I was just wondering if anyone has got some good use out of shimano hubs? I say this as I have just had a warranty hub sent to me due to the original one. which was worn out/broken after about approx 150-200 miles of mainly dry riding. The main bearings were going stiff as soon as the cones were adjusted up nice and smooth they would seize up after a few turns of the pedals on the bike. Also the freehub had so much play in it that it was shaking about like a bag of marbles.

I have always had doubts over the Shimano hubs in the past. I have used them over the years and freehubs were rattly etc after not a lot of use. I started using Hope XC/ Bulb hubs. Of which I never had any problems with, the freehub on the Hopes being very good and reliable. I know they don't spin as free as the Shimano cup/cone bearing design. The front Shimano hubs always seem to be very good. I only bought these new hubs as I wanted to run centre lock discs rotors and save a few quid. I thought that the newer XT M775 hubs were a decent weight for Shimano hubs! Also they had a newer freehub design with more engagements and a thicker alloy axle. It seems that they are worse than even the older heavier rear hubs for lasting though!

I'm in two minds about building up with the new hub and getting something else. Is there anything out there other than Hope or King thats worth a look and not in the King price range?

Never had a problem. I have found the bearings last longer than cartridge ones if looked after. Freehubs die at the same rate as my Hope ones. Never snapped an axle in any hub though.

You sure your tightening the cones correctly?

I've had a number of XT disc hubs over the years and they've lasted for a long time and taken a lot of grit and grime in their stride. No complaints from me.

Was there not something about a year ago about new XT hubs seizing very early on? Definately rings a bell. Use the older £22 XT ones from On-One myself and dont have a problem.

Adjusting bearings is not out of reach for me. They were perfect. I have adjusted wheel bearings a lot in Shimano hubs over the years. I have never got as much use out of Shimano hubs as Hopes etc. I was just wondering if anyone else had problems with Shimano hubs.

Just had a new(ish) XT hub loosen it's locknuts right off after maybe 200 miles

Nothing sctually wrong inside & now grease-packed & properly tightened but still smacks of poor assembly. Mate's wheel did the same (well, oposite) to him & locked solid on a ride a few wks ago

xt hubs are superb. if i wasn't such a sheep and felt the need for clicky hubs, i'd have them on all my bikes.

Shimano hubs are fantastic IME. I've still got a set of Shimano 600 (pre-Ultegra) hubs from about 94 which work perfectly, they've only been serviced a few times and it's the original freehub.
OK Shimano hubs (even the XTR ones) aren't the lightest around but they're generally super reliable as well as being cheap and easy to service.

the freehubs always have play in them, it's anoying because it meses with the shifting.

I usualy get about 2 years out of shimno freehub, before the pawl's/springs dissintegrate.

Hubs get dissasembled as and when i can be bothered, every 6 weeks or so in winter, and once or twice over the summer.

If they realy dont last that long then you are either SFB, or you'r not as good at adjusting the cones as you'd like to think.

I have XT hubs on three bikes, they've run faultlessly for years with no tinkering from me. I've had problems with cheaper freehubs (Deore, STX) in the past but the XTs have never missed a beat.

ive had xt hubs on my cx for years (infact ive had the same hubs built on to various rims ) and they are now on their 5th cx bike lol

I'm a big lad, not as big as I used to be, but still Big (15st). I gave up on Shimano hubs a long time ago as they just constantly rattled apart. It's interesting that you comment on the front hubs as I never had problems with front hubs either. I always put it down to be being a bit of a heifer and transferring too much stress down to the poor rear hubs. Mind you, I don't think I ever had anything better than Deore. These would have come with the bikes before being replaced with the Hope hubs that I now run pretty much exclusively on my bikes.

B. 🙂

As long as you service cup and cone hubs fairly regularly they will last ages (i usually service my road hubs every year). I have a pair of road/ cx wheels that are at least 12 years old and are still running nicely (shimano 600 hubs on mavic open pro cd).

Had a Shimano on the bike when i got it in 04, didnt make the first year, that was with zero maintenance mind you, replaced it with a Hope XC did its first service this week… 4 1/2 years before I even cleaned out the freehub, and it still didnt need new bearings.

Shimano seem good if your into fiddling about with it, if you just want it to survive neglect, pay a bit more. Thousands of different cartridge bearing hubs about, I have often thought there must be something else thats as good for less…. But its hard to argue with Hope ones.

My hubs are just reaching the 4 year mark. Going to be replaced in the next 6 months as they are on the way out.

Maybe this was a bad hub I got. I will build it back up tonight on the rim and see how it goes. I'm 16-17 stone so fairly heavy. I thought Shimanos Cup n cones were stronger than cartridge bearings. Its more the freehubs that have worn out in the past faster than I would have liked. This hub managed to naff the hub spindle bearingsa up, plus thw freehub! It only happened after I did a bit of pannier riding for a couple of days last month with about 8KG on the back! Also I had a big off with panniers on in a wood on a fire road going at about 30MPH! maybe the rack twisted the hub when the bike hit the floor etc. I have a new hub anyhow to try again with. Thanks to Wiggle the service was first class on getting me a new one, refunded return postage, had a new one sent the week after.

XT hubs on my ht have been going for 1200 miles+ are are now on my 575, working a treat!

The locknuts on my XT hubs came loose quite quickly, but no durability issues (yet).

Yes the bearings are ok and serviceable but the freehubs aren't. They're crap. Another problem I've had is axles snapping. Oh, and freehubs freezing in proper winter conditions.
At least with Hope you can service the freehub in 5 minutes. That and the bearings last a long time (a lot longer than cup n cone in my experience).
That said, Shimano are ok for non-mountain biking duties.

oddly enough I have an XT 20mm front hub in front of me and straight out of the box its been assembled too tightly – the bearings are stiff and you can feel the texture of the metal – I need to get myself a 28mm cone spanner anyway, then it'll be a strip, pack with proper grease and set cones properly.

I know the "sciencey bit" about cup and cone being more appropriate for the lateral loads of a bicycle wheel, but Id pick serviceable/replaceable sealed bearing units any day.

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Funny enough I will never have pedals with loose bearings in them as they never seem to last! The main reason I'm going to build the hub back on the rim is I would need new length spokes, as I would never be lucky enough to get ones that would fit from the Shimano to a Hope hub. Also I would need a new disc rotor, XTR centre lock at moment so I would need a similar quality 6 bolt rotor for an Hope hub. Centre lock is good though but thats another debate!

Sounds like you have a loose locknut which ****ed them.

I have a pair of 1990 XT hubs on one bike, 2003 xt and xtr on another, 90's 105 on another.

I've got a Shimano Deore rear hub, and ive never had any problems, its done; dirts jumps to DH stuff + the normal XC type of riding and it just keeps on spining 🙂

we have a set of 2 year XTs that are not really well but a set of 9 year XTRs that are great

7000 miles on a pair of Shimano wheels for me, road and light off road. Had to replace the freehub once, and the bearings were replaced as part of a grease/service. Still prefer cartridge bearings on other bikes though.

never had problem with cones,free-hub however three in twelve months is to many, had hope since 2002 no problem. wouldn't have shimanoo chucked at me 😡 (xt 756)

Had a Deore seize up on me completely a few weeks back, but I replaced it with another Deore as it had done me 5 years.

I think my Exage ones are 17 years old now, still going strong My more recent XTs have done 6 months or so, I've retired them now but just because I got better wheels, they never missed a beat otherwise.

I had 8 years use out of the stx hubbed wheels that came on my 1999 East Peak. They hubs got junked when the rims wore through as it was not economical to have them built into a new set of wheels.

The original LX hubs from my '96 Orange C16R served me well for 5 or 6 years, they were then rebuilt into some wheels for my mate and they have now moved on to another home and are still going strong.

Another here with the locknuts coming loose on XT hubs, Ive had 3 shimano hubs do it to me in a year on more than one occasion they havent had a hard time either 😕

I'm on with saving some cash up for a Hope rear hub instead now 8) My front hopes been a gem.

I've never had a problem with my Shimano hubs, but I do like fiddling with things which are mechanical or bike related. Have got a deore rear hub that's still spinning nicely which is about five years old and has had about three years regular use which I ought to have serviced but havn't done yet.

Making sure they're well greased yourself seem's to be a theme on here which I didn't know about before I started reading threads on here, and a bloke in a bike shop told my friend that they tend to tighten thier cones a bit too much, but I don't know true it is.

Being only 12.5 stone i've never had problems with axles breaking or anything like that though, or anything else breaking or suddenly going wrong. Thier quality seem's okay to me from using them.

Tim

Shimano hubs are useful if you like taking your bike into foreign mountains – everybody can get you the bearings or whatever you need.

as with others on here,
had no probs with shimano hubs,
run a deore 1000s of touring miles, and its still going strong after a regrease (which wasnt actually needed),
also have xt and another deore hub on my other bikes again no issues,
simplicity seems to win in my eyes

Another plus for Shimano hubs – Ive ridden mine in all sorts & raced them as well (Downieville & enduro stuff as well) & not a single problem. In fact so good they are coming off my old HT & going on my new FS.