Looking at casette prices and wondering.. are the freehub bodies a straight swap between the brands ?

Can I remove the XD freehub and pop a Shimano standard splined freehub on there with no problems?

Does it very much depend on teh wheel manufacturer and some will, some wont ?

Any real benefit going with XD over Shimano ? Will be running a 1 x 10 or 1 x 11 on a fatbike. I have teh mechs and shifters for both, its just about the freehub

Depends on the hub model.

Other than that its just down to preference, do you want a 10 up cassette, or an 11 up cassette.

Shimano does 11 speed without a special freehub

OP – changing freehub will depend on the make and model of your hub.

Most do now, any new hub comes with what you want mostly.
Shimano don’t make an XD freehub body for some reason….

Pro’s for XD?
No cassette gouging
Bigger Range
Lighter Cassettes
GX is a decent price and weight

Con’s
Top end is more expensive

Lower ratios are more usefull than lower .. is that the right way round ?

Climbing ability more important than speed. Its fatbiking in snow that it will be doing…

Are the freehub sizes and internals standard and bought in, or do each hub manufacturer make their own?

It’s as hard as removing a freehub normally is really. I’d not want to do it regularily with some finicky hubs like my old WTBs but for DT frinstance and I assume Hope, it’s dead simple. And yep, hub specific just like any other freehub so price also varies quite a lot.

Don’t think of it as higher or lower gears though, it’s range- how high the gear is depends on the front ring, I’ve used my XD on the big bike to lower the front ring and get more low gears without sacrificing high.

Same as a regular/old fashioned freehub, the only bit that is a standard is the way the cassette mounts, whatever goes inside is their own special blend. Had a good fiddle when my hope one arrives nice bit of kit, clever mounting idea and the cassette design works well.

Lower ratios are more usefull than lower .. is that the right way round ?

Climbing ability more important than speed. Its fatbiking in snow that it will be doing…
Think I get you, bigger range means lower gears for the same top end.
If you were 11-40 and a 32 then you could probably get the same top end from 10-42 with a 28 or something, much lower gears for no loss at the top.

Thanks for the tip on GX Mike.

Hub is currently XD but was staggered at teh cassette prices vs shimano, hence asking if a Hope or Mavic Shimano hub would go straight across.

For those new wheels Rick? Surely you want the lightest regardless of cost? 🙂

from somebody elses thread
……………………XT……XTR…..X1-…..X01…..XX1
shifter……………..145…..116…..121…..125…..125
Rear cassette(11-42)….433…..—…..—…..—…..—
Rear cassette(11-40)….412…..331…..—…..—…..—
rear cassette(10-42)….—…..—…..315…..268…..268

Think as Northwind pointed out on another thread the GX is 391g, fairly sure the XD body is lighter too. I’ve seen them about £90 and I’d expect another cheaper level one along next year and a bit of a price drop on them in general. Got no fault with mine and I’ve hammered it for the last 4 months.

Nice one Colin…. I cant wait to get the bike built up and out. Full on blizzard here and forecast 8 days of snow.

The new wheels came with an XD freehub and hands up, its my error on the order.

They replied in 20mins of sending a mail and a Shimano / standard hub is posted out FOC…. Cant fault that. Saving grace is I’m waiting on tyres.

XD = 11spd and new buying a cassette @ €99 / chain €? / shifter €34

Shimano = 10spd. I have 10spd cassette chain and shifter already in the bits box