Just been cleaning the Fargo and spot a broken spoke, so thoughts naturally turn to rebuilding the wheel if it gets to be a habit. Tomorrow I’ll just pop along to LBS for a replacement and a spare. Current wheelset was the first 29er wheelset to turn up in the classifieds after I got the frame, so I didn’t think too hard what I wanted, it’s a Bontrager Mustang disc set with Shimano FH-525 rear, 32 hole. Now I’ve been stockpiling a pair of Hope XC for just this moment, but after living with silent hubs again, I don’t want to go back to the buzz of Hopes for touring and lighter off road stuff.

So if you were building a strong and silent 29er rear wheel, what hub would you go for? And would you stick with 32 spokes?

Dt swiss? 350 or 240 if you have the cash

New hope 40t are meant to be quieter than the older ones

Hope with too much grease? If its bathed in grease it will be silent, bonus silence if you forget to pop the labyrinth seal back in.

I remember my formula hubs being silent on my old wheels, the ambrosia hubs on my dads roadie are pretty silent as well (although not disc).

I’m not sure DT swiss 240 and 350 hubs are silent but they aren’t offensively loud.

American classic. Lovely hubs, and light.

Loving my DT Swiss rear hub noise over my Hope Pro 2 racket.

DT240 certainly not silent. Not loud either though. Formula do a rather nice cartridge bearing hub which is silent and very low friction, heavy though- not sure if you can buy it aftermarket.

DT240s are nigh on silent with a couple of drops of Pedros on the ratchets. My last bottle is going down…

Stealth rear hub is silence was the most important factor

Stealth MTB Rear Hub

Glad to know that it’s not just me that doesn’t enjoy the sound of clack.

Old OEM Formula hubs on some spare wheels I put on my stealth bike, very silent and stealthy. Came on some Alex Rims wheels.

+1 for the packed hope hub.

Ive recently bought the new 40t hope hub, and happy to say its just as noisy, if not more than the older version

^
Yup, the 40t Hopes are still far from quiet! May have to try putting a drop of grease in mine.

Stick with Shimano.

Fargo eh….
I have a pair of Shimano XT hubs in the “one day this will be a Fargo” box, along with a saddle.

Cheers all, will keep an eye out for bargain DT and American Classic if I go with a rebuild. Spokes are plain gauge 1.8mm on the current build, I think they are OEM on older Trek Superfly, so not really designed for my fat ass and panniers bouncing down bridleways on the Fargo.