Tune Hubs, any good or DT Swiss 240's better?

I’m looking at getting a lightweight-ish set of wheels custom built for my Cannondale F29 HT. Having the lefty fork means a custom build looks by far the best way to go and either Tune or DT Swiss 240 hubs seem to be very good options in terms of weight. Will probably pair them with some Arch EX rims and the weight would be comfortably under 1600g, I’m too heavy for Crests unfortunately.

My only concern on the hubs would be reliability and what are they like to service? Anyone have experience of using/working on either? I’ve read that a couple of years back some of the Tune hubs suffered with reliability issues but curious as to whether they’ve fixed them. The DT Swiss seem to be about as good as you can get though.

Appreciate your help.

I’ve had both both road and mtb ones, in a variety of shapes and sizes (Lefty, 20mm MK, 15mm, Mig & Mag) and DT in road/mtb rear/15mm/

i prefer my DT ones, couldn’t tell you why though, all very functional

spares on Tune are a bit more pricy, XD free hubs are mad money compared to DT,

resale value on DT is seemingly really poor, so can often be picked up on eBay quite cheap, or from the Polish seller on eBay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/bikestacja/m.html?item=231526721044&hash=item35e8116614&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

The winning card for DT, IMO, is that you can buy a set of used 26er wheels with DT240S hubs in for £150 or thereabouts and rebuild. As long as you’re careful to get the right front, anyway, there are QR-onlys. Other hubs might be just as good or better but I don’t think anything else comes close as a used proposition, they’re long lived and reliable and easy to get all the bits for, perfect.

if you want Tune and run a Shimano cassette, there is still some BOR hubs on eBay cheap (same as King & Kong)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Cycling-/7294/i.html?_from=R40&_sac=1&_nkw=bor

I’m using American classic 225’s at the moment, definitely worth a look as well.

I’ve run them on the roadie for years (disc and non-disc). Very impressed with them. Never tried them on the MTB though.

II bought a set of those BOR/Tune hubs from ebay ^^^^

seem nice enough, weight is same as 240s

im picking my wheel up on my new 38mm LB rim on saturday

had to order 15&12×142 endcaps from bike24

sadly no idea on longevity yet, but im excited!

got a 240s ( i think ) front which has been adapted variously to 9mm through axle, 20mm and 15mm. original bearings failed in about 6 months. not very impressed. £2.50 a go bearings doing well however. nice seals on them. wouldn’t bother again but to be fair the adaptability has been useful.

got a 240s ( i think )…. original bearings failed in about 6 months.

Really?! They have a very good reputation, where did you get them from? Surely that’s warranty.

Cheers for the input. My love of all things bling says go for a nicely coloured set of the Tune hubs but sense says go for the DT swiss 240’s. They look like a piece of cake to service and on the whole seem to get good reports on the reliability front.

Painey – Member

They look like a piece of cake to service

They are, apart from the One Bastard Bearing, which is a bastard. But it lasts for a very long time at least

Cheers for the input. My love of all things bling says go for a nicely color

😆

been there, I’ve had Black, Purple, Acid Green and White Tune Hubs, plus a British Racing Green i mis-ordered that R2 wouldn’t swap as it was ordered in,

Black 240s now, and I’m happy 😀

It’s not the bearing that’s the issue……it’s the fact it’s hidden behind the drive ring…..and you need a £50 tool to get at it.

I got one of the £30 knockoffs, perfect. Still a bastard of a job though. I’ve only got little arms!

I wouldn’t ever like anyone to be put off the hubs by it, at worst you get a shop to do it, every once in a blue moon- you’d change bearings in a Pro 2 probably 5 or 6 times before you have to do it once on the 240. On some of mine the rim died before the bearing, and now the wheelsize… But it’s still worth noting I think

didn’t/dont tune have a propriety bearing in the free hub anyway that costs ££ so the ring drive bearing is a non issue

I had tune hubs many moons ago. Complete and utter shit. Snapped hub shell body’s and freehubs regularly.
Not sure if it’s changed but the importer at the time was poshbikes and where horrible to deal with. They replaced the broken part but charged for labour and bearings that they damaged removing.
I couldn’t do it myself as it required specific tools they wouldn’t sell me.

I would never run them again as imo they are the lightest for a reason – nothing more than ornament pieces.

I ran DT Hubs too – they never skipped a beat.

a British Racing Green i mis-ordered that R2 wouldn’t swap as it was ordered in,

I got my refund today from Cycle Basar after doing the same! Thought I’d have a battle on my hands, but they only had one green on their drop down, and had a photo of acid green, so I guessed I’d get the right one, but no!

I had tune hubs many moons ago. Complete and utter shit. Snapped hub shell body’s and freehubs regularly.
Not sure if it’s changed but the importer at the time was poshbikes and where horrible to deal with. They replaced the broken part but charged for labour and bearings that they damaged removing.
I couldn’t do it myself as it required specific tools they wouldn’t sell me.

Completely redesigned now. No proprietary XoT bearing, bigger axles and bearings, tougher free hubs, no daft bonded end caps, no stupid tools.

Still Posh Bikes though. I just ordered from Germany!

Personaly Dt 240 is my preference I have them on my main road and mtb bikes , the ring drive can be a pain to remove but the bearing under it tends to outlast all the other by 2-3 times. not had any tune hubs of my own

Tune are lighter and come in pretty colours. DT are very reliable. Workhorse hubs.

I got my refund today from Cycle Basar after doing the same! Thought I’d have a battle on my hands, but they only had one green on their drop down, and had a photo of acid green, so I guessed I’d get the right one, but no!

It’s that moment you open the box and and think that’s not right

Even the acid green never compared to a pic I saw online (Sebastian Roths 2010 Eurobike Cannondale Flash)

It looks different on the Skyline hubs. Dunno if it’s the grade of alu or sommat.

Bike24 list all the colours, and were pretty cheap.

I’ve got a set of wheels built onto some 240’s – I bought the hubs second hand at least 6 years ago.

They have had one set of bearings, which I did last year & have been in constant use on one bike or another over that time. They must have been rebuilt onto different rims 4 times by now.

Good range of adapters (if a little expensive), very light, super reliable.

In the context of light hubs they’re not that light. Very reliable. But if you’re talking retail prices Tune are cheaper and lighter.

Keep thinking about some extralight hubs for my tarty summer ht. sorry slight hijack

You mean Extralite, or just some hubs that are extra light?!

I’ve flirted with the idea a few times, and a friend has some he’s had no issues with. Big price jump though.

I’m tempted by a set of Mack hubs, but I’m also strongly considering a lefty so any tarty hubs might have to wait a little while!

I’ve been running King/Kong for coming up to 2years now with no issues. Really easy to strip/re-build, the front and rear hubs use the same bearings as Hope hubs, so when the time comes you can upgrade the Japanese bearings that Tune use, to INA-FAG bearings that Hope use.

And don’t listen to anything Posh bikes tell you – you CAN strip these hubs down yourself (all the instructions are on Tune’s website plus you can get spares easy from Germany – R2-bike, if needed).

Really easy to strip/re-build, the front and rear hubs use the same bearings as Hope hubs

That could swing it for me. I’ve not replaced the bearings in Hope Hubs myself (cos I don’t have any) but several mates own them and regularly do this. They always say it’s a piece of cake.

Yeah, most cartridge hubs work the same way, basically hammer out/hammer in, dead easy. The 240s are exactly the same, except for that one central bearing which has its own process. Don’t get hung up on bearing sizes, it’s not good or bad that they’re the same size as Hope, you can get quality bearings in any size you want (though, I think most of the DT ones are the same size too, from memory)

And don’t listen to anything Posh bikes tell you – you CAN strip these hubs down yourself (all the instructions are on Tune’s website plus you can get spares easy from Germany – R2-bike, if needed).

To be fair on some of the old ones this wasn’t the case. I got burned with a Kong Superscharf years ago which had a carbon axle and the end caps bonded in with a preset preload, to get them apart you had to cut the end caps off. Servicing costs were exorbitant. Put me off Posh Bikes somewhat, as the whole process wasn’t great.

But it’s a moot point on current ones anyway (identified with a blue freehub I think, as they’re far more user friendly and reliable than the older ones.

Yep, reading around and going from my experiences, the latest ones do appear to be far more robust than older versions and I’d choose them again.

However, if you were looking to buy Tune hubs and you spoke to Posh bikes for information ie as and when they need stripping down, spares availability, this could put you right off! For example after the first Winter of use I wanted to remove the freehub to clean/re-grease – called Poshbikes and got a flat ‘leave them alone, no one has the technical ability or ‘special’ grease to work on them other than us etc etc etc’. They also said they NEVER need to be stripped down….. In frustration I spoke to Tune direct and they couldn’t have been more helpful. Later I needed to buy another axle shim, having replaced the rear hub bearings and Posh bikes refused to sell me the shim…..

I’d found a few negative references to Poshbikes when trying top find out whether the Tune hubs were any good. Sounds like they’ve disappeared up their own backsides…

got a 240s ( i think )…. original bearings failed in about 6 months.

Really?! They have a very good reputation, where did you get them from? Surely that’s warranty.

yeah, well like i say, smacked in two cheapies and they’ve been fine since. front hubs are all much of a muchness. it’s not like they’ve got a great deal to do! rear hubs are worth spending money on but i find it hard to see beyond hopes.

I knew the phone call wasn’t going to go well when Poshbikes told me there was no such thing as a 142×12 rear hub……!

Yes, they can talk the hind leg off a donkey, but specialise in “more money than sense builds” and it can be very frustrating fighting through their superlatives if you actually want technical support, rather than to be told their products are the “lightest, bestest, fastest” etc etc.

It’s a shame, but with some excellent German retailers doing lots of bits it’s a non issue. No idea what Poshbikes charge either, as they don’t even have any content on the website!

bump,

need an axle for a Tune Kong – how do i tell if i need a 15mm or 17mm axle?

thanks!

Buy a vernier caliper and measure it? They’re only about £10 on fleabay for a digital one… 15 or 17 will be the external diameter of the axle. Or remove the end cap on the non drive side, clean the grease off the exposed bearing and read the number, punch that into google and it will come up with various shops that publish the size of the bearings. Look for the internal diameter of the bearing, that is the axle size you will need… Or email tune, they are pretty helpful Ive found.