Originally Posted by
daveed
Earlier this year, someone here wrote: "My experience on older Shimanocones is not that good, maybe a third of the cones are bad."
My shop mechanic was doubtful about ever finding a replacement cone given Shimano's proclivity to shape-shifting cones. I can't bear de-spoking wheels only to have to lace them again.
I volunteer at a high-volume big-city bike Co-op. We overhaul and recover several wheels every week. We even have a couple of folks in which that is about all they do: wheel repairs. Wheels with Shimano hubs are the ones that are the most reliably brought back to life. Shimano hubs are one of the great bargains in cycling: the mid-range stuff is better than the expensive bling boutique hubs from the small-fry manufacturers in terms of design, execution, serviceability and performance. The lowish-end Shimano stuff works great, and is as good as anyone really needs.
Non-Shimano hubs usually get wheels chopped-up and tossed into metal recycling. We cannot afford to stock the 20 different 'standards' of cartridge bearings. Nor can we afford to keep 10 different types of obscure freehubs, particularly the ones that require a 14.5mm hex key or whatever to install.
But we do have a 10-pound bin of various Shimano cones, which can always be used to kludge an old hub back to life, and provide another 10,000 miles of solid service. Exact dimensional fit is usually not required.
BTW: you bike shop does in fact have a drawer with various hub parts including cones. But they have zero motivation to fix your wheel, in that a new wheelset sale involves far less hassle, risk, and provides a far greater profit margin.