I'm reworking my GT Xizang, a vintage titanium front-suspension mountain bike, to use for short touring. I'm looking to build a pair of touring wheels, and wonder what you guys suggest for hubs.

I've been running Shimano XTR hubs front and rear, in 32-spoke Mavic 717 rims. But I recently got a Mavic 719 36-spoke rim for building up a new rear wheel. I still need to buy a rear hub. Is there something that would be more durable and reliable under a load?

budget? the deore 529 would be adequate. 32(i think) engagement points and a high torque free hub

My whole bike is currently using Shimano XTR components. I would like to go with as good as, if not better, for touring with loads. And for the rear, wouldn't 36 spokes be stronger under a load than 32?

I'm wondering if any of you have any real world suggestions for hubs for touring that would be stronger and more reliable than Shimano XTR.

I don't know hardly anything technically speaking about bicycle components. When something needs replacing, my lbs understands to install the manufacturer's mid price part, figuring that way I get the most for my bucks. Has worked very well for 5 years and thousands of miles.

It seems that the lighter a part is the more it cost and the more fragile. A buddy ordered some high price hubs for a new LHT. Rear one failed after 300 miles and left him stranded in Big Sur. Go figure.

Yes. But, depending on your needs, not categorically necessary.

Phil Wood. Hubs pretty much do not come any stronger or more reliable. But if you don't like the cost of admission, White Industries or Velocity make a good po' man's Phil.

+1, but then again, your XTR or even XT will be more than adequate for anything you can throw at the wheel.

I have XTR hubs on 1 bike and XT hubs on another.

I'll be truly surprised if I ever have significant problems with either set.

I've looked at Phil Woods hubs a couple of times, and haven't been able to justify the price premium.

Like with so many thinks in bicycles, there's diminishing returns as one goes up in price. I think the sweet spot with road level hubs is 105, and with MTB stuff it is XT. You can pay more to get marginally better quality, aesthetics and lighter weight but you really can't wrong with these unless you are doing something really harsh. Phil Wood stuff is pretty and gives you great bling factor but it is totally overkill IMO. Nothing wrong with them, just that if money is plentiful enough to get those I'd invest it doing a custom wheel set with better rims using XT or 105 hubs instead and use the extra money to tour with. Of course, YMMV.

XT here as well... I go for Ultegra on my 130mm bike. Even if I had a gadzillion $$s I wouldn't go for anything better for my bikes/needs - loaded touring and commuting.

edit: though I guess if I had a gadzillion $$s I wouldn't even need my commuter bike

In the past XT was the best touring hub and XTR was nice if you could afford it BUT the design seems to have changed in recent years with thicker aluminium axles, smaller drive-side bearings and more than a few reports of thin-walled freehubs cracking.
Are the folks who advise an XT talking about their venerable old model or the new one?
I went bit downmarket for my hub, to LX. This used to be a solid MTB hub but now the name has been applied to a trekking hub with conventional steel axle and downgraded seals. It works well like all Shimano mid-market gear.
Shimano now dont make a quality hub which is ideal for touring.

Phil Woods is the best touring hub. It is more than just bling, it is very strong and durable and you can easily remove the freehub in the field for spoke repair.

I had to remove my Shimano cassette a few times using a Next Best Thing tool. Not as good as the Best Thing (A Pamir Hypercraker).

i said 32 engagement points not spokes. i would go with 36 spokes definitely. what is as good and better to you? current xtr and xt have an aluminum axle, this has limited life but when it fails not sure, could be never. the axle is also harder to come by than a standard 10x1. slx is also a good group that has a hub with a high torque freehub. i would really consider these hubs with the high torque free hub. cup and cone hubs can get easily 5k miles between over hauls

If you are capable of breaking ratchets then get the XT or XTR otherwise any cheap shimano hub will work I recommend getting a hub with the six bolt brake hub first choice or the spline brake hub second choice here is a photo https://share.ovi.com/media/currentre...resident.10049 the reason for this is the brake hubs move the cone farther out this places less stress on the axle it also reduces the play in the wheel. This wheel has 20000 miles touring on it. Use wheelsmith DH spokes. I'm mentioned here https://www.wheelfanatyk.blogspot.com/ for my mathmaticle analysis of spokes.

just a thought for the group, if you were stuck in the boonies and your bike was dunked in 2' of water and the hubs flooded as the bike is dragged through a muddy ditch which set of bearings will cause you less problems, a regular Deore/XT or any of the sealed hubs out there? How sealed are sealed (is there a range of quality?) and if they do get water in them how well can they run compared to conventional bearings with lots of grease?

I think 32 spokes on a well-built 26" wheel is perfectly strong. I'm not the lightest guy and that's what I use on my 26" wheeled touring bike (I run 36 on my 700c bike). I'd stay with the XTR hub and 32 spokes if you already have the setup. Indeed, I have that very setup for my 26" wheeled bike, although I also just picked up a very nice set of White Industries hubs built with 32 spokes onto Bontrager rims and am running those now.

The big advantages, as others have noted about some of the higher-end cartridge-bearing hubs is the ability to easily disassemble the rear hub using nothing but two 5mm Allen wrenches (for the Phil, Hadley, and maybe others). Makes maintenance and spoke repair very easy. The cartridge bearings themselves are also handy.

This is an everyday situation in mountain biking. XT would be just fine. What you need to do is regular maintenance, just like any other hub, and keep things properly lubricated. In general, hubs are mostly trouble free if used within their specs and maintained. For evidence, look at the number of beat up old mtb bikes around. It's the spokes and rims that go usually, not the hub.

I have never heard of a Shimano axle , steel or alu breaking. The issue is diameter and bearing size.
At new style aluminium axle of XT/XTR takes 13x 3/16" bearings instead of the old standard of 9x 1/4"
This is smaller and subject to higher stress and wear.

Does anyone know if the freehub is the same design or has that been changed to accomodate a wider diameter axle? If so, how?

I vote for XT as the biggest bang for the buck. XT hubs will probably outlast XTR in a purely touring use but both will work well. In Shimano's MTB lineup, XT and XTR get boron coated bearing races in the hub. Boron is the second hardest substance on earth. A good well built set of 36 spoke wheels built with XT hubs and strong rims (ie. Mavic X717 or Velocity Aerohead or Synergy) will be almost indestructible when properly maintained. XTR, Phil Wood etc. may be incrementally better but all cost considerably more. You have the added benefit of the hubs using parts and technology that are so common that most any LBS can work on the bike if need be in some remote location. You can buy these hubs for less than half the price of an XTR with all of the same basic technology and only slightly heavier.

As stated above, this is not incredibly rare for mountain bikes. I have XT hubs in the wheels I built for my XC race rig and rode 1/4 mile through water above the hubs last season during a race. As a precaution, I did a rebuild with fresh bearings a week or two after the race. These hubs had no water inside of them and perhaps 200 miles on them since the race. I'll go with XT every time for touring. By the way, as a testament to the strength and durability of the XT hub, Shimano's Tandem specific hub is actually an XT hub with 145 mm spacing on the back and slightly larger flange for the front. Other than that, they are the same. These hubs routinely carry 300 - 550 lbs on tandems including touring applications. It's hard to find that kind of durability for $55.

I think the bigger bang would be in the kind of hub you have. The less dish the better, which starts to conflict with the latest designs out there. My M15 White hubs are pretty extreme. I'm building out some MA2 36 hole rims I have, and I am currently thinking of the Riv/Phil freewheel hubs, since I come from the freewheel generation, and the cassette hub advantage doesn't get me all excited, plus the spoke angles should be better.

The main advantage to the Phil was when Shimano had axle problems with their freewheel hubs. Having addressed that with cassette hubs, the current problem area is the cassette shell. Phil has addressed that, but the hubs are pretty heavy. Whites are cheaper and lighter, and have the Ti shells. You can also get better hubs from DT which uses the superior loose bearing model, but in a super hub, or there are Chris King hubs, which come from a great headset company.

Myself, I haven't even managed to break an LX freehub, which sorta sucks to the extent that I could then righteously stomp off and buy one of these super hubs for a real reason. At the moment, they are just nicer parts, not so far necessary. And in my case I was riding at near tandem loads on 700c...

mmm phil wood is what i roll on.

Rohloff, duh.

I roll on Alexis world tourers (26"). They are fantastic, can handle a load, and are much stronger than the larger 700cc. You don't go as fast, but if you've got a ton of gear, you won't anyway. Plus they are moderately priced.

Phil. Nothing more need be said, but I will anyway. My mate and I have wheels with Phil Wood hubs that have had hundreds of thousands of trouble-free miles over very demanding terrain. When you want reliable, it is the only game in town.

I've used XTR hubs on a 2500 mile tour while pulling a trailer and found that the largest rear sprocket bent under use. XTR seems to be designed to favour lightness and this sprocket was not solid enough for the job. XT has always been my favourite for heavy touring.

WHERE do you guys find the best deals on new hubs?