I’m getting some new wheels built with crest rims, but I can’t decide which hub to use. Probably going to use a superstar switch evo on the front, as that looks like a good value interchangeable axle option. Probably going to use the same on the rear, but I’ve read a few stories of free hubs failing, but I’m guessing the steel one will be more durable.

I would stick with shimano, as I like the cup and cone bearing solution, but there seem to be lots of reports of recent shimano free hubs failing as well (slx and xt). They always used to be bulletproof.

The other, slightly off the wall choice, is one of the Bitex rear hubs. The have a 6 pawl free hub with 48 points, looks like a good design on paper. But they aren’t readily available in the UK, so it would mean importing one. Anyone got any experience of the bites MTB hubs?

I know hope is the obvious choice, but its a bit beyond my budget, and even they seem to have the occasional problem.

This may be predictable but If you can stretch then go hope. From my experiences the Pro 2 Evos are super reliable and in the rare instance of it failing you will be provided with the best manufacturer back up around.

The way I look at it is if you pay for them now, you wont have to worry for 10 years or so.

Not mine, don’t come better than these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Chris-King-ISO-LD-Black-Front-Hub-32h-6-Hole-Disc-for-20mm-Bolt-Through-Axle-/201038331617?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item2eced17ee1
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Chris-King-ISO-Disc-Hub-QR-Black-Rear-/251451261329?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item3a8ba9c191

The way I look at it is if you pay for them now, you wont have to worry for 10 years or so.

…or until you want purple

Hope have great customer services, as they have a huge backlog of disgruntled customers, who then think they are great when they send new bits. Thank god I got rid of my Pro 2 hubs. Shimano aren’t that bad, but heavy but work and as long as you occasionally grease them, will be fine.

I won’t have a bad word said about hope. I’ve been a user of hope products for 16 years now and still have most of them. Their backup is legendary and on the odd occasion I have had a problem they have always gone above and beyond to sort it.

I once bought a 2nd phatso hub that developed a hair line crack.
Hope warrantied this without question (I was the 2nd owner and no idea how old it was)
They even have me the full rrp in value to spend on another hub. So I ended up paying a little extra and bagging a new hope biggun. Result!

So I’d go for a new hope pro 2 Evo. They now have 40 point engagement and sound great.

I know the standard answer on here is Hope or Chris King but I’d throw Halo into the mix too. My old Spin Doctors have benn faultless in years.

Hope all the way, great customer service IMO

In ‘the good old days’ the Shimano stuff was untouchable from a value and durability POV. These days they seem to have lost the plot a bit – the recent freehubs (with more engagement points) seem to have got quite a reputation for failing.

Seem to be mixed opinions on the Hopes – people either love them or hate them, and not many in between! My perception is that whilst they are marginally better than their cheap imported competitors, they don’t really justify the much higher price.

I’d ruled out the Chris Kings before I’d even started looking – I’d love a rear of those, but way out of my budget, even second hand. But now StuE has started me looking at them, wondering if I can perhaps justify the expense…

Hope Pro 2 rear,got 5 now and the oldest is 6 years and just had third bearing sets abnd been on 3 wheel builds and who knows how many miles

DT Swiss for me. Reliable + light = win.

I’ve got a Shimano hub in the garage that’s done 20 years, had more sets of bearings than you’d believe… But I’d be amazed if any of the current crop do the same. And axle compatability etc is a drag.

Hope are great value in wheelsets, but a bit too pricey as a standalone hub I reckon- they have their foibles but mostly made up by the good backup. Still the compatability is great, they’ll fit pretty much anything.

I love my DT240s, genuinely wouldn’t change them but they are silly priced. I got all of mine in used wheelsets which can work out good value-buy a wheel, either treat the rim and spokes as a free bonus, or bin/sell them on and use the hubs. They make Hope look poor by comparison but then, they cost a heck of a lot more so they probably should.

My experiences mostly echo what Northwind has said.

Had a pair of M950 XTR hubs years ago, they were a few years old when they came into my hands and had been used a lot, I owned them for about 5 years during which time they were ridden a lot and didn’t get serviced once, and sold them to a mate who rode them a lot and they were still going strong years later! The trick with Shimano hubs (if you can live with the lack of axle compatibility) is to take them apart when brand new and bung loads of decent grease in there. They come almost dry from the factory which is what usually means they die prematurely.

Hope hubs are usually pretty reliable, are easy to get spares for, most LBS’s can service them and they have a brilliant backup/warranty. And the axle compatibility is 2nd to none. Good value prebuilt into Stans rims too.

DT Swiss are the best by a country mile though. I’ve had several sets, and they’re what I would always buy given the choice and the cash. The new(ish) 350S hub is a brilliant buy, same RRP as a Hope Pro2, same internals as a 240S, just a slightly cheaper Taiwanese made hubshell rather than Swiss made. Not as ultra axle compatible as Hope, but can usually be adapted between 2 or 3 axle standards, but buy with confidence if you know you can afford them and aren’t going to need to swap between say a 15mm and 20mm front that often.

EDIT: Should add that IMO the Superstar hubs are quite poor. They’re cheap yes, but that’s for a reason. The bearings don’t seem to last very long at all and the freehubs aren’t very reliable. They sell well on price, axle compatibility and being available in a range of colours, but they’re not that good a product to be honest.

I’ve got CK and Hope hubs.

The CK hubs are simply lovely and the rear is beautifully engineered. They are expensive though but, I guess I won’t need another, 5 years on, not one issue. I paid £240 for my rear, new, on offer. The asking price these days is ridiculous. I’m surprised folk buy them at all.

For the money, Hope are difficult to beat IMO.

My cash still goes to hope but not very often. I’ve still not killed a hub, the only change I have made other than bearings was a freehub on what must be nearly an original first year one. It had a life of the wrong cassettes, as it was on a heavy wheel I just put the steel one on.

Bearings that come off a shelf, easy to maintain, easy to adapt can’t really go wrong for me.

I got a pair of wheels with CK hubs and DT5.1 rims off ebay for less than coohandluke paid for his rear hub.

This is worth a read
http://dirtmag.co.uk/features/work-freehub-body.html

OP I’ve got an unused Shimano rear hub if you want one, think it’s a 765? Anyhow it’s one of the last series made in Japan so has the better build quality than those made latterly.

Email in profile if interested.

I’ve become quite a fan of stans hubs. Got a few sets now as have several friends and seem good. Lots of axle options
Only black though
Come with good bearings. Do need to pop hub body off now and then to give a good clean

Thanks to you lot I’ve just gone and bought a wheel set with Chris King is hubs!

I have both Chris King & hope Pro2 Evo
I would also consider Burgtec hubs

So Shimano made some decent rear hubs in between when I stopped using their shite ones up until recently when they reverted back to shite ones.
Must’ve blinked & missed it.

Although I’m perhaps being unfair as there might be those who need an excuse to disappear into their garage at weekly intervals to service the ruddy things.

Hope would’ve have been my recommendation. Opinions a bit redundant now though.

So Shimano made some decent rear hubs in between when I stopped using their shite ones up until recently when they reverted back to shite ones.
Must’ve blinked & missed it.

I’ve just retired a Shimano hub that was in daily use. It was made in 1993…

Pete B – Member

Although I’m perhaps being unfair as there might be those who need an excuse to disappear into their garage at weekly intervals to service the ruddy things.

That’s not good, I’m about 1190 services behind schedule on mine! better get caught up.

I got confused. I have Shimano hubs running sweet with a 6 monthly service and the crap Pro 2’s used to be fortnightly. New bearings every couple of months. Now running Phils hubs and White Industries freewheel on my singlespeed. Not touched anything for 2 months now.

I think the Shimano cup and cone hub bearings themselves are fine, I’d rather have something adjustable and rebuildable (best case is a clean and regrease, then the balls wear first, followed by the cones, and then the cups are generally last). So they have to be proper neglected for the cups (pressed into the hub, not really replaceable) to be bad.

But it’s the freehubs that concern me – I’ve been out of the cycling scene for 10 years or so, and back then Shimano freehubs almost never went wrong, not until they’d done galactic mileages anyway. I like the idea of quicker engagement, but with the traditional pawl/ratchet design, it means smaller parts/surfaces taking the load, and it seems difficult to make them reliable. If Shimano can’t do it with their expertise and huge r&d budgets, it must be a very tough challenge.

It’s also a pity that Shimano freehubs are not serviceable, although it seems that there was a tool that will open them, and there are guides to it online.

t’s also a pity that Shimano freehubs are not serviceable, although it seems that there was a tool that will open them, and there are guides to it online.

I made a tool out of a piece of GFS (Ground Flat Stock)to open the freehub. Loads of tiny ball bearings to catch when you open them up. Then clean & re-assemble with just enough grease to retain the balls as you slide the body back.
Too much grease and you’ll regret it on a cold ride.

The non-drive side isn’t an issue and the fronts are fine but in my case water and muck would enter the freehub seal (no – I never use a jet wash)and wreak havoc unless regularly stripped and cleaned.
And seeing as I wasn’t much into that as a past time I’d usually end up buying a free hub initially but then found it better to buy a whole hub as a donor of parts to the one fitted to the wheel.
I’m talking XT here so maybe XTR is better but for all the folks who got mileages better than mine with XT & below I bow to your good fortune.

Hope. Got them on three of the bikes and have been faultless, the second hand set are not as loud as the new ones but never missed a beat have been hammered around the peak for a good few years now.

I had a superstar single speed rear hub, cheep yes bearings needed greasing instantly and the paws froze close resulting no drive.

I know quite a few with hope hubs and the only faliures i’ve known are on here.

The non-drive side isn’t an issue and the fronts are fine but in my case water and muck would enter the freehub seal

I just serviced an older XT rear hub (M756), and the sealing on the non drive side seems to be a lot more substantial than it is on the drive side. I thought the seal was missing, but I think that’s just how they are.

I’ve just had a look at a 15 year old hub (Deore LX) on one of my bikes, thought it was fine – spins nice a freely, feels smooth whilst mounted. As soon as I unmounted the wheel and tried to turn the axle by hand I found it feels like a pepper grinder! I think it was adjusted over tight when built, because it seems excessively tight now (even though it still span quite freely). Stripped it down and one ball has a chunk missing out of it’s surface, looks almost like chrome plating has come off, and leaves a dull surface underneath. One of the cones (guess the same side) has a little nick in it as well. I’ll probably try and rebuild it with new balls, and see if I can get away without replacing the cone as well, as they seem hard to get. A brand new, latest model, XT front hub is available for less than £20, so it might be easier to rebuild the rim onto one of those.

I seem to have accumulated an extra frame, I should sell it really, but I’m tempted to build it up on a budget. I might get a set of Superstar wheels for that one, be an interesting comparison. The biggest complaints I have read about them is the bearings not lasting, which is probably because they make them with the cheapest bearings, and don’t grease them enough. The freehubs seem to fail mostly because the alloy freehub body breaks around the pawl seats. I would think a steel freehub would help to that end.

The CK front hub mentioned above by StuE is mine. Anybody interested at £85 posted?