Money D

I've always liked silent or at least quiet rear hubs, be it road or mtb, I've never had a "loud" one. I have on the way to me a used 2016 Scott Solace Premium that has the stock Syncros RP1.0 disc wheelset. One review stated that the rear hub (rebranded DT Swiss 240 from what I gather) isn't just loud, but "could wake the dead." Hopefully that's a gross exaggeration, but just in case can you guys share your experience with your first loud hub? Did you get used to it after a period of time (how long?), or did you replace it? (my experience has been with Spinergy Rev-X for years a long time ago, Mavic Crossride and similar, Zipp Flashpoint, Easton Havoc, and Mavic Cosmic Carbones)


My other option would be to build a deep aero 2nd rear wheel with a quiet hub. I much prefer the look of deep carbon rims, and i'm a big guy so not too worried about being blown around. The RP1.0s are 38mm, I think 50-60mm rear rim would look great. Anyone care to share their build specs if they have done anything similar, or make suggestions if they have not? I've read shimano hubs are very quiet?


Thanks in advance.

noodle soup

Stop coasting.

Problem solved.

TimothyH

I have Industry 9 Torch hubs on my gravel bike. They are loud.

At first it bothered me.

I've not gotten used to it but recently decided to no longer care.

It never occurred to me to replace them just because of the sound.


-Tim-

Money D

If I don't coast every once in a while and I'm pointed east or west, the Earth's spin velocity changes and I don't want to be responsible for that.

MoAlpha

No, it bores into your brain, making every ride a trial of your sanity, until you sell the bike or ride it off a switchback.

Yeah, my one 5-pawl hub is a little loud, but I'm rarely conscious of it and try not to coast much. I always liked the swarm-of-bees sound effect at the turns in a crit.

JasonD67

You get used to it. I like 'em loud as it's a good way to warn pedestrians you're approaching...so I don't have to say "on your left" as much.

seypat

I don't. I either drop back away from the offending rider or I give them the Cinzano pump move. Either way I don't have to listen to it anymore. Life's too short to have to listen to buzzy hubs.

If the thread somehow gets to 3 pages, I'll post the Turbospoke video. That never gets old.

HTupolev

You don't "get used to it."

You embrace it.

redlude97

+1, its a feature. DT Swiss are my current favorites and I really want to upgrade to the 54t star ratchets

jideta

For the most part, I think fast engaging hubs are going to sing.
Loud.
Just to remind you why you paid the big bucks.

Kimmo 

Yep, and they're the only high-end hubs I'm aware of with the DS axle bearing where it belongs, and one of the only ones where the splines won't get chewed up. Also I think the only one aside from Campy with proper cup and cone bearings.

Downsides are a bit of extra weight and only 18 (IIRC) points of engagement.

DrIsotope

I don't even notice mine anymore. But more importantly, a few seconds of coasting can clear a line on the trail, because other people absolutely do notice. Which is a bonus.

Kimmo 

I just flick my shifter paddles against the brake levers a few times.

Granted, it's not an instantly recognisable sound...

Marcus_Ti

I used to like loud hubs....then I found it was just extraneous noise, and I like the quiet. Loud hubs became synonymous with quality a while back for who knows what reason. No thank you. If I need to get a peds attention-my SpurCycle bell fills that duty just fine and gets a smile and a wave doing so.

If you want quiet hubs, Shimano are a good bet. If you want silent as in silent hubs, get Onyx--which are not only blingy but MUSA.

deacon mark

That is why I like Shimano hubs. Ultegra 6800 are great and pretty much silent. I hate noisy rear wheels at the expense of weight.

Shimagnolo

"Loud hubs save lives"
[runs]

JohnJ80

I have a more than a few wheel sets with DT Swiss 240 hubs. They're not supposed to be loud, if they are, they need to be lubed. You pop off the free hub body and grease everything up with their grease and it gets quiet - pretty easy and fast. In point of fact, they tell you that one of the signs of needing to be greased is "excessive noise."

zatopek

I have two wheel sets that are too loud by my reckoning. One set is an FSE, the other is built on Chris King hubs. Both wheel sets perform really well. When I ride either set in a group, I apologize prior to the ride for the noise my wheels are about to make, suck it up and crank away.

Racing Dan

I was overtaken by someone on an e-bike. It had the strangest horn sound ever. It didnt even occur to me it was someone trying to overtake, as I confused looked around trying to locate the source of the "strange sound" :-)

Wileyrat

Stick some noise cancelling earbuds in and crank up the tunes.

Problem solved.

Jax Rhapsody

I like noisy hubs, just like the satisfying clunk of a r/d shifting in to gear. Just sounds nice. I like mechanical noises, like the sounds of hydraulics and electric motors. Sprags should be noisy, what shouldn't is brakes.

downtube42

About 150k into a brevet, the rest of the group is quietly planning how to make it look like an accident, and/or how to dispose of the body.

canklecat

Get some old school aluminum rims from the 1980s, build 'em around 7 speed freewheel hubs or 8 speed cassettes. Those suckers were usually quiet. I have a bunch of 7-speed freewheels -- Shimano, Suntour, SunRace -- and only one of the SunRaces makes enough noise to be heard while coasting. Ditto my Shimano and MicroShift cassette freehubs.

I rode with a couple of friends Sunday and one of 'em, who has at least 20 bikes (all really nice, at least half of 'em classic steel, upgraded with modern components), was riding something with aero carbon rims. Those hollow carbon tubes are resonant like drums. And he has an odd cadence, at least in casual group rides. He's strong like moose, built like Indurain, and tends to mash at 40-60 rpm, a few strong strokes at a time, then coasting. So his bike was kicking up a weirdly hypnotic arrhythmic buzz.

Anyway, that resonance of carbon tubes was driving me batty on my old Trek 5900, so a couple of months ago I switched from the original Dura Ace downtube shifters to MicroShift brifters. The Dura Ace downtube shifters had a strong click anyway, and with the resonance from the carbon tubes it literally sounded like a low power caliber handgun with a suppressor (don't ask how I know this). It was making people around me jumpy. So I switched to brifters. Problem solved. But I still call my Trek "Noisy Cricket," after Will Smith's pipsqueak powerhouse gun in Men In Black.

I'd kinda like buzzy hubs for the MUP. Give the walkers a bit of a heads up since I don't use a bell on my road bikes. Instead, I just kinda sneak up silently and whisper "Hey, behbee," like Butthead.

Nah, I wouldn't do that.

Mayyybe.