Light Weight, Long Distance, Durable Road Wheels - Recommendations?

Phil, Squid-in-Training wrote:

The issue I have never understood about Shimano road hubs is that
they don't have a rubber contact seal on the bearings. I have done
many wet rides on a basic front Deore hub and was surprised to see
Shimano's grease a bright neon even after those many many wet, gritty
miles. The fact that the wheel spins more freely with the labyrith
rubber seals attests to the fact that grease fills the voids between
the hub and the rubber parts, keeping out mud and grit effectively.

If I were ever to build up another set of road wheels for myself, I
would no doubt build them with mountain hubs, fix the spacing, and
change the axle if necessary.

It's definately worth thinking about. I have an STX-RC hub on the rear of my
mountain bike, which seems every bit as good as the more expensive ones. The
few times I've taken it apart the grease has been clean. Shimano MTB hubs are
great.

Actually the freehub part needs to be serviced more often than the bearings
these days.

Early 90s MTB hubs were like road hubs, and sometimes needed to be serviced
after every wet ride. We used to leave the globs of grease that squeezed out,
thinking they had to wash away first before water could start getting past the
seals.

Matt O.

Matt O'Toole wrote:

It's definately worth thinking about. I have an STX-RC hub on the
rear of my
mountain bike, which seems every bit as good as the more expensive
ones. The
few times I've taken it apart the grease has been clean. Shimano MTB
hubs are
great.

Actually the freehub part needs to be serviced more often than the
bearings
these days.

I've found the same thing, even the low-end Shimano MTB hubs are really
durable. They're also really cheap. Whenever I see them on sale, I
usually buy one just for the parts. The freehub swaps easily, no bother
with servicing, plus you've got a decent QR, a spare axle, cones &
balls. I've swapped the Ultegra freehubs with LX MTB ones.

On Mon, 28 Mar 2005 05:23:14 +0000, Phil, Squid-in-Training wrote:

The issue I have never understood about Shimano road hubs is that they don't
have a rubber contact seal on the bearings.

I have limited experience with Shimano road hubs. My experience with
Campy hubs is that they last a long time between rebuilds even in wet
conditions. In fact, I am feeling guilty since my road wheels have gone
maybe 4000 miles with no attention other than shooting a bit of grease in
the port (the hole in the center of the hubs; if it isn't equipped with
one, I drill one) every blue moon. The Shimano road hub I have is on
the fixed gear, which may get less exposure to wet conditions. The rear
is also Shimano, and I would not imagine the seals to be any better than
the road ones. Again I have a grease port drilled into these, so maybe
that helps.

--

David L. Johnson

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David L. Johnson wrote:
In fact, I am feeling guilty since my road wheels have gone
maybe 4000 miles with no attention other than shooting a bit of
grease in
the port (the hole in the center of the hubs; if it isn't equipped
with
one, I drill one) every blue moon.

I've thought about switching to that method of greasing hubs, but
haven't. Seems to me you're injecting a slug of grease between the
axle and the inner surface of the hub body. Isn't that grease
constantly being sheared whenever the wheel rotates? Does it not add
to rolling resistance? Can you feel the difference?

Frank Krygowski

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In article .com,
wrote:

David L. Johnson wrote:
In fact, I am feeling guilty since my road wheels have gone
maybe 4000 miles with no attention other than shooting a bit of
grease in
the port (the hole in the center of the hubs; if it isn't equipped
with
one, I drill one) every blue moon.

I've thought about switching to that method of greasing hubs, but
haven't. Seems to me you're injecting a slug of grease between the
axle and the inner surface of the hub body. Isn't that grease
constantly being sheared whenever the wheel rotates?

_ Yes, but since grease is pretty viscous the shear layer is very
thin and the hub is moving much slower than the rim ( roughly
1/70th the speed ). Most of the grease is either stuck to the axle or the hub.

Does it not add to rolling resistance?

_ Probably in some fashion, it does add weight. Overall I think
the benefit of clean fresh grease with very little effort
outweighs any drawbacks.

Can you feel the difference?

_ No, but I'm not racing these days.

_ Booker C. Bense

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On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 21:30:17 -0800, frkrygow wrote:


David L. Johnson wrote:
In fact, I am feeling guilty since my road wheels have gone
maybe 4000 miles with no attention other than shooting a bit of
grease in
the port (the hole in the center of the hubs; if it isn't equipped
with
one, I drill one) every blue moon.

I've thought about switching to that method of greasing hubs, but
haven't. Seems to me you're injecting a slug of grease between the
axle and the inner surface of the hub body. Isn't that grease
constantly being sheared whenever the wheel rotates? Does it not add
to rolling resistance? Can you feel the difference?

It's not a total replacement for re-packing hubs with fresh grease and new
bearings, but it extends the interval between re-packing.

I doubt that there is much shear from the grease layer between the axle
and the hub body. What I see when I pull the hub apart is that there is
a layer of grease on hub and body, but there seems to be a space between
them. I think the grease separates pretty quickly so that it does not
cause drag. I certainly don't feel any drag. I do have to clean excess
grease off the ends of the hubs after I shoot more in, so most of the
excess seems to migrate outward.

--

David L. Johnson

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