How does one of the worlds cheapest hubs manage to get this rep? Its beyond me.?

Hadley, CK, Philice, WI, Hope boys must be banging their seals to the rafters in disgust.

Tek it. Japs rule the world.

Whilst we are debating King Henry them little tinkerers are packing Mitutoyo micrometers in their sandwich boxes.

I would imagine it comes down to how easily they can be serviced ‘out in the field’ and how the majority of bike shops throughout the world would have spare parts for Shimano hubs.

Eh?

shimano hubs are great

the fact anywhere in the world will fix them cheaply should they go wrong makes them ‘world class’ for tourers….

Forex – you need to get back to the docs, the new pills aren’t working.

😉

eh +1 on the second part of your post!

Actually the XT Trekking group is World Class four tourers.
Personally I wouldn’t take any cartridge bearing hub on a serious, out in the wilds type tour.

Once a cart bearing has failed its game over

You can service a cup and cone wih little more than a cone spanner and spanner

Game winner for world tour.

Who’s King Henry?!?

Who’s King Henry?!?

Chris King I would presume.

Seems correct to me.

Why would you want to tour on an overpriced “lightweight” product you will struggle to get spares for?

My guess is you have done **** all touring? But like reading the magazines and lusting after this overpriced bling?

Just buy some polished wheels for your car or something.

current LX is not that cheap, but it has useful features for touring, chainguards, barrel adjusters, discs, v brake, works iwth loads of shifters ( i have dura ace downtubes + lx rear mech) on the rear mech, looks nice as well. nice hubs without disc mounts, realy that deore or XT trekking.

LX hubs (as with most shimano hubs) last ages if looked after by people who know how and when to use cone spanners. LX also come with nice strong steel hub axles

Kaesae?

I still like cup and cone hubs. Although my good wheels for the mtb are cartridges i have well serviced shimano hubs over a decade old. As noted above far more suited to mega mile international travel.

Haha! Do you think so? Are we about to be offered some bearings?!? 😉

Really, anything above Deore is just showing off – I’ve built round-the-world bikes for people using Deore and it’s been perfect.

A mate rode all over South America on a bike he built with a Hope BigUn on the back because he could service the freewheel very easily – unlike a Shimano. A couple of cartridge bearings isn’t too much effort to carry with you either.

tomaso – Member
A mate rode all over South America on a bike he built with a Hope BigUn on the back because he could service the freewheel very easily – unlike a Shimano. A couple of cartridge bearings isn’t too much effort to carry with you either.

Carrying a spare freehub body and tools to swap it is pretty similar.

Shimano- Fine until the cups go! try finding new cups. Sorry Sir, not available.
I have replaced a cup in an M975 rear hub.
Not going to do it again,
cartridge bearings for me from now on.
Cheers Y’all Kit 🙂

Definitely my new favourite crazy guy.

Really, anything above Deore is just showing off

+1

Shimano- Fine until the cups go! try finding new cups.

You’ll have finished your major tour easily by that time, but you could easily kill your cartridge bearing in a couple of days.

Which bit is the irony? Genuine question, although it may be something to do with me not understanding the last line.

Got some shiny LX hubs o the the tourer, Spa cycles recommended them over the equivalent XT for touring, they were cheaper too. Got a few LX bits on the tourer actually, all preform well.

It’s not bearings that are the problem,it’s free hubs on shimano. I wouldn’t care whether they were cartridge or bearing
, but I would always carry a free hub spare. Much easier to get bearings, cartridge or otherwise In remote areas, but free hubs – your ride ends there and then, period!

I’m with ben on this (but then he usually talks a lot of sense) – just because Deore is cheap compared to what you need to ride round a trail center doesn’t mean it’s not fully functional. Above that level there’s very little difference in the finctionality, just in the weight and bling.

Though what’s actually wrong with Shimano freehubs? How do they break, as I’ve never broken one?

It is possible to replace the cups thought you need a donor hub.

TBF the sealing improves DRAMATICALLY above Deore – LX or equivalent was my benchmark

Deore much easier to set up though – two nuts on each side. XT complete PITA.

I’ve got a set of the hubs below deaore on a hard tail. They are rough but on a tour would still be working. Seald have never let anuthing in

Deore or Lx would be fine touring hubs

Great thread

Hi, Yes to replace the cups required a donor hub which was cannibalised, This Ain’t easy as the cups are not meant to be removed and no provision is made to do this. Once removed from the donor the cup was a different O/d! It would have been easier to make a new cup.
Eventually I managed it and the wheel is now in use.
However I have in the loft from about1999 a very nice wheel with an LX hub which suffered the same problem and I deemed it not worth the hassle back then. (I was thinking of modifying this to cartridge bearings at that ppoint in time but never got to doing it)
Cheers Y’all Kit 🙂

Sangobegger has it.

With your fancy hubs youll also be needing to be carrying the freehub gubbings too

Forgot to say that I was able to purchase new cups for a Campagnolo record hub(but this wasfrom the 1970s)
Also there used to be rear hubs with a screw on block on one side and a single fixed cog on t’other side. I alwaysknew these as “Track hubs” Sounds like one of these might be a good idea for a round the world tour.
Cheers again Kit 🙂

My winter commuter bike has shimano cup/cone and they are still smooth
After 4 years use in mostly crappy weather hub body is still fine to
Just need a little tlc now and then but its so easy to do

The cones in my 80 year old Sunbeam are starting to show slight signs of pitting now, so I figure that’s reasonable reliability. My 60 year old Humber has perfect cones. The only thing wrong with cones are can’t be bothered owners who don’t do maintenance.

And you can run cup and cone offroad for long distances. Here’s some early offroaders on a several thusand mile transcontinental jaunt – before roads.

Francis Birtles, Warren & Robert Lennie, at Eucla WA, 1907. Lennies attempting Perth-Sydney record (pic from “The Bicycle and the Bush”.

And you can run cup and cone offroad for long distances. Here’s some early offroaders on a several thusand mile transcontinental jaunt – before roads.

No NORBA geometry there – slack is where it’s at! 😉

chiefgrooveguru – Member
No NORBA geometry there – slack is where it’s at!

Notice that they are all on 29ers 🙂

You don’t understand irony really do you? 😉

FWIW, I get about the same mileage from shimano freehubs as I do cartridge bearings (about 2 years regular use).

If I was heading off for a proper tour (i.e. riding outside Europe or round the world) there’s no way I’d use anything but shimano. Fancy trying to track down Hope pawl springs, or DT star ratchets in Africa? But there’ll be a shimano dealer, and if not, it’s cheep. Given a choice you could bin the whole wheel and buy a replacement for the cost of a couple of nights in a travelodge* waiting for a replacement part. Unlikely to feel the same about a £150 Hope hub!

*admittedly you’re not likely to be spending that much on accommodation.

glupton1976 – Member

Kaesae?

Nowhere near enough anti governmental ranting, hasn’t joined in with the discussion disagreeing with everyone, and doesn’t really ask any questions.

And to top it all, no laser beams!

Notice that they are all on 29ers

28ers to be precise! 😉

http://g-tedproductions.blogspot.co.uk/p/beginnings-of-modern-29er-history.html

chiefgrooveguru – Member
“Notice that they are all on 29ers”
28ers to be precise!

In Oz they often used bigger tyres – 2″ was quite popular – so I reckon it’s fair to call them 29ers. 🙂

Pretty sure these guys have them – they look bigger than the 28″ tyres on my dreadnought.

Alex & Frank White abt 1900. Second round Australia ride. (Pic from “The Bicycle and the Bush”)