even if they were REALLY cheap? (as in under £150 for proper tubeless?)

Eh? What’s wrong with cup and cone?

I love em. In fact i am about to buy a bike with them on as. Maybe.

I had a lovely xtr set of wheels, weighed nothing, no problem with cup and cone, just get the spanners and clean and regrease once in a while.

depends on the spec i wouldnt let cup and cone put me off i just serviced the rear deore hub on my spicy – simples

I’d buy em….no worries.

THE Big Hitter loves them too.

I have these;

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/wheels/mountain-bike-wheels/sale-wheels/pair-xt-disc-hubs-15mm-front-ztr-355-rims.html

XT hubs with Stans rims for £150. For that price I can handle cup and cone.

serial hamfisted bodger = do not buy ( they need a bit of looking after)

Shed dwelling tinkerer = buy without a second thought.

So OP ,which one are you? 🙂

also okay for people who can’t do their own servicing as any bike shop should be able to sort them very cheaply as the balls cost sod all so it’s pretty much just labour cost + truing etc if getting the whole wheel looked at.

Cup and cone needs regular maintenance. If you have several bikes (and a family) it’s hard to keep on top of that.

But it’s the disposable freehubs that put me off more.

only issue with them is if your a “its making no noise its fine” kind of rider. they need preventitive maintainance.

by the time you hear the issue – its too late.

Why would you not buy one. Far better than those daft “sealed ” bearings which get chucked so often.

I wouldnt, i cant be arsed with the cup and cone thing. sealed bearings last fine for me.

I wouldn’t use Shimano hubs for the same reason I wouldn’t use a spinning jenny or watch a black and white telly

seems a bit odd to discount shimanos hubs because you dont spin yarn or are not colour blind…..

And to think some people still burn wood in their houses when all that delicious gas gets piped in from Russia. Blow me…

If I end up with them again I would fill them full of grease as soon as I get them. Sealed bearing make much more sense as they can be replaced, cups can’t. They will keep going though, I have a set somewhere which are rough as anything, but they do roll, just a bit rumbly…

I wouldn’t but I am lazy and really don’t like servicing them. However, if you don’t mind doing that then go for it.

That’s not what Jenny said 😉

Because Pro 2’s are better and make a louder freewheeling noise.

I bought Hope hubs for the service of the freehub (as certainly at the sort of Deore end years ago a freehub cost about 75% of the hub cost (but didn’t need wheelbuilding so possibly only 40-50% of paying for a new hub and a wheel build.

To be fair though in my experience shimano freehubs have lasted ages it’s freehubs on generic wheels that have failed.

I am considering some deore wheels so that I can make a cheap conversion of my SS to geared. I’d love to go Hope gain but as the bike will swap between SS/Geared I really can’t justify the extra expense.

I was born in 1961, I know how to clean and lube a chain, maintain cup and cone bearings (and having been a skater in the 70s I also learned that if you buy sealed cartridge bearings with neoprene seals you can actually service them too). I really really hate waste these days. I’d be happy with a hub with cup and cone bearings and a rebuild-able freehub)

They don’t actually need that much maintenance…

it’s the disposable freehubs that put me off more.

THIS
No problem with cup and cone bearing servicing & adjustment. But their freehubs just dont seem to last. They’re are pretty much unserviceable and I’ve killed one in less than 6 weeks before.
I’ve been very happy with Hope XC hubs over the years, its all maintainable and easy to sort without large expense. Yes you need to the bearings every year or two, but its back to new once its done. Cups once they’re pitted, the hub is basically scrap. Which then means a total wheel rebuild.

Hmm. Cup and cone bicycle wheel bearings, cup and cone bearings, they’ll be filed in the same drawer as –

Solid iron tyres
Penny-farthings
Waterwheels
Leather cannons (I kid you not)
Jousting armour
Bronze axes
Pointy sticks

As with all the above, there isn’t anything particularly wrong with them, they’re just old hat and there are better alternatives.

Cartridge bearings get binned at the end of their life. If your doing it right, ball bearings get binned every time you service the cup+cone too. Not too much difference there in material wastage.

So, can someone tell me, do some of the other hubs have serviceable freehubs? I’m fed up with the cost of the big B freehubs replacements.

Given the faff with my hubs yes, easy to service and no real problems at all. Still have cup and cone on the road bike.

I’ve some old Hope hubs,XC and Bulb,which have only ever needed bearing changes despite heavy use.Never even replaced the pawls and springs.Same as my WTB hubs.
Cup and cone on my road bike and need a lot of maintenance to keep them running smooth and with no play .When its time for some new road wheels Shimano is tempting but ultimately the cup and cone will stop me.

No. I’d rather buy second hand sealed bearing wheels.

better than those daft “sealed ” bearings which get chucked so often

“so often”..? Like every 4 years?

What John Nellison said 🙂 all the hubs we have had issues with in our local MTB club have been with cup and cone, yes due to lack of fiddling around with cone spanners and re-greasing when we are spending our time riding bikes and drinking beers. Sorry it’s old tech and cartridge bearings are simple to replace and cheap too.

better than those daft “sealed ” bearings which get chucked so often

“so often”..? Like every 4 years?

Or two months in the case of my new Superstar wheels. Now I have to spend money on new set (not cheap if I want decent bearings). If I still had cup and cone, I’d just put some grease in and tighten them up – takes what, 15 minutes? My Hopes go through at least a set a year too, probably more.

I’d buy cup and cone again.

Yip… they’re murder those sealed bearings you have to change all the time. Takes a whole 5 minutes, and a few quid, every few years. Time is money, and all that…..

I’m unconvinced by the quality of the current Shimano hubs… And changing axle standards is a problem. But other’n that I’d have no issue with it.

Though to be fair, I think a lot of people’s experience of cartridge bearing hubs is also poor, because they’re using Pro 2s etc with unnecessarily short bearing lives. I became much more a fan of cartridge when I got my DTs.

UrbanHiker – Member

Cartridge bearings get binned at the end of their life. If your doing it right, ball bearings get binned every time you service the cup+cone too.

You’re really not doing it right if you either a) replace the bearings just because the grease was a little dirty or b) service them so rarely that by the time you do the bearings were knackered.

Sealed bearings every time for me, although I personally don’t have much faith in Hope hubs. The local sand and grit finds it’s way into the pawl cavity in no time.

My personal favourites are the DMR 9 speed and singlespeed hubs. Bearing life and weight are reasonable and they’re very very easy and cheap to service. They’re also available in red, which floats my boat.

Take your point Northwind, I just thought it was good practice to replace them as a precaution.

So do any hubs have maintainable freehubs?

Superstar wheels

Nuff said 😉

When they are adjusted up and serviced correctly, good quality cup and cone feel lovely on a road bike. So floaty smooth. I like the difference in feel so I use both and enjoy the contrast. The freehubs are shite on cup & cone I have to agree. I h8 disposable, non maintainable stuff.

My XT rear wheel is borked. Cone took it upon itself to tighten hard against the bearings, crushing the ball bearings and destroying the race surface and cone. A £150 wheel now dead as spare hub bodies are unavailable. Cartridges for me from now on.

Oh lord, its turned into one of those threads.

As I’m more of a ‘fix it when its broke’ type person I’m still not convinced.

Why are people saying Hope cartridge bearings dont wear out – do you ever ride in the wet or just sit on your turbo trainers 😉

I sometimes get less than a month before I have lots of play and a rough feel. Worst is on my 20mm front pro 2 which has only the cartridge seals between the bearings and the elements – sits directly on the axle.

Servicing cone bearings maybe a faff but replacing cartridge bearings is no cake walk – especially the rear which is a huge faff.

I would replace with cone type but I am quite proud of the wheels I built on both my bikes – and would be out of pocket massively.

Next time I replace the bearings I will cram them full of grease first to see if that helps – but I still think they are a rubbish idea.