Why choose a brand name hub over an OEM?

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davidalone
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by davidalone

So I've used brand name hubs- White industries, DT 240s, to name a few.

I've also used various OEMs- bitex, bikehubstore hubs, novatech, circus monkey, and a few others.

I've noticed, by and large, that the performance is very comparable. alot of them have similar bearings in them, and similar designs. I'm not a wheelbuilder, so shan't go into the technicalities of wheelbuilding, but does anyone have good reasons for getting a brand name hub over an OEM?

OEM pros
- cheap

OEM cons
- usually lower standard of QC/ materials, but usually 'good enough'
-spare parts harder to find
- no bling factor

Slagter
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by Slagter

I guess you could say that not just regarding hubs but also rims, frames, all other bicycle parts or all other types of products in the world.

I´m pretty sure that bm0p700f can tell you something about flangesize/position vs. brazingangle on name brand hubs vs. no-names.

Name brands though often use better materials, have better QC, better service, better product development and research and so on....

That said, Im pretty sure that you can win races on china rims laced to bitex/Bikehubstore hubs as well....

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Geoff
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by Geoff

The obvious is the difference between the 'factory' hubs (Campagnolo and Shimano) and everything else - adjustable angular contact bearings. That is a pretty big difference, in my book. The 'downside' is that the drillings available are very few indeed.

Mackers
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by Mackers

DA hubs are available in 18-36 holes....

Valbrona
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by Valbrona

Your high end Campagnolo, Shimano, Hope, Chris King are really not in the same league as stuff made by Taiwanese OEM manufacturers like Novatech. But if you have never owned a set of DA or Record or Hope Pro you might not have noticed that. However, hubs are a place where you can cut costs, unlike rims. Most people these days move on to a new set of wheels long before the hub bearings are worn.

bm0p700f
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by bm0p700f

Novatec spares are easily available but the one thing novatec hubs have going for them is very good bracing angles on the NDS and DS rear. In fact you can't better it without using larger PCD flanges and on the F172 hub they are fairly large already at 49mm.

Valbrona's last comment is also why novatec and Miche hubs are so useful. Most folk do not get wheels rebuilt and never get a cup and cone hub serviced so a cheaper hub will do the job. I do find most cartridge bearing hubs perform equally well the only difference being in bearing life. Bearing are cheap though and easy to replace.

You keep expensive hubs and rebuild them onto new rims, cheap hubs can be throw away if you get a shop to service them as the cost of new bearings and a freehub can be as much as a whole new hub. So if the rim is worn then the wheel get binned.

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ergott
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by ergott

What are the Novatech numbers and for which model? I looked into a model or two in the past and wasn't impressed. I gather they are better now.

davidalone
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by davidalone

Valbrona wrote:Your high end Campagnolo, Shimano, Hope, Chris King are really not in the same league as stuff made by Taiwanese OEM manufacturers like Novatech. But if you have never owned a set of DA or Record or Hope Pro you might not have noticed that. However, hubs are a place where you can cut costs, unlike rims. Most people these days move on to a new set of wheels long before the hub bearings are worn.


can you explain this?

I've used the older shimano ultegra and dura ace hubs (7800 and 7700). they really are nice, with a nice finish and QC and they are sturdily built to last a long time... but 'in the same league' is a rather broad statement. from a purely performance standpoint the only real thing I see brand name hubs having an advantage in is longevity... and then only in the heavier ones.

mattr
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by mattr

Geoff wrote:The obvious is the difference between the 'factory' hubs (Campagnolo and Shimano) and everything else - adjustable angular contact bearings. That is a pretty big difference, in my book.
And why all my road bikes have shimano hubs. Or at least, once the stock wheels wear out/pack in, i fit a set of shimano hubbed wheels. You have to go a long way to get a cartridge bearing hub that rolls as well as a well adjusted (or even not so well adjusted!) set of angular bearings.

The MTBs i'm not so bothered, easily rebuildable and damage tolerance is more important than free rolling. So i tend to stick with hope. (And i don't particularly like centre lock and AFAIK XTR don't have a 6 bolt option.)

bm0p700f
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by bm0p700f

There are two hubs I use sometimes (I mostly use Miche Primato hubs in builds as they are extremely reliable in wet weather and we get alot of rain)
1) the A171/F172 which use 6001 bearings in the rear main shell and the 6901 bearings in the freehub body. They cope with wet weather quite well and seem relaible enough, they look good on a classicly styled wheel build.
2) A291/F482 SB-SL 290g and they make fine race day hubs. Cheap for the low weight and these seem quite reliable.

The F172 hubs has a PCD of 49mm and 38mm/18mm Flange to centre distances and the F482SB-SL has 41/49mm L/R PCD 38/18mm flange to centre distance (well it may be 17.8mm) .

the road/CX disc brake hub the D771/D772 are hope quality but half the price.

ToffieBoi
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by ToffieBoi

bm0p700f wrote:There are two hubs I use sometimes (I mostly use Miche Primato hubs in builds as they are extremely reliable in wet weather and we get alot of rain)
1) the A171/F172 which use 6001 bearings in the rear main shell and the 6901 bearings in the freehub body. They cope with wet weather quite well and seem relaible enough, they look good on a classicly styled wheel build.
2) A291/F482 SB-SL 290g and they make fine race day hubs. Cheap for the low weight and these seem quite reliable.

The F172 hubs has a PCD of 49mm and 38mm/18mm Flange to centre distances and the F482SB-SL has 41/49mm L/R PCD 38/18mm flange to centre distance (well it may be 17.8mm) .

the road/CX disc brake hub the D771/D772 are hope quality but half the price.


Do you know the bearings used in A291 / F482SB-SL hubs. I have a set and I want to change the bearings with some industrial ones, maybe ceramic even if I can find cheap ones here.
If you know them, it would be great since I am not able to check them for now.
Also, I wonder if you recommend changing the freehub bearings or not (in a few places, I heard people recommend just buying a new freehub)

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kavitator
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by kavitator

rear hub in freehub body (shimano) and on DS has 26 x 15 x 7mm bearings
on NDS one 24x15x5mm bearing

front two bearings 17x9x5mm

Novatec are great hubs

bm0p700f
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by bm0p700f

edit.

RussellS
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by RussellS

bm0p700f wrote:Most folk do not get wheels rebuilt and never get a cup and cone hub serviced so a cheaper hub will do the job.

You keep expensive hubs and rebuild them onto new rims, cheap hubs can be throw away


Agree with the above. Look at the wheels of those you ride with. Almost zero are on handmade wheels today. All are factory assembled wheel pairs. The idea of building a set of wheels (choosing rim, hubs, spokes, crossing pattern, nipples) is foreign to about 99.99% of riders today. I have a couple pairs of factory assembled wheels. Came with complete bikes I bought or a great sale price. Most of my wheels are Record, Chorus, Centaur, Dura Ace, Deore DX hubs. 32 hole. 3 cross. DT, Wheelsmith, Sapim spokes. 14/15, 14/17, 14 gauges. Assortment of rims. All built and trued by me using an ancient truing stand passed down from my brother and a copy of Jobst Brandt's book. Guessing 99.99% of cyclists today do not even know who Jobst Brandt is.

As for why to choose a name brand hub over others? Quality and adjustable loose bearings you can repack with grease yourself. Campagnolo and Shimano hubs.

djay001
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by djay001

bm0p700f wrote:There are two hubs I use sometimes (I mostly use Miche Primato hubs in builds as they are extremely reliable in wet weather and we get alot of rain)
1) the A171/F172 which use 6001 bearings in the rear main shell and the 6901 bearings in the freehub body. They cope with wet weather quite well and seem relaible enough, they look good on a classicly styled wheel build.
2) A291/F482 SB-SL 290g and they make fine race day hubs. Cheap for the low weight and these seem quite reliable.

The F172 hubs has a PCD of 49mm and 38mm/18mm Flange to centre distances and the F482SB-SL has 41/49mm L/R PCD 38/18mm flange to centre distance (well it may be 17.8mm) .

the road/CX disc brake hub the D771/D772 are hope quality but half the price.


I have a novatec F172 on hand and also two BHS hub, the UL190 and SL210. This is quite strange because lot of people said that BHS got worse DS spacing than novatec, so to check this i have placed the three hub side to side....
Image
The BHS hub got 17mm on DS, for the novatec on their website, they don't put the flange spacing but with this picture we can easily see that this is a bit less than the BHS SL210, si maybe 16,7mm. These are all the 10 speed model.

And don't know if this is also the case for the F482 SB-SL, if i can put my hands on one, i will also check compared to BHS hub.

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