I said I worked as a courier. as in did it for a while. I’m not a messenger, and this is absolutely relevent to the topic. I am however a bike mechanic with over ten years of experience, and I’m someone that rides a bike everyday and has for a long time.
Someone asked about two types of hubs, people say all kinds of stuff that’s just not true biased mostly on other crap they’ve read. someone will read it and buy a more expensive hub that is not any better, and in fact doesn’t roll nearly as smooth. unless someone says something… so this time i’m that someone.
Get what ever hub you want, but don’t lie to your self about it. Phil makes awesome parts i’m not saying anything against them. they are pretty, and you get a lot more street cred lacing them up instead of a shimano hub.
I’ve got DA hubs on the cannondale road bike. I keep them clean and service them regularly, and they will roll with the weight of the seam on the rim. Love it.
just speaking of any hubs now, those (old) superbe road hubs i got recently are the smoothest things i’ve ever owned. i don’t know who rode them before me, but there is ZERO play and fucking close to ZERO friction, its a joy to watch them spin. i can’t wait to glue a tire on and roll the front on my track.
owned 2 seperate wheelsets with dura ace hf hubs, one i still have. only serviced one hub once. you need to be concious of what theyre for though, and thats not foul weather and so on. even if you can re-pack them, its stupid to buy them if youre just going to mash it up on them, taking them off curbs and riding rough road is bad for the axles too, i know someone who destroyed a da hub going off a curb because he was a jackass. just get some fucking formulas if ur going to do that.
and someone made the good point the other day that wood hubs are tricky. they get warped if they get wet and they could rot if you dont take care of them properly. and they could crack pretty easy. you need alot of minwax.
Those white hubs are very nice. I like hubs that use a spline for the cog interface. I don’t like the bulge in the middle of the shell. I’ve only seen them laced to a deep v so I 'm not sure how heavy they realy are, but they look like they would be up there thou. performance is probably the same as the phil’s, I think they use the same bearing.
I love the Phil wood grease, best stuff ever, their tenacious oil is great for chains too. but I usually just use the park grease
Are formulas really bad? I hear everyone callin them whack and everything, but they’re ok right? I’m saving up for a new wheelset and he hub question is also floating around my head. I ride streets only and commute a lot so where do I stand?
Honestly formulas are just fine, even if you are trying to get started in real track racing. the shell’s aren’t quite as stiff as a Phil, White, what ever or what ever but the functional parts are basically the same. I think the surly hubs are a little nicer for about the same price so keep them in mind too.
Formulas are well-machined and simple with press-in sealed bearings. The design is simple and they’re cheap. They’re not bike jewelry, but they’d very functional.
my formulas are still rolling acceptably smooth after…um…3 years. they’re on my gf’s bike now and sometimes i’m jealous bc i rarely have to service mine and hers just keep rolling forever and she rides in all sorts of shitty weather. they are laced to aeroheads and made by tony or whoever at IRO and have stayed very true considering they’ve only been trued a little bit, once, by a friend. decent rims+decent hubs+very good builder=great wheels.
