Okay, just as kind of a follow-up... I've opened up the notchy tick-ety tick-ety XT hub on my current wheel. It appears to be missing a bearing. A local rider friend says that's not uncommon in general with bike hubs. He was not speaking of any particular brand or model.
I don't have any real experience with opening bike hubs, so I'm basing the notion that there's a missing bearing on two things: (1) the cup obviously has enough room for another bearing to fit nicely without any issues whatsoever, even when sinking the bearings into a bed of grease. Maybe it's not technically a "cup"; I've only a vague notion of the terminology. But anyway... And (2) the Shimano technical document on-line for the Deore XT FH M770 hub (which I'm working with here) has a picture that appears to have 13 bearings on the drive side and 11 on the non-drive side. My hub had 11 on the non-drive side (they're in a retainer of some kind) but only had 12 on the drive side. One would think one could rely on the text of such a document and not actually have to look at a diagram. But the text said that the hub uses 20 3/16" bearings. Since mine came with 23 (and I believe is supposed to have 24), I take the text with a grain of salt. I'm just glad the text appears to have the bearing size right (3/16"). Moral is: maybe this wheel is okay. And maybe it'll stay okay. Time'll tell. Still contemplating a Phil-hubbed wheel at some point, though. Yours, Thomas Lynn Skean On Apr 21, 12:24 am, Bruce Curry <currybru...@gmail.com> wrote: > I see your 250lbs and raise you almost 20. When I first got my > current bike add another 30. I started with a Rambouillet with older > 105 hubs on 32 spoke Mavic M3's which were built for the 200lb PO who > rode 27mm specialized tires. The rear rim lasted probably 3 months. > > Solution: keep the 105/32 rear hub, rebuild w/Mavic a317's (?) double > butted rims w/DT 14guage spokes and brass nipples that have some > loctite-type glue substance which keeps them solidly in place. I put > 33.33mm Jack Brown tires @80 psi which are about as light as Grant > recommends at my weight. I expect about 1500 miles off the rear JB, > about 3k on the front. They have a Kevlar version if you need > additional puncture protection. Front rim is the original Mavic M3 w/ > the 33.33 JB @70 psi. > > I have about 2500 miles on these rims without any issues but would > move to a Mavic 717 36 spoke on 105's if I did. Last point: go to > your local wheel builder to get these done. You will get free trueing > as well as his advice. Cost is probably $60 for the hub, $45 for the > rim, $1/spoke and $50 for the build. > > Last thought. At 100miles/wk I was losing 10lbs/month no matter what > I ate. Average ride was 25 - 40miles solo @17-17.5mph. Didn't take > long. > > Bottom line: I think w/a decent hub and the right rim fabbed by a good > builder and you will have more than you need for less than $200. > > Good luck. Bruce > > On Apr 19, 10:02 am, Thomas Lynn Skean <thomaslynnsk...@comcast.net> > wrote: > > > > > > > Hi, all. I seek counsel. > > > I weigh about 250 lbs. I often carry 10-15 lbs on a rear rack. I ride > > a Trek hybrid, sitting bolt-upright. (By the way, this Trek is about > > as Riv'd up as any Trek could be. Actual Riv relevance: Later this > > year I'll also be riding a Hillborne and any counsel I receive will > > apply to it for sure; maybe/maybe-not for the Trek. Also, the riding I > > do is very much non-clubby, non-race-y, and non-trivial in distance; > > this seems to match up with Riv philosophy and thus seems appropriate > > for this group.) I use 700x35 tires on 32- or 36-spoke wheels at about > > 60 psi. I ride 70-100 miles/week 12 months a year (I bet that'll rise > > when I get the Hillborne), over half on limestone trail. I'm actually > > pretty easy on the bike in general, avoiding obstacles/rough path > > where practical, lifting the wheel and slowing down when I don't avoid > > the hazard. > > > My problem is that I haven't gotten more than 1000 miles on any rear > > wheel without complete failure (cracked hub, bent axle) or the need > > for repair (hub overhaul, multiple spoke breakage, rim *way* out-of- > > true-or-round). The wheels I've used include some cheapies and some > > good ones. Some were better to use than others. But all were okay to > > use (until they failed :( ). More wheel details later. > > > My preliminary question is: should I simply expect to have these > > problems every thousand (or two) miles? That is, will I likely have > > problems like these at that rate no matter *what* wheel I have? If so, > > then my plan will likely be to go for a value proposition instead of a > > reliability one. That is, I'll settle with a cheap wheel, always > > having a backup, knowing that I'll have to replace/repair/adjust more > > often than I'd like. That'd be okay, I guess... though it seems wrong > > in some profound way; after all, I've literally never *had* to replace > > any of my non-Pasela tires. I've put at least 3000 miles on my most > > recent set and still *could* use the originals the Trek came with. (I > > went through 4 Paselas in short order, with all of them failing in the > > same way with a sidewall eruption. Too bad. I liked the gum sidewall > > look.) > > > However, if these wheel problems are avoidable (yes, yes... I know... > > losing 80-90 pounds would go a long way; let's assume that's not > > happening short-term), what kind of wheel will avoid them? Wheels I've > > used thus far include: > > > --- Shimano RM60 (Alivio-ish?) hub / 32 2|1.8|2mm spokes / cheapish > > Alex rim - lasted about 1000 miles before breaking spokes, eventually > > on 3 rides in a row > > > --- 105 hub / 36 2mm spokes / Sun CR18 rim - lasted maybe a little > > over 1000 miles before 4 holes-worth of drive-side hub snapped off of > > the hub body > > > --- Deore hub / 32 2mm spokes / Sun CR18 rim - lasted maybe 400 miles > > before breaking spokes on 3 or 4 rides in a row (had 2 of these on the > > the theory that the first one was not "prepped" properly... 2nd one > > was no different with "prep") - eventually I bent an axle on one of > > these, the other one (having been re-laced and re-trued and > > overhauled) is now my snow/ice wheel and will see little mileage > > > --- XT hub / 36 2|1.7|2mm spokes / Velocity Synergy OC rim - lasted > > around 1000 miles before periodic ka-tink ka-tink noise appeared in > > the hub; am currently looking into whether this is a fatal problem or > > simply a maintenance issue > > > Now, if the current XT-hubbed wheel's problems turn out to be readily > > solvable (adjustment of bearings, regreasing, something like that) > > then I'm happy to stay with this kind of wheel. The spokes seem to > > maintain tension reasonably well and the rim has only minor touch-up > > every few hundred miles to keep it very true and round. I like the > > fact that the drive-side spokes are not *that* much more tight than > > the non-drive side because of the asymmetry. > > > However, if it turns out that it *is* a fatal or unacceptably-severe > > problem (and surely one can appreciate my pessimism on this matter), I > > wonder: What sort of wheel do I need? > > > I don't want to needlessly ride a wheel with 48 spokes and a 3 pound > > hub (exaggerating, perhaps... but still... you get the point). But I > > will ride a 48-spoke-3-pound-hub-wheel if that's the only way to avoid > > these problems. Nor do I want to pay $500+ if a $200 wheel will give > > me a reasonable level of reliability with reasonable ride quality. > > Let's assume for argument's sake that I would be willing to go for the > > $500+ wheel if it would be expected to simply work (and work well, of > > course) for 1000s of miles with only normal maintenance-type service. > > > Help? Thoughts? Musings? > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > > For more options, visit this group > > athttp://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group > athttp://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
