Hub Questions

[buldogge]

Hey Guys...I'm looking at a couple sets of tubulars this weekend and I was wondering if I could get some insight into the quality of the hubs.

1st set are HED Belgiums with HED hubs...they have an 11s compatible FHB, so are either relatively new, or I guess they might have been upgraded.

How are the HED hubs? Any issues to speak of??

2nd set are Easton EC90s...not sure on the year yet, or if they are R4 hubs...will need to change FHB to Campy of Shimano 11s

Easton hubs in general???

TIA
-Mark in St. Louis

[regularguy412]

Hey Guys...I'm looking at a couple sets of tubulars this weekend and I was wondering if I could get some insight into the quality of the hubs.

1st set are HED Belgiums with HED hubs...they have an 11s compatible FHB, so are either relatively new, or I guess they might have been upgraded.

How are the HED hubs? Any issues to speak of??

2nd set are Easton EC90s...not sure on the year yet, or if they are R4 hubs...will need to change FHB to Campy of Shimano 11s

Easton hubs in general???

TIA
-Mark in St. Louis

Never owned any HEDs, but have a 3-year old set of Easton EC90SL tubulars. Never one problem with the R4SL hubs and I'm around 185 soakin' wet. These were 2010 models I purchased on sale for $1,045 shipped from an online retailer - Bike Wagon. I think the reason they were cheap were because they came with the 'orphan' Shimano DA10 speed FHB (the one with the weird splines). Only issue I've had is that I broke a spoke on the rear DS. Replaced under warranty - no hassle. Again broke a spoke on rear DS. Again replaced, but this time they sent an entirely new wheel with a 'universal' Shim,Shram FHB. NO issues since and that was over 2 years ago.

I highly recommend.

I know nothing of the customer service or quality now that part of Easton has been acquired by Bauer. Not sure if the acquisition affected the wheel-building/sales arm.

Mike in AR:beer:

[jds108]

I have two sets of the bottom-of-the-line HEDs from about 3 years ago. The hubs have been really good, they're quite smooth without having any play. (judged by spinning the wheel while the bike is in a workstand)

I have a set of Eastons with the R4s. They have an adjustment for bearing play that can be done with the wheels mounted in the bike. Before I bought them, I read a couple of complaints where that adjustment didn't stay as set. Mine have never had that problem. They've been just fine but if you search the 'net you'll see there are some people who will complain about Easton hubs.

[regularguy412]

I have two sets of the bottom-of-the-line HEDs from about 3 years ago. The hubs have been really good, they're quite smooth without having any play. (judged by spinning the wheel while the bike is in a workstand)

I have a set of Eastons with the R4s. They have an adjustment for bearing play that can be done with the wheels mounted in the bike. Before I bought them, I read a couple of complaints where that adjustment didn't stay as set. Mine have never had that problem. They've been just fine but if you search the 'net you'll see there are some people who will complain about Easton hubs.


I'll second that. I've never had to touch the hub free-play on either one of the wheels that I own.

Mike in AR:beer:

[buldogge]

Thanx Guys…Just waiting for pics to figure out what year these things are…

-Mark

[echelon_john]

HED hubs suck. Big time notching, lots of flex in the rear axle.

In riding ~5 pairs myself and dealing with ~10 pairs for other folks, I can't recommend them.

Great rims...on other hubs.

IMO, YMMV

[buldogge]

Hmm…John…You're a big guy…any connection to the issue?

They wheelset is a decent price…but…not worth it for the rims alone, as it were…any change in the hubs over the generations…are you talking about recent iterations???

TA
-Mark



HED hubs suck. Big time notching, lots of flex in the rear axle.

In riding ~5 pairs myself and dealing with ~10 pairs for other folks, I can't recommend them.

Great rims...on other hubs.

IMO, YMMV

[Louis]

Big time notching

Assuming the rest of the hub shell is strong enough, is notching that big a deal? As long as one can slide the cogs on and off, are there any other issues related to this?

[echelon_john]

Again, focus group of one in terms of riding experience with them. But I've ridden wheels that I built with the same rims (HED Belgium) and same spoke count, with different hubs (CK R45, da 7900 and velocity race) and found wheels built with the other hubs were noticeably stiffer (less brake rub when standing) compared to HED hubs.

In terms of notching, to me it speaks to 3 things:
- Shimano cassette splines' depth was established when FH bodies were steel. They're simply too shallow for most aluminum bodies. Campy cassettes generally don't have notching issues as far as I know.

- Most other hub makers who want to solve/minimize the notching add a steel face to one of the splines. (Am classic, Velocity) To NOT do something to address notching seems like cost avoidance to me.

- Cassettes should be consumable items. Bearings and chains should be consumable items. FH bodies shouldn't, IMO.

My 2¥.

[buldogge]

Thanx John… If the hub is already sporting a Shimano 11s compatible FHB…is the Campy FHB a simple FHB swap, only?

TA
-Mark

Again, focus group of one in terms of riding experience with them. But I've ridden wheels that I built with the same rims (HED Belgium) and same spoke count, with different hubs (CK R45, da 7900 and velocity race) and found wheels built with the other hubs were noticeably stiffer (less brake rub when standing) compared to HED hubs.

In terms of notching, to me it speaks to 3 things:
- Shimano cassette splines' depth was established when FH bodies were steel. They're simply too shallow for most aluminum bodies. Campy cassettes generally don't have notching issues as far as I know.

- Most other hub makers who want to solve/minimize the notching add a steel face to one of the splines. (Am classic, Velocity) To NOT do something to address notching seems like cost avoidance to me.

- Cassettes should be consumable items. Bearings and chains should be consumable items. FH bodies shouldn't, IMO.

My 2¥.

[oliver1850]

Local friend has had issues with Eastons. The one I worked on had freehub dragging, the top of the chain would go slack if you stopped pedalling. I fixed it with a shim somewhere - can't remember the details. It seemed to me a bearing must have moved or the land on the axle had worn enough to allow something to move slightly. He later got in touch with Easton, I think they sent him a new axle.