BHS hub review

[GRAVELBIKE]

Just posted my review of the BikeHubStore SL218 and SLF85W hubs here:

http://www.gravelbike.com/?p=1762

[reggiebaseball]

nice one!
I have a set of these hubs and like them very much as well. They feel just as smooth as my pricier hubs and have a nice sound when they roll.

My builder had a hard time threading the spokes int he front holes, perhaps the ANO reduced the hole diameter just that much to make it a pain.

BHS has a pretty nice wide clincher rim as well

[pbarry]

These look great for the $$. How many miles during the test period? Did you ride them in muddy conditions?

[thirdgenbird]

Any comparison to say miche?

[Tonger]

Thanks for the review, I've been tempted by their product and price for a while and am getting ready to make the purchase. What would really help is if some of the longer-term owners would chime in regarding the longevity of the hubs.

Also, it would be great to get Peter's input as well with regard to how they were to build and his general impression as well (especially how they compare to Record or other hubs such as Alchemy, DT, and White Industries).

Thanks in advance!

Tonger

[GRAVELBIKE]

These look great for the $$. How many miles during the test period? Did you ride them in muddy conditions?

A couple of hundred miles. No mud, though.

[GRAVELBIKE]

Thanks for the review, I've been tempted by their product and price for a while and am getting ready to make the purchase. What would really help is if some of the longer-term owners would chime in regarding the longevity of the hubs.

Also, it would be great to get Peter's input as well with regard to how they were to build and his general impression as well (especially how they compare to Record or other hubs such as Alchemy, DT, and White Industries).

Thanks in advance!

Tonger

It's going to be hard to get long-term info on this particular set because they're going to be auctioned off for charity.

As far as comparing them to Alchemy, WI, DT, etc, it's really not an apples-to-apples comparison. A pair of the BHS hubs sells for about the same price as a front Record hub. That said, the bearings that BHS uses are of good quality, and everything is easily serviced.

[GRAVELBIKE]

Any comparison to say miche?

I was actually considering using Miche hubs, but couldn't get a mixed drilling.

[thirdgenbird]

I was actually considering using Miche hubs, but couldn't get a mixed drilling.

I wish they were 32/28.

When and where is the auction? What charity?

[GRAVELBIKE]

I wish they were 32/28.

When and where is the auction? What charity?

It's a couple of weeks out. All proceeds will be going to Newtown/Sandy Hook (United Way on eBay).

[bluesea]

As far as comparing them to Alchemy, WI, DT, etc, it's really not an apples-to-apples comparison. A pair of the BHS hubs sells for about the same price as a front Record hub. That said, the bearings that BHS uses are of good quality, and everything is easily serviced.


I like that they've made the effort to widen the rear flange spacing. Who else is building with these hubs and the Archetype?

[yakstone]

I would like to see how they hold up after several years of regular, everyday use.
Thanks for your work so far as I ahve been tempted by these hubs.

[jds108]

I have three pairs of hubs from BHS, all the same model as the OP. They've been great, with a couple of items to note.

One of the hubs had a bit of free play in it that I only noticed after building it up. It turned out to be a little play within a couple of the cartridge bearings. Brandon worked with me and paid for some replacement bearings which I put in and resolved the problem. Changing the bearings is easy, but they are a press fit.

The other note - as the OP noted, campy cassettes sit very close to the spokes. My 11 spd RD bumped into the spokes initially. I tried putting a spacer on the freehub before putting the cassette on, but then there weren't enough threads to adequately engage the lockring. So... there is a thin washer on the axle that sites between the hub body and the freehub. I had Brandon send me out a couple of those and I added them to the existing spacer. This moved the freehub away from the hub body, problem solved. Now that means the teeth aren't sitting fully within the ratchet, but with the small change in distance (1mm?) I think it's pretty trivial.

[zandrrr]

I have almost 1k miles on a set of wheels I built using BHS SuperLight 211 and SuperLight 79 hubs. No issues whatsoever. I just ordered a SuperLight 218 and an F125 to build up a set of wheels for my gravel/cross bike. For the price I don't think BHS hubs can be beat.

[ultraman6970]

"Disclosure: BikeHubStore.com provided review samples for this article, but offered no other form of compensation for this review."

He was hoping a couple of sets for free or something? :)

[phcollard]

One of the hubs had a bit of free play in it that I only noticed after building it up. It turned out to be a little play within a couple of the cartridge bearings. Brandon worked with me and paid for some replacement bearings which I put in and resolved the problem. Changing the bearings is easy, but they are a press fit.

Same experience here with the rear hub. Brandon was very cool about exchanging the hub, paying for return shipping and everything but as the wheels were already built - did not notice the play before - I opted for selling them locally with full disclosure.

[bluesea]

^ Ah, deal breaker for my needs (shipping costs to Hono, HI ya know)--ymmv.

[junkfood]

I have a set I built up last August and they are as smooth as the day I built the wheels. They have around 1000 miles on them and ride them in all weather.

Jake

[DRietz]

I built a set of ridiculously light tubulars with a pair of Brandon's hubs. The wheels now belong to CMG who might be able to give a better long term review, but for me the hubs built up really well with DT Competitions and never had any play.

Brandon's hubs are pretty standard off-the-shelf type hubs from a component maker in Asia. But, with that said, there's no reason not to buy - the cartridge bearings are sourced from Enduro (go Oakland!) and are easily replaced. Service is as easy as any other Formula-type hub.

[apeescape]

I've built up a set of these hubs for a customer, fit the bill to make a fairly lightweight durable wheelset. Hubs built up well, and the customer has been very happy with the sound and speed of the wheels compared to the stock ones that came with her bike! I will soon be getting a set for myself for a tubular wheelset.

[cmg]

I built a set of ridiculously light tubulars with a pair of Brandon's hubs. The wheels now belong to CMG who might be able to give a better long term review, but for me the hubs built up really well with DT Competitions and never had any play.

Brandon's hubs are pretty standard off-the-shelf type hubs from a component maker in Asia. But, with that said, there's no reason not to buy - the cartridge bearings are sourced from Enduro (go Oakland!) and are easily replaced. Service is as easy as any other Formula-type hub.


So far i've put about 200 miles on DRietz's built wheels, excellent, spin forever, no problems. there's no bearing rumble, can barely tell they're spinning. DR built a near perfect set, less play, less hop than the 2 sets of Easton tubulars i have. Thanks

This is the 2nd set set of Brandon's hubs i have. Built a set stan's 340 rims with his superwide 78 (28 front) and 218 rear (32 ). Those are going on the 2nd season, again no problems. Shop didn't have any issues building them. 10spd cassette (campy) is far enough from the spokes so no issue there. Will probably build with them again.

Build with them but build smart, use plenty of spokes.....

[DRietz]

So far i've put about 200 miles on DRietz's built wheels, excellent, spin forever, no problems. there's no bearing rumble, can barely tell they're spinning. DR built a near perfect set, less play, less hop than the 2 sets of Easton tubulars i have. Thanks.

Cheers!

[oldpotatoe]

Thanks for the review, I've been tempted by their product and price for a while and am getting ready to make the purchase. What would really help is if some of the longer-term owners would chime in regarding the longevity of the hubs.

Also, it would be great to get Peter's input as well with regard to how they were to build and his general impression as well (especially how they compare to Record or other hubs such as Alchemy, DT, and White Industries).

Thanks in advance!

Tonger

Hubs and the rims(only built a few of Archtypes), went together well. Round, flat when new. Spoke holes in the flange normal as compared to other hubs. Hub dimensions ala other hubs. Well made but riding them for an extended period will determine their durabilty. I expect they will work fine for a long time, are easy to service, not expensive.

[palincss]

A couple of hundred miles. No mud, though.

How much servicing or attention would any hub require at only a couple of hundred miles?

[GRAVELBIKE]

Also, if you look around, you'll see similar--if not identical--hubs offered under various brand names.

[GRAVELBIKE]

How much servicing or attention would any hub require at only a couple of hundred miles?

I've had two fancy CNC-machined hubs fail on me. Both bit the dust in less than 200 miles. One hub's pawls all-but-disintegrated, leaving me with what amounted to a fixed gear bike. The other hub used a special clutch-style mechanism that would slip whenever you applied a decent amount of force (such as climbing out-of-the-saddle).

[cmg]

Also, if you look around, you'll see similar--if not identical--hubs offered under various brand names.

true, but these offer the enthusiast the opportunity to build a set (after some research) to there liking at a much lower cost than anything they could buy from other various brands. the stans 340 wheelset cost about $530 for the wheelset. i had to do the legwork, calculate spoke lenght, source the rims, source a decent builder.

[GRAVELBIKE]

true, but these offer the enthusiast the opportunity to build a set (after some research) to there liking at a much lower cost than anything they could buy from other various brands. the stans 340 wheelset cost about $530 for the wheelset. i had to do the legwork, calculate spoke lenght, source the rims, source a decent builder.

Correct. My point was that there are a lot of these hubs in service.

[gdw]

No offense guys but it looks like no one here has logged enough miles on them to comment on their long term durability. A few hundred or a thousand miles doesn't tell us much. Has anyone logged over 5,000 miles on a set yet? 10,000? Used them on long rides in the rain?

[zandrrr]

No offense guys but it looks like no one here has logged enough miles on them to comment on their long term durability. A few hundred or a thousand miles doesn't tell us much. Has anyone logged over 5,000 miles on a set yet? 10,000? Used them on long rides in the rain?

You're right, most of us can't comment on long-term durability, but what do you think will happen at 10,000 miles that won't happen in the first 1,000? Hubs are pretty simple. If they are manufactured within tolerances and the bearings are good (i.e. if you don't get a defective one), then there is not much that can go wrong.

[oldpotatoe]

No offense guys but it looks like no one here has logged enough miles on them to comment on their long term durability. A few hundred or a thousand miles doesn't tell us much. Has anyone logged over 5,000 miles on a set yet? 10,000? Used them on long rides in the rain?

Just a look at the rear hub design and you can see it is far superior to some wheelsouttaboxes rear hubs. I think they, like Velocity, will work fine for lotsa years. It's not like these hubs are a completely new and different design or anything. Just nice, basic hubs with cart bearings. Like just about every other hub at this price point, like Miche, Velocity, Formula, etc., out there. And they work just fine.

[gdw]

"but what do you think will happen at 10,000 miles that won't happen in the first 1,000?"

I can give you an example which impacted me. The first generation of the Hugi 240 used smaller bearings which wore out prematurely, the star ratchets could fail to engage, and the flanges cracked or chunks broke off completely. Most folks didn't experience those problems in the first months of ownership but unfortunately many did in the first year or two of ownership. My star ratchets failed to engage after six months of use on a backcountry trip in Utah. The 10 mile hike-a-bike afterwards through the desert was not fun. Hugi blamed the problem on improper maintence, specifically use of the wrong lubricant, but mine had never been serviced. A Yahoo search revealed that lots of people had problems with those hubs and Bontrager, who used them in one of first generations of their Race Light wheels, dropped them. They were great hubs until to they failed.