Merlin’s cut price deal on Stans rims has got me itching to build up a wheel set… question is what hubs? I’ve always built with XTs in the past as they’re cheap & reliable, but not especially light. Can’t stand Hope’s clicky/draggy freehubs and CK is too expensive. What options are there?

A2Z are light and cheap
Tune are light’ish and expensive but very nicely made
American Classics are meant to be pretty good now, but mine were rubbish

My Tune’s fell apart, and have very well documented problems with freehubs creaking/cracking. I’d be very reluctant to have another set.

Really rate my A2Zs, or DT240s if you want something a little tougher.

I got some Olympics last year for silly cheap. Built with XT 785 hubs, dt revolution spokes and brass spokes. Weight for the pair is 1530g, and total price was less than £150. Hubs and spokes came from rose bikes or actionsports.de – can’t remember which I used.

They’re really nice. 785 hubs have a very quick pick up on the freewheel compared to their older ones and you don’t need to worry about the cassette splines on the freewheel body getting chewed up.

EDIT – the added bonus of Shimano hubs is they come with Shimano’s very excellent QR skewers.

Very true, and actually the Centrelock hubs aren’t that heavy.

A2Z are £135 a pair, 344g
Superstar Switch £97, 500g
Superstar superfast and superlight are £160 and 450g. I have these and theyve been very good. Superleggera pick up is ace.

or SLX for £56 and 550g

There are also loads on eBay in Taiwan for <£100 and around 400g.
e.g.:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270922312619
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350146504131
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/22100071309

njee20 – true, but the rotors are IME.

A2Z… thought they were some boggo Taiwanese brand that the likes of Woolly Hat Shop knock out?

Those XT M785s can be had for under £60 from ze Germans, hmmmm

A2Z are available in the UK via Windwave & seem pretty good.
My personal choice would be DT either 240, or if you want something really nice, 190’s.
American classics are ok, I’ve got them on my road bike-brilliantly light, but certainly not a fit & forget hub.

Don’t forget rim weight is way more important than hub weight for “feel” (neither actually making you significatnyl faster).

A2Z… thought they were some boggo Taiwanese brand that the likes of Woolly Hat Shop knock out?

Yep they’re Chin Huar, which do indeed come branded as loads of different things, and have a suspicious number of interchangeable parts with American Classic…

My personal choice would be DT either 240, or if you want something really nice, 190’s.

190s are just silly. You can get 240s and some full ceramic bearings which end up lighter and still cheaper!

Goldtec Pro Comps are nice lightweight hubs and don’t cost the earth. The 15mm AM can be converted to 9mm QR as well but there’s also the new Draco that can be changed from 20mm to 15mm or normal QR as well.

using A2Z’s here on olympics, just under 1500g I think. A good buy.

Don’t buy a ss superlegga hub if you don’t like noisy hopes. Mine sounds like an angry swarm of bees chasing you.

A2Z’s are quiet.

Don’t go anywhere near A2Z rear hubs, the design of the pawls in the rear hub is very poor, based on some tiny pieces of wire to hold the pawls in place.

Trust me, they will let you down.

Spares?………. sorry not available.

The front hubs are OK, although not very stiff.

Buy something that works, go for one of the more well known brands. If you want light and reliable you need to spend more money.

riverdog – Member

Don’t go anywhere near A2Z rear hubs, the design of the pawls in the rear hub is very poor, based on some tiny pieces of wire to hold the pawls in place.

Like the apwls in freewheels? That design works fine!