CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Stuff

Wheely good advice needed

(14 posts)

No tags yet.


  1. Beano
    Member

    Hi All,

    Getting to the point again this winter where my wheels seem to be struggling to get through the season. I just have generic 700c disc-brake wheels on my winter commuter bike and therefore the hubs/ball bearings cannot be replaced (so I'm told by my bike repair shop). I have only had the bike about 18months but it has already had a new rear wheel (£50) and both hubs are now pretty much trashed. I've occasionally/regularly got the guy at the bike repair shop to pump some grease in to try and stop the rot but I think very shortly they will be doomed. So...

    As this is my commuter thrasher bike do I just keep buying the cheap wheels with the non-descript hubs and replace the whole wheel(s) when needed? As a fife commuter I'm probably doing a few 000's on this bike a year.

    Or...do I buy a semi-decent wheelset where the hubs are replaceable and then just replace the hub when required rather than replacing the wheel?

    Any advice appreciated...bit out my depth when it comes to technical stuff. I don't want to spend the earth as the winter commuter takes a pounding...£200 absolute maximum and even then I would have to be convinced that the £200 was worth it!!!

    Posted 8 years ago #

  2. steveo
    Member

    I'd be inclined to build or have built a set of wheels with proper hubs and rims rather than the disposable machine built ones.

    A set of Tiagra/105 on Open Pro wheels will be within your budget and you can service them very easily. These should last years of pretty heavy service in my experience.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  3. wee folding bike
    Member

    My hubs keep going and I replace the rims but I don't have disks.

    I don't have any with bearings which can't be replaced. That's a weird idea.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  4. wingpig
    Member

    Tiagra hubs are generally fine for years and years in my experience, though the freehub body might need to be replaced before the bearings expire. I'd go for Rigida Sputnik or something heavier than Open Pro for Fife-level commuting

    Posted 8 years ago #

  5. Beano
    Member

    @ wee folding bike...I'm guessing but I think its because the wheels are so cheap that the bike repair place wouldn't know what size bearings to put in the hub (assuming they've been worn down somewhat). I must say I haven't a clue what I've just written there and if it makes sense or not haha

    Thanks for the "Tiagra/105 on Open Pro" replies...so is that a tiagra/105 'Hub' with 'Open Pro' wheels? If so then i'll look that up on tinternet and see what comes up.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  6. steveo
    Member

    Yup, Tiagra/105 is the groupset level for the hub and Open Pro is a brand of rim from Mavic.

    Have a look on ebay, there are often good value pre-built wheels with that level of specification.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  7. stiltskin
    Member

    Not sure that Tiagra come as disc compatible hubs.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  8. wingpig
    Member

    Possibly Deore, then. I assume something coming from the MTB range would have MTB-width rear axle spacing?

    Posted 8 years ago #

  9. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @Beano

    You (or your bike shop) certainly can replace the ball bearings for pennies assuming they're cup and cone. Thing is the wear will probably be on the cups or cones, not the balls. If it's the cups then your hub is scrap. You can change cones easily.

    It's amazing what you can coax back into life with a bit of patience.

    If you do get new wheels maybe think about rebuilding the hubs straight away. I often find bike shops make them up too tight which leads to premature wear.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  10. steveo
    Member

    Good point stiltskin. Deore would work upfront rear would maybe need to be a cyclocross hub, still shouldn't be too expensive.

    What bike is it? What wheels do you currently run? You're frame might have been designed with a 135mm spacing for "mtb" hubs

    Posted 8 years ago #

  11. acsimpson
    Member

    I upgraded my commuter wheels to Bontrager SSR ones from Evans when the ones Boardman supplied wore out in under a year despite regular maintenance. It's a CX bike which I think means it has MTB hub spacing.

    They are slightly over your budget though at about £250 for the pair.

    Edit: I just checked and they only do the front wheel now for £130 although you can get it for half then in Tesco vouchers if you collect such things.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  12. Beano
    Member

    Thanks all for the comments. I don't doubt the bike repair place (the cycle service) they have always been good. I'm guessing its the cones that are shot that makes things get to a point where the hub is beyond repair.

    I'm going to take bike in to cycle service this week and get them to pump grease in as a temp measure whilst asking about a wheel build and getting them to give me a price to do it. I think they offer that service and likely i'll buy the wrong thing if I do it myself.

    It is a pinnacle arkose 3 CX bike with the disc brakes.

    Out of curiousity when looking on the web at wheelsets they often say '6-bolt disc' or 'centrelock disc' - how would I know how to spot the difference on my bike?

    Posted 8 years ago #

  13. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Shimano Centrelock uses a lockring similar (if not identical) to the one holding your cassette onto your hub, a bit like racing car wheels. The disc rotor fits onto a splined bit of hub.

    6-bolt means the rotor is held on using six bolts, either Allen head or Torx, all M5x12 or so.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  14. BurntOut
    Member

    If you have MTB spacing at the rear, it's worth paying a little more for Shimano XT hubs - very hard to beat on price to longevity IME. (Even the newer models, which I have read some poor stuff about.) Chain Reaction has rear disc XT hubs for £35.

    Posted 8 years ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.


Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin