MrsIHN has a Dawes Duchess shopper that she loves, and rides it the couple of miles to work every day. It’s pretty great to be honest, proper sit up and beg shopper, just the thing for the job.

However, it wasn’t terribly expensive and consequently the components on it are pretty basic, especially the wheels, which have hubs on which there is next to no sealing (and I’m pretty sure the axle on the front isn’t actually straight…).

After a winter of daily use, they’re pretty rumbly, and last night I whacked a load of grease in which improved things a bit. Is there any way I can improve the sealing on them, or is it just a case of keeping them regularly packed with grease? I’d look out for some better second hand ones, but they’re an odd size and the rear takes a screw on 7spd cassette, so I’m guessing finding ‘decent’ ones will be tricky.

Drill a hole in the middle of the hubshell and fit a self tapping screw. Remove screw occasionally and purge with fresh grease.

“screw on 7spd cassette” = freewheel

Raleigh Tru-build come in 26 and 27″ screw-on freewheel varieties for around £60 for the pair.. nothing fancy but solid enough. Available from your LBS with a Raleigh account.

That’s interesting, what are the hubs like on the Raleighs?

what are the hubs like on the Raleighs?

like all current cheap hubs, perfectly adequate IF setup and lubed right.

The problem is most C+C hubs (including posher Shimano) come from the factory* with far too much preload set and far too little grease, they get bolted on as-is and then slowly destroy themselves.

Even the cheapest, crappily sealed C+C hubs can go on for years and years on a town commuter if filled with a decent waterproof grease and adjusted properly before use. 20-30 mins prep before use, and then the occasional service can make the difference between them lasting decades vs months/years, once the damage is done it’s done, so better to prevent it in the first place.

* It’s a pet hate of mine that most bike shops these days do not check/adjust as part of their PDI or pre-delivery routine 🙁

Is it 700C? Buy a pair of touring wheels and fit a 7speed cassette.

Something like this isn’t ridiculously expensive and will last forever.
http://dcrwheels.co.uk/products/wheelsets/shimano-touring-2/

Is it 700C?

Nope. Bigger than 26″, smaller than 700c, in fact it could be bang on trend 650b 🙂 FWIW, the rim diameter is about 24″