So I’m looking at building a new 29er wheelset for my xmas pressie…for XC racing – rims will either be carbon LB or Derby.

I really like the look of 2013 AC hubs – seem very good £ / g

Does anyone have experience with these hubs?
– durable?
– sealing?
– easy to build with?
– engagement?
– best place to buy / any deals on now / near future

(I have had experience of ProII’s, SS switch/tesla, LX, DMR revolver, and dt swiss 350)

Second bonus related question, I think (see other thread!) my scales rear dropout is 135 QR. Can I fit other axle types than a QR – should I bother? I presume it will help increase stiffness. All the options are a bit confusing.

I have am wheelset, and for me hubs are superb, spin for ages, good pick up, easy to convert front and rear axels, easy to re-place bearings.

I’ve got the 26 XC wheels/hubs, very impressed, got them serviced in the middle of the season this year and it was very easy and pretty cheap to do considering there are 6 roller bearings in the rear hub.

What the others said. Very impressed with mine.

Had a set for 4 or 5 years, now on my winter/bad conditions hard tail. They’ve been solid, reliable, spin like they’re never gonna stop and even have a nice understated purr. What’s not to like?

My dad has some.

Thanks to a cunning freehub mechanism they roll very very freely indeed – starting to freewheel makes the drive pawls actually pull away from the ratchet and stay pulled away. It does this using a spring with a flattened end and a star shaped pawl plate. If you’re not on top of your maintenance the spring and ratchet wear and the hub starts slipping.

So mostly great, but not perfect if you’re a bit lazy like my dad was…!

Got a set of AC 26 – lovely hubs. Very quiet compared to my Hopes which took some getting used to. Spin much longer than my Hopes do.

Thanks chaps.

Has anyone bought the 135 x 10 rear? Did it come with a 10mm bolt thru like a DT swiss RWS?

I have two sets, one less than a year old and the other six years old.

Dead easy to work on and maintain, been able to upgrade axles easily as bikes have changed.

I would recommend when it comes to bearing replacement time to get £10 SKS jobs rather than cheaper alternatives. The relatively small bearing size benefits a lot from the higher quality bearing.

The old style got very mixed reviews but most people seem happy with the newer versions.

My old style rear hub got through bearings far too fast.

I have had the new style rear hub since July and needed the bearings replacing after the first muddy Summer ride this year. Very strange and uncharacteristic when compared to how people really rate AC. The rear has also developed a significant amount of play which I am in the process of trying to remedy.

All in all, they should be great but I am yet to love and trust AC 😕 My ProII/ Stans Alpine wheelset has done 2 years without any maintenance and without issues by comparison.

I forget which far East manufacturer it is but someone like Circus Monkey or Novatec produce very, very similar hubs to AC with the same shell and freehub but at a fraction of the price and same weight. Maybe someone with a better memory can help here?

One of my hubs is a 135 x 10 rear, converted from the QR original. Used with a DT RWS.

I assume a new hub would not come with any sort of skewer.

I have a set for about 3 yrs very light & fast but had to replace bearings on each twice no big deal but had a set of DT 240’s for over 6 yrs never had to replace bearing yet

I would also say 240’s roll faster

I did look at 240s but they are £180 more for the hub set and weigh slightly more… Plus the graphics are a bit crap….

I have never noticed the weight difference TBH but if this helps I am also gonna be building a 29 wheel set from JRA & I will uses ACs instead of 240s mainly due to price.