Best tourer rear hub for around £100-150?

[oxford_guy]

Hi - I'm looking for a new rear hub for my Hewitt Cheviot SE tourer, after experiencing some major problems (hub lock-up) with my current Shimano Deore XT hub (36 spoke), what would people recommend for around £100-£150? The tourer is used for both road and mild-off road use (tow paths etc.) with camping gear, so needs to be robust (MTB or cyclocross hub I guess). The bike has 135mm dropouts BTW and rim brakes.

A Chris King or Phil Wood hub would be very tempting, but is probably outside my price range (though the Chris King Classic Cross Rear Hub is very tempting...)

My LBS said that a Hope hub would be worth considering, and they have replacable cartridge bearings, though am unsure which of their range (Pro 3?) would be the most suitable

Any suggestions? Thanks! :-)

Paul

 

[Tim Bennet.]

You shouldn't have had any problems with the XT. They're generally a good bet on a touring bike.

You don't use 'Muck-off' do you? That stuff is the usual cause of hub trouble.

 

[oxford_guy]

You shouldn't have had any problems with the XT. They're generally a good bet on a touring bike.

You don't use 'Muck-off' do you? That stuff is the usual cause of hub trouble.

I don't use spray cleaning products like "Muck-off" anywhere near the hubs....

 

[Tim Bennet.]

That's good. Just make sure when looking at some of the more exotic hubs, you are getting a real improvement over simply trying another XT.

Make sure you get the the same wide bearing spacing on the axle and that it is a forged hub body. Forging aligns the aluminium grains so the material around the spoke holes is at maximum strength. Some of the smaller manufacturers can't afford have their hubs forged and they CNC machine their hubs from solid billets of aluminium. This sounds fancy, but leaves the 'grain' orientated as in the original billet.

I know the XT isn't perfect, but if you pack it with grease when new, it's generally a pretty serviceable unit. My reservations of it are as a with mountain bike hub as it doesn't like deep water immersion and freezing temperatures in winter.

 

[oxford_guy]

Not impressed with the XT hub destroying itself after only 5 months of use (1000 miles), and needed to order a replacement hub today as am meant to be doing the Devon Coast to Coast this weekend, so in the end went with the LBS recommendation and they've ordered in a Hope Pro 3 rear hub. I just hope (no pun intended) that it arrives in time for them to build the wheel on Friday, so that I can catch my train to Devon in the evening....

 

[andrew_s]

Previous XT hubs were great, but the current version (M770) has an aluminium axle (= major redesign), and seems to be getting a bit of a reputation for fragility.

Look for an older model XT hub (M760)?
Downgrade to LX or Deore?

otherwise I'd probably go for Hope or Goldtec

 

[oxford_guy]

Having looked at a few reviews of the Hope Pro 3 hub, they're mostly pretty positive, and sounds like its a reliable hub (or at least the Pro 2 was, the Pro 3 is too new for extended reports), the main complaint seems to be that the freewheel is noisy! BTW on the front I have a Schmidt Dynohub, have had no problems with that! :-)

 

[Randochap]

Answered this on the other subforum. See here you have a budget limit of £150

Still, for those here unfamiliar with the product, I reiterate Phil Wood touring hubs are unquestionably the only way to go in the end. What other hub is built this tough and fully field serviceable -- pull the cassette right off -- with just 2X 5 mm allen wrenches?

 

[betty swollocks]

Royce hubs?

 

[just jim]

Have you informed Paul Hewitt about the problem? You've only had the bike a short while.