Shimano is pretty much a looser company when it comes to wheels and it's components. Haven't seen an interesting product from them in years in this area. The rims are narrow and you can't run a XD driver for obvious reasons.

If you want to compare tech specs take a look here:
si.shimano.com

No need to bother with Shimano IMO, just buy a pair of DT Swiss 350 hubs and you're done.

 

350s are 4 times more expensive. That's an enormous gap.

Slx is 32pt, XT is 36. There's not a ton of difference otherwise.

 

They are good for budget wheels though. I have XT and Deore but I'm not sure the difference.

 

I don't know what the physical differences between these hubs are. But depending on your riding style, terrain, weight, budget and expectations, either of these two Shimano's might work well for you. These are cup and cone and can be fine tuned to a super smooth, long spinning wheel.

The freehub interface is the same between both hubs.

I spent many years and an unknown of number miles on Shimano's in the earlier days. Fun to maintain if you like loose bearings and tweaking the bearing pre-load to perfection.

 

I don't know what the physical differences between these hubs are. But depending on your riding style, terrain, weight, budget and expectations, either of these two Shimano's might work well for you. These are cup and cone and can be fine tuned to a super smooth, long spinning wheel.

The freehub interface is the same between both hubs.

I spent many years and an unknown of number miles on Shimano's in the earlier days. Fun to maintain if you like loose bearings and tweaking the bearing pre-load to perfection.

I'm not sure your idea of fun overlaps with the actual definition that much.

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I've to admit you've an amazing capability to underline your written expression with a picture that fits exactly the tone, kind of funny.

 

Awww, you're just tryin' to butter me up now with all that sweet talk. C'mon over here son. It's huggin' time! :yesnod:

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(also, a degree in graphic design kinda helps, so thanks :thumbsup

 

I had a slx hub put on my bike to replace a shimano rm35.

I started commuting and had no issues till light trail riding i stuck the hub under warranty and i cracked the rm35 freehub the second year. On went the SLX.

No issues with it for the rest of the year. That winter i got a fatbike and my strength and technical ability went up alot. First spring ride i snapped all the pawls. I get a replacement under warranty, snap its pawls first ride.

Shimano hubs are junk.

Dt 350s may be alot vs a shimano, but once you break your shimano a few times the free hub costs then the second lacing to a better hub will cost you more in the long run.

 

Shimano hubs are junk.

Dt 350s may be alot vs a shimano, but once you break your shimano a few times the free hub costs then the second lacing to a better hub will cost you more in the long run.

I resemble that remark.

I bought a WTB wheelset with XT hubs for about $400. I destroyed the first XT freehub on my rear wheel around 175 miles. The pawls snapped in the middle of a sustained climb. I had it replaced under warranty and the second one lasted about 65 miles. Same situation, just pedaling away in a sustained climb. I could have had it replaced under warranty again, but I decided I was done.

I ended up paying over $350 to have the rear wheel rebuilt with a DTSwiss 350 hub. Probably would have cost me $500 to have both wheels built with DT Swiss hubs in the first place.

 

Thanks for the info guys.

Unless Steel Calf wants to buy me some 350s or Chris kings, I think I'll just go slx. Sounds like I can upgrade the free hub later if I need to, so should be fine for a backup set of wheels.

cheers

 

I must admit, I've never had a problem with Shimano hubs.

Going from Deore to SLX and XT you typically see slight reductions in weight, possibly better quality bearings but in the real world it's hard to notice much difference. Put it this way, a well adjusted Deore hub will be better than a badly set up XT.

As for durability, again, I've not seen a failure but I haven't used Shimano hubs for hard off-road. Used them for a lot of climbing though.

I'm not saying it's just down to it but some people are hard on stuff. Mashing the pedals, never doing maintenance. I have a friend who brakes chains. I don't know how he does it, but he does.

 

Yeah, fun can describe cup & cone hubs if you're a mechanical sort of person that enjoys the subtle art of dialing these types of hubs into a perfect smoothness. It brings about a sense of accomplishment.

 

I'm familiar with that particular sense of accomplishment. I'm also familiar with the feeling associated with watching a handful of bearings roll across the floor.

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never had issues with xt hubs either. its on my alum hard tail which I ride super hard for the last two years and no issues. I did use marine grease on the bearings.

 

I'm a blatant cheapass. It's always paid off with bikes. Not by a close margin either, it's absolutely ridiculous how far ahead I am versus the "buy once cry once".

If you break Shimano's, try a bitex. It's about 100 times stronger, and still cheap.

Sometimes I'll betray my cheapassery and end up with a 240 hub. Kinda swooning over WI hubs at the moment too... But mostly I've found that high end hubs carry a lot more vanity than value for most riders.

I have a very strong suspicion that improper adjustment breaks the pawls. I have no idea why and can't back that up at the moment. There's a reason some people bust them in literally one ride, and some beast riders who definitely make power can have them last year's. I think the pawls need a lighter lube than what's in there.

 

I have a very strong suspicion that improper adjustment breaks the pawls.

Improper adjustment, of what??!...

 

I think it breaks them! Also that freehub bolt probably doesn't need to be 4000 ft lb.

 

Honestly, I have no idea what you are talking about. If the wheel bearings were so tight that it broke the pawls the wheel would hardly go round! It's virtually impossible to tighten up cup-and-cone bearings that tight, I've never seen it done.

What free-hub bolt? Shimano free-hubs arrive screwed to the hub and few will ever be removed. Even then, it doesn't matter how tight you screwed them on, it won't effect the pawls. They don't have anything to do with each other.

Shimano free-hub bodies are self-contained units which few people would even try to open or service. There is virtually nothing you can do to them to accelerate failure.

 

They break because Shimano stuffs the mechanism inside the freehub body and there's a much shorter lever arm compared to competing systems, so more force required for a given torque. More force, more strain, fatigue and failure happens faster.

 

There used to be a tool where you could pump grease into them, but I haven't care in a long time to see if that's still the case. I have an SLX on a backup wheel and it's fine. Cup N Cone is a good system and produces very low drag. The negative is the drive mechanism, but everything is not so cut and dry. Moving the drive mech inboard like may hubs most likely increases the twisting forces caused by the low cogs due to increased distance, and these 4 cogs are "free" on all high end shimano cassettes, so one of the additional factors that contributes to the scoring of non-shimano carrier splines. But, the shimano freehubs are usually not terribly expensive and easy-ish to replace, especially at the SLX level.

 

There used to be a tool where you could pump grease into them

Perhaps regular and ongoing service and maintenance keeps these Shimano's going and going.

I had several Shimano freehubs with nearly 10,000 trouble-free miles on them.

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The Shimano Freehub lubrication tool...

a wonderful device that was made by the late Paul Morningstar of Morningstar Tools called Freehub Buddy. Unfortunately, he's no longer around to provide this very cool lubrication device.

 

A wonderful device that was made by the late Paul Morningstar of Morningstar Tools called Freehub Buddy.

Bet they're rare now. Imagine they were rare in the day!

I never tried to get grease into Shimano free-hubs, I just flush them out and run oil in. Does the grease not interfere with the working of the pawls?

 

The grease used in the photo was also produced by Morningstar is a very thin, freehub styled grease. You could inject whatever you preferred. Some used an outboard motor gear lube or synthetic engine oil. But to answer you question about interfering with the pawls, the answer is no. It ran super smooth and ultra quite after a fresh lube.

 

I always find Shimano hubs quiet anyway but I've never put grease in them. Or any ratchet for that matter. Maybe a little but not packed full like this.

 

I agree with your statement. In the photo, the grease appears far thicker than it really is. It was very thin, but doesn't look like than in the photo. In these photos, I had just acquired this tool and I was 'purging' all of the black, old lubricant out until it went clean. This hub prolly had 3,000 miles on it when it got it's first lube job. It's counter intuitive to do that, but it worked great and given these are so difficult to correctly lubricate.

 

It does look like a superb idea. If they were still available I'd be very tempted to buy one.

 

A DT 350 hub may be more expensive and out of reach for some people here won't give you any sleepless nights either.

I mean I'm long back home from a relaxing ride while my hobo friend next door is still busy trying to squeeze some grease into his creaking shimano free hub body with some dodgy tool from the 90s

 

No need to be silly. Sealed hubs need service. Shimano's need service. Neither is any easier or more time consuming. If you take care of your stuff, it takes some time after a ride.

I service my DT hubs more often than my Shimano's. About twice as often actually.

 

This thread is like Deja Vu, I remember reading a similar one years? ago talking about the Morningstar. It would be cool if Shimano sold it.

To recommend DT hubs for a cheap wheelset makes no sense. For example a commuter bike.

I've rode Shimano's in the past with no issue. Have an XT set now that I will try to break this summer. Will update if calamity.

 

^^^^ How heavy are you?

 

225 lbs geared up.

 

Did you personally adjust them before riding? The lbs usually won't.

 

One bug way to have problems with Shimano freehubs, not setting the bearings correctly and not cranking down the QR. They don't like flex, things start coming loose.

FYI actually bearing preload can effect the freehub. Ever taken a Shimano freehub apart? I have, more than once. Freehub bearings being too loose or too tight (there is shims behind the axle bearing cup and the outer freehub bearings ride in there) can cause issues.

Too thick of grease causes skipping which leads them to snap pawls.

Crap pedalling technique will snap the pawls (jamming down while pawls aren't engaged) which is likely the most common cause.

Have skewer/axle loose plays havoc on makes the hubs come loose, flex and eats the the freehub body.

Don't get me wrong, design could be done better, but it's often a set up issue or ride technique issue that takes them out.

275lbs geared, hard on my stuff, 3 yrs on slx hubs. Due to getting caught in a storm with bike on the back of my car, I had to service them to be safe. Didnt havre the wheels a month. Marine greased everything. Made sure everything was set correctly, never had to touch the hubs again. Still in perfect shape in February this year (2 months shy of 3 yrs).

But last set of wheels I built are on BHS hubs (fat bike). Great budget hubs. Now my go to for any hubs I need.

PS:. 275lbs on a Shimano road bike hub, full year, getting beat plenty especially now with 1x11, 0 issues at about 1000 miles or so. Plenty of hill mashing.

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I have some older wheels with Cup & Cone Shimano's and freehubs. One prolly has close to 10,000 miles and the other about 5,500 miles. Ridden hard and well maintained. Completely trouble-free. They're inexpensive, good components. Perhaps I've been lucky, buy I know of many others with the same results.

 

First thing I did was open them up and remove the small amount of grease and repack them. They have seen some trail miles but I am getting Hopes soon and will use the XTs for commuter duty, which at least means riding 5x/wk.