points for lightness and reliability.

i like hope, but too pricey. i’ll keep looking for secondhand, but could take forever, so please recommend me a cheap but reliable rear disc hub around the 350g mark.

ta

Best what? What spec/detail is most important to you?
Fastest freehub pickup speed, servicable freehub, weight, not cup/cone, least rolling resistance, quiet, loud, able to run singlespeed sprokets (not paying for widebody ones), axle compatibility/type (5mm QR, 10mm bolt up/nutted, 10mm thru QR, 12mm 135/142), ease of axle type changing, colour, logo garishness, warranty, reliability, brand name?

A Superstar Switch Evo is very similar to a hope pro II, same freehub pickup speed (24points/revolution), similar 300gish weight, cartridge bearings, mutliple axle type and ability to take different axles, as loud freewheel noise, if not louder, multiple colour choice
Differences are probably warranty, name, logo garishness and unknown reliability? Not sure if switch evos will take a SS sprocket
for reliability all Ive got to go on is a few threads on here on old pro II (not evo) bodys cracking around spoke holes

Shimano SLX have a 32point pickup speed with traditional/proper cup/cone setup for ~£35. you could put a 10mm solid (threaded) axle with nuts on if you wanted to stiffen up a bit from the 5mm QR
Something like 380g or so though and centre lock only

Shimano XT has a 36point pickup speed with a different cup/cone assembly that Ive read can undo itself more than the normal cup/cone type used on SLX (tighten normal ones up plenty and IME they dont undo). I reckon Id be adding a bit of threadlock ought to cure any issue?
Still ~330/340g, cant remember. around £50
With the odd cup/cone arrangement unless you can CNC/mill something up, you’re stuck with 5mm QR. No option of going 10mm thru bolt/QR
There is a 12mm/142mm thru axle version available but you’d be stuck with that too and I guess will be like the shimano 15/20mm front hubs which need special (££) sized cone spanners to service
Also centrelock only, at least in 5mmQR, not sure

OnOne has (had?) a hub for £40 which comes standard with a 10mm thru bolt QR (they fit in QR frames). It looks as if it must be cartridge bearing. Weight is claimed as 305g. When I asked them what the pickup speed was and how loud it was, they said it was loud, but didnt know what the pickup speed was

Must be more to choose fro out there

Have a look on pinkbike, I just found a rear hope xc hub in blue for £50 or there is a set of mavic 325 on hope xc for £100 ( £60 just for the rear). Hope xc hubs do last for years and easily rebuilt, compared to shitemano!

last year I paid under a £100 for an unused wheel, hope hub, mavic rim (819), tubless tyre and good cassete

so keep your eyes peeled

shimano.

Shimano XT, no question! 🙂

XT, although they are porky. That’s their only downside I can see.

reggiegasket – Member

XT, although they are porky. That’s their only downside I can see.

For the money, are they heavy?

Had a set of Shimano XT M756 hubs for 6 years now, Still working fine. I serviced the rear recently for the first time, just a clean and regrease….to my surprise they’re now as good as new.

They’ve not had the hardest life, but have done alot of miles. Probably 50-60 commuting miles and 20 off road/trail centre miles per week on average for the last year to 18 months, then varied the rest of the time (including about 18 months in a damp garage)

Was £30 at tweeks cycles last week for a rear hub

Another vote for XT here. The M785 loses some weight over previous versions, although it’s CL only (i use 6 bolt discs with a Superstar CL->6 bolt converter). It’s weight at the hub so it has minimal effect on the feel of the wheel. You also get the fantastic Shimano QR skewer with it. And the freehub body is steel, so no chewing up from the cassette. Very quick freewheel pick up as well.

Cheap here

http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/shimano-deore-xt-rear-wheel-hub-disc-fh-m785/aid:515785

For the money, are they heavy?

For the money you could go on ebay and buy circus monkey hubs that weigh less than an XT rear for a pair! Probably not as ‘good’ as shimano in other ways though.

For cheepness I like shimano, the only thing I don’t like is the freehubs always seemed to die catastrophicaly with no warning, and the freehub isn’t servicable, at least Hope you can dissasemble and look for broken pawls or springs.

another vote for circus monkey hubs i built a pair up with revs and stans arch 29er rims bloody light i stripped them down when i got them and packed all the cartridge bearings with rock and roll super webbing grease and lubed the pawls and they are perfect still 6 months on good for the money and easy to strip and service

Also as others have said cant go wrong with xt from rose bikes or keep your eye’s peeled and wait for a hope to come up cheap 😉

My XT 785 is about 330g, so not that bad.

I’ve got a couple of CT and they are unexcitingly fine I guess. Interesting to get votes for circus monkey.

I should have said I want 6 bolt and qr. Ya for responses.

DMR 9 Speed Cassete Hub. Middling weight, run on two cartridge bearings which are easy and cheap to replace. Spare freehubs have gone up this year to £29.99 but overall still good value in my opinion. Black or red available.