hi all….. is there much difference between these hubs for weight and reliability etc…..im currently using hope hubs but cant afford hope on new wheel!…..cheers

Not really any diference that you'd notice, you'd probally be better with 6 bolt so you could use your current rotors.

you can get adaptors to convert a splined hub to a 6 bolt

Can't find a weight on the Shimano website for XT hubs with 6-bolt, but I'd imagine they're slightly heavier (which may be compensated for by the weight of the rotor?) than the centre lock ones.

Internals will be the same.

I've heard that some 6-bolt rotors don't sit correctly when used with adaptors; doesn't matter so much if you've got brakes which come with either kind of disc (which will be Shimano, Avid, & what else?)

Andy

From what I understand, the splined have more points of engagement and are significantly lighter (6-bolt is around 450g iirc, splined is 3XXg). Can't speak to the reliability of the splined ones but the 6-bolts have had a fair few complaints about sealing. Basically the 6-bolt (M756?) hasn't been updated since 2004-ish. Someone on a similat thread recently said that a splined hub with a SuperStar adapter was still lighter than the 6-bolt.

But, I didn't have much to complain about with the 6-bolts while I had them 😛

The splined hubs I have are better sealed than the 6 bolts i've had but I can't remember the model numbers. The one thing to watch out for is that the diameter of the flanges on the splined hubs are smaller and I would guess where most of the weight saving comes from, the downside to this is it builds a more flexy/weaker wheel. I didn't know that before I bought them and I wouldn't use them again due to that.