Originally Posted by
ze_zaskar
I'm ok with cup and cone bearings, the rear hub is a Shimano XT. No disc brakes, so no need for Center-Lock interfaces.
The SON is 3 times the price of the XT, to put things into perspective....
Cup and cone is a bad idea with Shimano dynohubs... for one, it uses an M11 (*edit* M14 on the xt hub) axle thread which means there are not a lot of replacement cones available (buy extras now, they won't be around when you need them in a few years, trust me... they tend to change the cone with every subsequent model and drop support of the former).
Unless Shimano has changed the design, changing the bearings/cones on the side with the wiring is possible but annoying and it's easy to damage the copper wire. Shimano itself does't consider it serviceable.
I'm a fan of cup&cone, but with generator hubs, cartridge bearings are really the way to go due to the proprietary cup/cone/axle of shimano's dynamo.