[Closed] What silent rear hubs? Any UK options?

Source an old shimano silent clutch...?

Hope with Morris red grease. Mine are absolutely silent although I like the buzz of a hope hub. They need regreasing after about 6 months to keep them silent but I think that's good practice anyway.

Are they 'draggy' when packed with grease?

Mavic hubs are effectively silent while riding. I'm still using some 2005 Crossmax xl wheels.

Not Brittish built but excellent

The new DT's seem very quiet or my mate has a dodgy one.

My Shimano XTR M965 are silent.

tymbian - Member
Are they 'draggy' when packed with grease?

Only when being lazy and not pedalling. 😉

I'm very tempted by the onyx racing sprag bearing hubs. Zero drag, zero lag, zero noise.

Only downside is they don't do a mini-driver freehub pattern.

And the fact they weigh the same as a small moon.

Nobl hubs( maybe same as onyx), yes they are heavier but the mass is in the hub not the rim.

Is that 'non rotational weight is 1/4 of rotating weight so actually it's lighter'? 😉
Regardless of where it is.....it's heavier.A lot (nearly double a Dt240)

DT350 or 240 if you're feeling flush. 36T ratchet is nice to have. Makes a little buzz, but nothing on hope's level of clatter.

This won't help, but my late 80's 105 is practically silent. I really struggle to hear at all when I'm rolling on a quiet road with no traffic.

I haven't noticed any drag, they seem to spin for ages. I have done it on all 4 sets of hope wheels I own and have never had a problem. I did buy some of the Mobil xp222 grease that hope use but that made them click again. I can't remember variant of the Morris grease but I can look later if your interested.

I'm interested, andysredmini - Ta! (if only to suggest to my riding buddies!
😀 )

regularily cleaned and lightly greased (VERY easy to do with no tools..!) DT Swiss 350/240 are my faves for quiet running.. (though not UK..)

does anyone other than Hope in the UK make hubs?

Ive always been a hope hub rider, but recently switched to DTSwiss (ok so not UK based) and wont go back. Super smooth and silent, really impressed.

I'll find out later. I just had a google but there are loads of options and the tube looks similar on all of them.

Another for DT 240/350 (same internals). Stupidly expensive mind but fantastic. Not silent but quiet

DT are not silent at all, they are just quieter than Hope. I have some shimano clutch hubs and they ARE silent, its SO nice to ride with only tyre noise, it makes you notice how much noise even a well maintained drivetrain makes.

Shimano Alfine 8. Cheap as chips, reliable, and actually silent.

Project321 offer magnetic paws, that have a quiet mode. Not exactly sure how quiet they are. Spendy though.

Neither UK, sorry.

I never understand the fuss over dt hubs. Overpriced. Never seem to pick up as quick as they should. Average looks and hard/expensive to service. Never had great reliability in wet riding either. A friend binned one after the middle bearing went. No shop locally could/would service it due to the cost of the tools needed. He swapped it for a Hope Pro 2 which he is still using many years later. I had a pair of 350's and replaced them with pro2 evo 40t.

Whilst I agree the alfine is silent it weights about 2tonnes and would be awful on a mtb. All that weight and drag would be a nightmare. I have one on my commuter and it's just about bearable for my 8 mile trip.

My Hopes are silent as long as I remember not to stop pedalling...

does anyone other than Hope in the UK make hubs?

http://www.mountainbikecomponents.co.uk/components/hubs-wheels?p=2

Always fancied some goldtecs myself.

Superstar are apparently launching in made hubs sometime soon, obviously no idea how loud they are.

Betd/goldtec are another UK manufacturer

I'm very tempted by the onyx racing sprag bearing hubs. Zero drag, zero lag, zero noise.

Only downside is they don't do a mini-driver freehub pattern.

Ignore me... thought you meant XD drive! Oooops. Anyway...

The total silence is eerie in use, they're definitely something to behold. The price is off putting for most though, to put it mildly, especially when you consider they're a bit weighty too. Lovely bit of kit mind if you don't mind the heft or the the cash!

andysredmini - Member

A friend binned one after the middle bearing went. No shop locally could/would service it due to the cost of the tools needed

£27, incidentally. So this is [i]mental[/i].

This was a few years ago. The hub came as standard on his iron horse Sunday so that partly tells you how long ago.

Shimano Alfine 8. Cheap as chips, reliable, and actually silent.

True dat! Engagement is far better than what ever came standard in my new stead.... purposely not servicing it so I can change it in the future.....

I've been looking at the Onyx ones as the craze of playing card in the spokes level of annoyance free hubs does my nut in, though I'd probably get fitter if I had one as I wouldn't sold peddling.......

Not tried them yet but I've been eyeing up rideworks on Instagram.

Picked up my Nobl wheels on Friday, two rides in and I'm very happy. I've come from Rovals to these. Weight wise there is about 10g in favour of the Nobl's but as the rims are lighter definitely spin up quicker. The engagement is sublime, instant yet without any jolt.

Mmmmm sublime ,instant ,crisp engagement.

andysredmini - Member 
No shop locally could/would service it due to the cost of the tools needed

Rubbish shops then. Yes there's a tool purchase. It's not stupidly expensive.

I believe it's only to get the ratchet ring out to access to the bearings. Other than that bearing replacement is same as any other hub.

Thing is though, it's unlikely you'll need to do them often. Pulled apart mine to check it over after a couple of years, expecting to find the bearings need doing. All still looked virtually new and grease was like new. Was quite shocked considering the state I've seen other hubs after a year or two. Just needed tiny dash of oil on the ratchets to return the hub to near stealth mode, and was fine again.

A lot of what is good about DT is the way it's sealed. The end caps and ratchet ring are a pain to remove, but that's why the hubs are durable. I had Crank Brothers wheels that were "easy to service" just like Hope and in fact instructions I'd seen were copied from Hope. They were crap as the ease of servicing also meant ease of crap getting in and the bearing were wrecked frequently.

That's why I don't get what the fuss is about Hope either. Easy to service = needs servicing when they probably shouldn't 😉

But likewise I'm not a fan of Hope hubs due to the noise. I've settled on DT now and have a few wheels with DT hubs and rims. Nice stealth stuff, and robust.

That said, I've also got some of the factory wheels on the cheap just as a temporary replacement & spares for some other non-DT rubbish cracked wheels (carbon!), and they're a lot more noisy. Supposed to be based on 350, but I think they are a cheap version of them.

As for engagement, that's just down to the ratchet choice. Can get higher engagement version to just drop in replace, but they are reportedly less durable, plus is extra cost. Myself I vaguely notice but it makes naff all difference to my riding. I do however like the star ratchet design. Pawls are okay but are prone to clogging or seizing and the springs are easy to break.

That said, I've also got some of the factory wheels on the cheap just as a temporary replacement & spares for some other non-DT rubbish cracked wheels (carbon!), and they're a lot more noisy. Supposed to be based on 350, but I think they are a cheap version of them.

If they are noisy then its 99% they are 370 not 350 hubs.

I work in the shop that is NOBL's official UK supplier and support partner and that video just doesn't look right so I went and checked our demo bike and it does not do that, it genuinely is instant enough that I can't visually see any movement before it engages.
I am not going to say instant engagement is necessary but it's nice to have and when cassettes are getting ever bigger then when you are in the largest rear sprocket the less degrees of movement before it engages is nice.
Weight wise they sure aren't the lightest but with the new alloy freehub body it's not too bad especially as it's at the centre of the wheel. I don't see this level of attention to detail with respect to weight when it comes to tyre choice amongst most riders and that is where it will make a far bigger difference.
The real feature of these husb is the reduction in drag when freewheeling, how silent they are and how fast they roll. I am not going to say zero drag as that would be ideal for a perpetual motion generator but isn't realistic when hubs and bearings have seals but it really is significantly less spinning in a jig or a built bike.
The sprag clutch is designed to be a lifetime unit so should never need to replace axles or sprags etc like you would with pawls and springs. The bearings are ceramic as standard and come with a warranty unlike most bearings in any bike part really.
To make ever lighter hubs manufacturers are using ever smaller bearings that just don't last that long. When you have small XD drivers and a large axle to take a 12mm axle then the bearings are so small they need replacing very often. We are replacing DT Swiss freehub bearings so often it's not funny and the lighter 240s hubs the main hub bearings don't last that much longer. Larger bearings will run faster and last longer in my experience.
The NOBL front hub is a 15mm specific affair so significantly lighter than the ONYX version.

NOBL themselves, like us, will build onto any quality hub such as Hope, DT Swiss, Industry Nine, Project 321 etc etc