily serviced without anything more than basic tools (hex wrench) and the bearings are replaceable anywhere in the world that you can find bearings, basically. No hub is indestructible, these seem like a nice compromise.

I stopped using XT's because I'd kill the hub long before I killed the rim or spokes, due to the cups and cones slowly wearing out through use. The hub has a lifespan. I'm sure the DT's and Surly's have a lifespan too, but it could possibly be measured in decades with a few bearing replacements along the way.

I now have the DT/Surly combo on two wheelsets.

I actually use that same combo on my mountain bike with the 54t ratchet upgrade and it has been a great setup.

You posted this also in the commuting forum and I responded there but I will also say look at hope hubs, they're far cheaper than CK and there are no specialized tools required to service them and are insanely future proof. I have a set of Hope Pro 2s on my road bike that are still relevant with all the new standards coming out.

Tim-Bob, Generally mountain bike hubs are preferred because they're often associated with 135 mm spaced drop outs, which allow for a slightly stronger rear wheel due to less dishing common to 8+ speed cassettes. While I am pleased to use Shimano hubs, many of the boutique hubs offer features not available elsewhere.

Brad

Are you talking about the DT Swiss 350? How do you like the ratchet upgrade? Are there any other upsides besides the reduced "dead zone?" Like durability, reliability, etc.

Nothing else really. I ride my MTB as a SS so I thought I would do the POE upgrade when I did the initial install. It is super easy just take it easy on the special DT Swiss grease provided, just a light coat nothing more.

For comparison I have used for MTB hubs:

Industry Nine
White Industries
Hope

And so far I would say the I9 was the best of them but the DT Swiss is far and away second best but first on the list for ease of servicing, it takes almost no tools to service the hub.

being where people tour ,, realize rims can be damaged in accidents and its more pragmatic to ride on a mid cost mainstream wheel

like a Shimano hub, because In the Busy touring season no body is going to drop everything and build a custom wheel for you in a day..

Good Luck if you buy a boutique hubset .. & custom wheel build.. & crash ..

they have been shipped home and the touring rider is sent off on a common machine built wheel ,

since waiting several days was not in their plan.

Though food drinks and lodging is well supplied here..

How far you could or should spread 'em depends on your perspective. There are technical people, and people who wing their own solutions. You have a medical system that in the best cases is very careful about developing drug protocols, and you have recreational drug takers. Both feel there is a truth in how they operate. No one answer. When I miss or overtake a BP pill I am consoled to think for a moment of Keith Richards. Functioning as a machinist, I like precise fits, but I can crank out a solution if I have to. I don't see any reason to design a sloppy solution with great care from the ground up.

I just bought the same, a 36H M756A rear hub and 36H M756 front hub for my Specialized AWOL, I'm going to Run DT Swiss Champion spokes with DT Swiss 545d 700C rims on them. The DT Swiss 545d rims are awesome. They also come in 26", they're designed for trekking as well as e-bikes, they're dirt cheap and they're really tough.

We also have to keep people safe and the stuff we do at home on our own bikes isn't always good to do for a customer. If I do something crazy to my bike and push it too the limits, that is fine, it is on me and I am the only one to blame but if I am doing it to someone else in a shop I am liable for them and I don't know them or know what they are capable or not capable of, etc. etc. Hopefully you get the point. There is just a lot more liability though we get some bodges done here and there ; )



As far as hubs, Phil's are nice, they do have some weight to them but you usually don't hear people talking bad about their Phil hubs, it is usually build and forget because they run so damn well. Hopefully Paul with come out with some 135 Cassette hubs again (he is working out his own freehub body because Industry 9 stopped making one for him) because so far they are nice and loud (read plenty of quick engagement) and look real nice and like the Phil's are MUSA, high quality and supposedly pretty easy to adjust and work on. CK is fine if you are looking for really lightweight MUSA racey hubs but I don't know for fully loaded touring and heavy commuting but they certainly are top notch so?
Hope and Industry 9 would be another two to consider. Hope would be fun because you can say they were made in Barnwoldswickshiretonabbeyvillesquire upon Avon and be all fancy british plus they are easy to take apart and have some nice colors, maybe the more MTB centric CK of Britland.

Or more likely they are worried about the consequences of doing something non-standard, and having it fail, as it will come back to hit them in lawsuits and the like. Something you and I don't worry about when we are working on our own bikes.