I think it’s important to know just how to get the most out of the life of your hubs, especially if you’ve just taken possession of a new set of custom wheels from Cognoscenti Cycles.
Even the highest quality hubs need some special care and shouldn’t be ignored. Regularly checking your bearings for the development of any unwanted play or a feeling of grittiness is essential to their lifespan.
Also, if a hub design incorporates a pre-load adjustment system for the bearings you’ll need to make sure that the bearings haven’t developed any play. Riding your wheels with loose bearings will do immediate damage to them and possibly to your hub shell.
For instance Chris King hubs have a unique pre-load adjustment on the non drive side that helps to remove any unwanted bearing play quite easily. Chris King recommends a pre-load adjustment within the first 200 klms of use. If you ignore this you could possibly be doing damage to your hub.
The Chris King R45D hub with an axle based pre-load adjustment system.
Hadley hubs from California have a nice pre-load adjustment system that’s built right into the hub shell instead of on the axle like Chris King.
Hadleys pre-load adjustment is unique to their lovely hubs and requires special tools.
If your hub design has no pre-load system there is no real reason to be overly concerned. Some of the best hubs in the world don’t use any pre-load adjustment whatsoever. Why? Classic hubs like the DT Swiss 240 don’t have a pre-load adjustment. Instead DT Swiss meticulously drill the bearing bore in the hub shell to extremely fine tolerances. This means that the hub starts life with brand new bearings fitted into ultra tight bearing bores that guarantee no initial play. Over time these bearings will normally wear and loose their buttery smooth feel. When that time comes its time to replace your bearings with new ones. Well known hubs like Hope and White Industries also design their hubs with no pre-load adjustment.
White Industries superb XMR hubs are designed without an adjustable pre-load mechanism.
All bearings eventually were out and require replacement so this is normal. Bearing life is dependent on their quality and the type of cycling you do. Hard riding like MTB and gravel grinding tend to wear bearings out much faster than say road riding. Cycling in foul weather will also kill your bearings faster than almost anything else.
One should consider how much pressure is being loaded onto your bearings when clamping your wheel into your drop outs. Whether you are using a standard quick release or some type of thru axle skewer, you should be aware of how much force is being applied to your hub and its bearings. An excess of force will add a considerable amount of unwanted pressure on your bearings which will overload them and cause premature wear.
What about the freehub? There are several different approaches to freehub design and this effects the freehubs life span as well as its need for eventual maintenance. Most are built on a system of pawls that engage when we pedal. Often those pawls are actuated by small steel springs that may require replacement from time to time. Pawls also eventually wear out and need to be replaced.
Some freehub designs are free of pawls altogether like the DT Swiss Star Ratchet system as well as the freehub by Onyx Racing Products and Chris King as well as Trailmech MTB hubs. Freehubs also have internal sealed bearings that will eventually loose tolerance and require replacement.
If your freehub is alloy you should keep an eye out for what we call “cog bite”. This is the wear from your cassette cogs eventually digging into your alloy freehub body and wearing it out. After a few seasons of hard riding you might be a candidate for a new freehub. If your freehub is made from steel or titanium these can last considerably longer before requiring a replacement.
Whatever the design, you will have to ensure that they remain lubricated. If things dry out in your hub it may cease to work at all. Special lubricants are sometimes essential to the smooth running of your hubs. Its not wise to put just any old grease into your hub. Onyx requires a special grease from Kluber in Germany and Chris King has their own line of greases and other lubricants for their hubs.
You’ll need a qualified mechanic to work on your hubs. I wouldn’t trust that to just anyone, as their approach may ruin your hubs. I have heard horror stories of some mechanics who lack the right tools or the knowledge to perform a proper overhaul and destroy someones’s hub.
There are a number of essential tools for hub overhaul. Chris King have designed very special tools to disassemble their hubs. Attempting to disassemble one of their hubs without these tools will likely damage it.
Bearing removal tools are absolutely essential to the correct method of replacing worn bearings. I have seen some unlearned mechanics remove them with a hammer and a punch and destroy that carefully drilled bearing bore, completely eliminating the fine tolerances that your hub initially had.
Special bearing presses are absolutely necessary for replacing worn bearings.
Cleaning your hubs must be done in a particular way as well. In this era of high pressure hoses and power washing devices its tempting to wash your bike at the local car wash or use some sort of pressure washing system. Even washing your bike in your shower is a sure fire way to kill your bearings. So AVOID any high pressure washing system. Yes, its convenient but you will potentially kill your hub bearings. All washing must be done with just a damp rag being careful not to allow any water or cleaners or de-greasers near your bearings.
This is admittedly a time consuming process, but it insures that no water is pushed into your bearings.
If your hubs start to sound noisy or are making unfamiliar sounds then they should be looked at right away. Don’t wait as this may bring about an early hub death that won’t be covered by warranty. Hub manufacturers fully expect you to preform regular maintenance so don’t expect them to provide you with a new hub for free if you didn’t look after it.
This short article is hardly an exhaustive treatise on all aspects of hub maintenance so If you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out to get those questions answered.
If you look after your hubs they should last for many many seasons, but they will need regular maintenance, so keep that in mind.