Reliability is key! Anyone got any suggestions? 🙂

Hope. Both my XC and Pro II have been running for years with no issues. Availability of spares is good, and you always have Hope’s legendary customer service to fall back on if need be.

You’ll not go far wrong with hope. I’ve got a few on various bikes. All flawless.

Go DT swiss if you want to spend more

I think that shimano hubs are often used by the touring crowd. They can be easily serviced with common tools and regular loose ball bearings, and freehub bodies are widely available.

I’ve used all of the above mentioned. For ease of maintenance I’d suggest Hope, but I’ve had axles break on the old XC hubs. Having said that the hub carried on and on and on and on… even with the busted axle.

I’ve been using DT Swiss 240s for the past five years, the hubs are the best I’ve ever used (I cannot comment on Chris King) but bearing changes at the rear are a serious faff and totally impossible without the correct tool, there really and truly is no bodge available. This means that if you are out in the boondocks you might be totally screwed. Touring in the UK/ Europe/ USA should be problem free, elsewhere I’d suggest that you have the hubs serviced prior to the trip.

Shimano- everybody knows and uses Shimano. Easy to service, disposable parts that are freely available.

I’ve got Hopes on my bike for that sort of use, mainly due to ease of tool-free servicing. But I’ve seen too many pics of cracked flanges on Hope rear hubs to be totally confident in them. For an extended tour outside of Europe I’d get an XT fitted.

If for UK then Hope, if for anywhere in the world, then Shimano – ball bearings are available anywhere.

shimano xt with good old fashioned ball bearings.
even serviceable in a bar in the alps, with a skin full of beer inside you……and using veg oil for grease.

[Recommend what you’ve just bought] Hope Singlespeed, if you can cope with the silly noise. [/Recommend what you’ve just bought]

That said, i’ve had Shimano in the past and had no trouble at all.

What is THE rear hub to buy? Bikepacking, offroad + onroad long distance

Define ‘long distance’, are we talking a few 100-300 mile rides in the UK/Europe, or are we talking round the world trek in strange countries?

What’s the actual expected road/off road ratio and is it ‘bumpy tracks’ or ‘axle deep water and slop’ style offroad?

Reliability is key!

Do you mean reliability or repairability?

I’d rule out CK straight way, lovely hubs and unlikely to break anything, but finding spares will be next to impossible in a timely manner and although well sealed, when they do get compromised they degrade very quickly, easily serviced but fiddly and there are better options.

If you’re staying in the UK/Europe then I would go with DT Swiss over Hope, just because you’re less likely to have a failure with the star ratchet than you are with individual pawls and springs, but if you carry spares (they are small) then Hope could also be an option, but I’d still probably go Shimano as more universally available, I’d also stay a XT or under level for better chance of finding spares.

If you’re going global then your requirements are going to be repairability as well as reliability, and possibility of sourcing spare parts, in which case Shimano C+C every time.

I’d possibly even think about a quality old (well looked after or NOS) screw on hub as freewheels may be easier to come by that spare freehubs once you’re out past normal civilisation, ball bearings and cones can be found/salvaged just about anywhere.

It al depends on what you’re actually after, a few overnight BP adventures is an entirely different proposition to a multi-month epic.

Royce? Very well made – possibly the best – and uses standard bearings, in the unlikely event they should fail

There is no “THE” hub – it’s all subjective.

Doesn’t differ over long rides either.

Royce hubs are fantastic, but..

in the unlikely event they should fail

IF that happens getting spares within a day or two in the UK is hard enough, go outside UK and you can pretty much forget about it.

I’d still say go C+C bearings, as you can easily carry cone spanners with you and service/repair yourself with cheap parts, taking hubs with cartridge bearings you’re not going to want to be carrying spare cartridges, drift/bearing press and a big enough hitting stick with you on your travels should the worst happen.

Shimano is the answer

xt have apparently fallen out of favour for tourists, becaues they now use a larger aluminium axle and consequentially smaller bearings, so the bearings do not last as long.

Go for SLX or LX if going Shimano, spline mount disc hubs appear to be much lighter than those old deore bulky things with a 6 bolt mount

as a hope fan, id say shimano for proper out in the wilds and pack a couple of cone spanners

dont go deore though, my 2013 deore hubs keep working loose, shimano sorted them not long after i first got them but theyve come loose again

slx ftw i reckon if xt are no longer the daddies

This is the most reliable rear hub I’ve ever owned. 🙂

Didn’t mark Beaumont use a rohloff for his round the world and said it had just about bedded in by the time he returned ?

Thanks for your replies everyone! They’re much appreciated (: I don’t actually have much money to spend, so if I was going to get a Hope, I’d be looking at used. The price difference between Hope and Shimano is pretty extreme, with an SLX costing £27 compared to £140 of the Hope, I mean that’s a 560% odd price difference. I’m touring in the UK pretty much, so I guess spares with hope won’t be an option. I’m wondering if the Shimanos with their Cup and Cone setup will be vulnerable to rust? Absolute last thing any bikepacker wants. And then there’s that ultra loud sound everyone talks about from the hopes. Just even more frigging confused. Can anyone reccomend me specific models? Just to end the dilemma! Thank you.

shimano xt disc hubs, built on sputnik rims from Spa cycles Harrogate.

mine are 5 years old, I strip and clean them every 6 months. it takes 10 minutes.

they have been used for loaded touring and on a on one 29r riding offroad.

Just looked at my ECR, I need 10mm bolt throughs! I’m guessing Shimano don’t make those? and thanks for the suggestion ton (:

Surly ECR?

I thought they just had a standard horizontal rear dropout?
Should take any standard QR or 10mm hub, no need for specific bolt through/maxle.

Didn’t mark Beaumont use a rohloff for his round the world and said it had just about bedded in by the time he returned ?

i think he had the oil changed halfway round.

Will it take qr as well? It is horizontal dropouts but I didn’t know you could do that. But I’m guessing bolt through would be better? Anyone care to shed some light on this? (:

If you’re using a QR on a frame with trackends, then you’ll probably need chaintugs. The Hope SS hub comes with a bolt on axle, but i can’t speak for the others.

XT M760 would be my choice, for the many reasons given.
Try & get some NOS from EBay etc.

Shimano hubs just keep going

I think my road bike (an old hard tail with slicks) has 10 year old M475 hubs. Thats sub deore. I think I’ve been into them once. There’s a bit of scoring but no rust. I really can’t imagine a Shimano hub stopping working. I exclude the free hub from this optimism

I do a own a Hope rear. But I needed a new rear wheel and some one gave me one new on ebay. OK not actually gave but it was an unused Hope hub on a new Mavic 819 with new SRAM 970 block and UST tyre for £90. I mean the tyre and block retailed for that much