Clipped_in

I'ma still big fan of Dura Ace hubs!

Racing Dan

Half the "best" hubs mentioned have the drive side bearing close to drive side flange, like an old school freewheel hub. - Some even under or behind it. Imo thats a terrible design. For that reason i vote Dura ace.

seypat

Doesn't it depend on how much noise they make?

Kimmo 

Yesterday I churned out something like a thousand words leading to that conclusion, but the damn board ate my post because it had logged me out.

Cup and cone bearings, or at least adjustable preload on cartridge bearings, is compulsory for a decent hub, that eliminates a whole bunch of contenders. Include using the cassette body as a stressed member to put the drive side axle bearing next to the dropout, and you're left with Shimano or the likes of Joytech.

kansukee

Campagnolo of course, I also have a set of WI and the Curtis Odom high flange hubs that spin forever; these are like jewelry.

DOS

Not a clue what the best hubs but:

I like my White Industries T11 Hubs. They are light and roll nice.When I needed to replace a bearing, they were very easy to service.

For affordable, long lasting, low maintenance, relatively light hubs that just work, its hard to beat Shimano Ultegra and 105

Edited to add: Because of my second point, if I was making my decision about hubs today, rather than T11 hubs, I probably would go with Dura Ace. At the time I bought the T11s, I wanted light, high end hubs that were different than what everyone around me was running (mostly Dura Ace). I have no complaints about the T11, but I have had to replace a couple of the bearing cartridges (although thats pretty easy to do), and Shimano hubs just work;, the cup and cone design is simple and effective, and Dura Ace is as good as it gets.

Garfield Cat

Chicago? I recall the "Pre-Uno's) days when the pizza joints had that thin crust, round pie, cut in squares. And that Italian sausage had that very sharp taste. I was trying to figure out what made that sausage so unique.

While in NY, Manhattan, there was this joint, Joe's on Carmine Street near NYU. That's the closest I ever got to that sausage flavor.

I tried to figure it out, thinking its the fennel that had been toasted before going in the casing sausage.

Garfield Cat

Why White Industries?

For me, its very durable and I don't particularly do anything other than recreational riding. This is the build I had with Psimet on the older carbon model rims, road bike.

Bandera

Shimano.

-Bandera

Racing Dan

Maybe this was your point, but IMO you shouldn't have to repair expensive bike hubs in the first place. If you do, then whats great about them? Easy maintenance shouldn't be an excuse for "not very durable".

DOS

Well I don’t think its correct to equate cost with durability generally. Often what you are paying for is weight and other performance advantages, but in some cases you are actually sacrificing durability for those other advantages. A simple example, brass spoke nipples are more durable than aluminum and cost about 1/2 the price.

My point was more about Shimano cup and cone vs. cartridge hubs. I don't know why my White industry hub bearings failed (one in the front wheel, one in the rear over a period of about two years). I suspect some piece of grit worked its way passed the seals and jammed up one of the balls. I think that sort of thing is more common with cartridge bearings than with cup and cone.. At the end of the day, replacing two cartridges was cheap and it has been necessary at about the periodicity I would be repacking cup and cone bearings so the amount of effort required on maintenance is probably a wash. Also, a theoretical upside of the White and other cartridge hubs is that when a cartridge goes bad, I can replace it, but if enough grit gets into a Shimano hub the races could get damaged and that’s the end of the hub. So in that regard, one might argue over long term my White Hubs might be more durable because there are no races to get pitted that cant be replaced.. But race damage is not something I have experienced with any of my Shimano hubs, and my experience with them has been so positive, that I guess on balance I come out in favor of cup and cone for reliability and ease of serviceability over cartridge bearings. But I still love my T11s, which are lighter (slightly — at least that was the case when I bought them) than Dura Ace and very pretty.

Oh, and for Campy advocates, I have a set of 80s Record hubs on my Schwinn Paramount that spin like new and are beautiful. So, yay Campy, too.

Kimmo 

Do the T11s have steel strips to protect the no doubt aluminium splines?

Is the axle aluminum too? Wonder if you'd be able to get a replacement when it eventually fails from fatigue due to the bearing placement...

DOS

The rear hub axle is cromo and the freehub body is titanium. The front hub axle is aluminum.

Kimmo 

Hmm, if the drive side axle bearing is three times the size of the NDS one, I might concede it's properly designed... Adjustable preload, too?

DOS

NDS axle bearing is 6902=15x28x7).
Drive side has two 6902 (one in shell, one in freehub body separated by a thrust washer) and a 3802W (15x24x10). The latter can be replaced by 2 6802 bearings (15x24x5).

Preload is adjusted via an adjusting collar under the end cap that is held in place by three set screws. Instructions say to loosen end cap set screws and press adjusting collar to remove play, then tighten end cap set screws (see figure 23
https://0104.nccdn.net/1_5/30d/138/24...ADJUSTMENT.pdf)

Noctilux.95

Campy Bora Ultra ceramic Cult followed by DT Swiss 180

Kimmo 

So the NDS bearing is a larger diameter than the DS bearing. And the 'adjustment' is like trying to set headset preload without a top cap, got it.

DOS

Well not exactly. There are identical 28mm OD 6902 bearings pressed into both NDS and drive side of the hub shell, then there is a third 6902 bearing in the interior side of the freehub body and a thrust washr creates sepration between it and the hub-shell bearing so both bearings spin freely.Without the washer the two bearing interfere with each other. The smaller 24mm OD bearings are in the exterior facing side of the freehub body. They are smaller in diameter but wider at 10mm. As for prelod, yes, one just presses the adjusting collar while tightening set screw. Seems less precise that a being able to make incremental adjustments via slight turn of a bolt or threaded cone as with a headset top cap or cup and cone hub, but so far I have not had any trouble with too much play.

Kimmo 

The bearings for the cassette body aren't what interest me; it's the axle bearings I'm asking about. So the drive side bearing isn't oversized, it's just the same as the one specced on the left. Right?

dmanthree

Reservoir pub, Boonton, NJ.

masi61

Check out Gokiso high precision Japanese made hubs. They don’t appear to be sold outside of Japan and they most likely cost >$1,000 USD per set, but wow!

GOKISO Climber Hub

DOS

Correct. When the freehub body is removed, there are just two 6902 bearings on either side of the hub shell. Same dimensions.

But one point of clarification on freehub. The smaller fatter 3802W bearing (or two 6802s) are in the interior side of the freehub, adjacent to th drive-side axle bearing, not in the exterior side as I previously stated. A third 6902 bearing is in the exterior side of the freehub and visible when the cassette is removed.

DOS

I don’t know who makes the best pizza, but I guarantee they are not in New Jersey.

dmanthree

If you've never had it, how do you know? Answer: you don't.