[transcend]

I've been reading some of the hub reviews and I'm quite suprised about them. Even some of the higher quality hubs get beat up. I've been riding on the deore hubs that the bike was born with and had no problems with them at all... 2000+ miles now and not a hiccup. Heck, i haven't even "serviced" the dumb things. (maybe i ought to do that... hmm) I don't drag 'em through the mud with the seals off, but you can't honestly expect them to live through abuse like that. Playing the devil's advocate, how and when do you guys "service" your hubs and freewheels? How do you ride? What grease? What hubs are you using? What consititutes "servicing" a hub and/or freewheel?

 

[tscheezy]

I don't drag 'em through the mud with the seals off, but you can't honestly expect them to live through abuse like that.

That's what separates the wheat from the chaff. I have deore hubs and they are total junk imo. They are on my commuting townie bike. Lots of rain = crunchy, brown bearings. Skippy freehub in cold weather. Terrrrrrrible seals. I have repacked the bearings about 2 or 3 times in the past year and the result is always the same. XT hubs fair considerably better. Kings better yet....

 

[womble]

I think there's also a lot of luck involved with hubs. I ran LX hubs for 5 years, and two of those were spent riding a lot in miserably English weather. I never serviced them once, and the hubs were fine the whole time and I only replaced them out of compusive consumerism.

 

[tscheezy]

There is a fundamental difference between Deore and the LX and XT models, and it comes down to sealing. I would not touch anything below LX again.

 

[Jim311]

I've wrecked 4 or 5 XT disc hubs in maybe 3 years. I think they're garbage. I rarely ever repacked them or maintained them, mostly because I don't think I should have to. I rode a set of XTR hubs back in the day for like 5 years without doing anything to them whatsoever and they were smooth as the day I got them. The XTs have given me nothing but problems... the rear hub anyway. The front I've never touched and they run smooth, no complaints there.. and no maintenance to them EVER.. the way it should be. I'm upgrading to Hope Pro II's as soon as I can spare some cash.

 

[transcend]

What would you guys run for hubs, if you didn't want spend more than the cost for XT hubs?
No doubt you get what you pay for, but I'm NOT going to spend the big bucks on a set of Kings. Doesn't seem to many people are happy with the Shimano stuff.
If I were to build another set of wheels for myself, I'd want to use 32 or 36 spokes and a ISO disk compatible hub. Any suggestions?

 

[Douglas Fir]

Hub service is easy with the correct tools

Hey guys, it is very hard to beat servicing the very hubs you are riding- out where I live, the trails are long and lonely- one always wants to make it home.

I've been using the morningstar freehub buddy for Fh service when I repack the hubs and have been running deore hubs for 15 years. Why buy more hubs just to junk them out when a little time spent on service goes so much farther ?
morningstar even makes reusable dustshields and lubricants for the FH.