Hugi 240S Hubs

[Chief]

I am considering a set of custom built wheels for my Ottrott that I put on about 8-9,000 miles a year. I don't race, but do participate in some slugfests a couple of times a week. I am 6' 1" and weigh about 162 lbs. My wheel builder is proposing using Hugi 240s hubs with DT RR 1.1 and DT Swiss Super Competition 2.0/1.7/1.8 spokes. My LBS says to go with Shimano Dura Ace since they are less expense and easier to service and the Hugi is noisey. What is your opinion of these hubs and have you used them? What is the durability and servicability of these hubs? Are there better hubs for less $$; if so, what are they? Am I wasting my $$ on these and will I be sorry for using them?

[quattro]

Chief, I was reading your post and saying it could have been me that wrote it, except I already own the wheels. I'm 6', weigh 160 lbs. and just had the same exact wheels built by Joe Young, same hubs, rims and spokes!!! I have ridden them for about two months any love them. They weigh a touch over 1500g, spin up quicky, give a very comfortable ride and are not noisey at all, in fact the Hugi 240s hubs are extremely quiet. They have stayed extremely true in my two months of use, but they may have to do with the builder as well. I highly recommend this build, I think you will enjoy this wheel-set very, very much. Give Joe Young a call, his builds are very good and he is very well respected on the forum.

[SPOKE]

i'm pretty certain that i'll be getting a pair of wheels built the same way in a few weeks when i go pick up my new Sachs. i expect they'll ride very well.

[e-RICHIE]

Spoke-issimo
Yup! Those are the hoops.
Joe Young built them and he's
without peer.

OOPS!!!!!!

...and he's without peer imo.

e-RICHIE

ps

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
:cool: :cool: :cool:
:) :) :)

arrange disorder

[Chief]

Hey guys, thanks for your comments. This is just what I wanted to hear. I am going to meet with Joe Young on Thursday afternoon about building these wheels. A very useful forum. Thanks again.

[dmsi]

I have this exact set up that Joe built for me last spring. Excellent in all regards. The Hugi/noisy rap is an old one.

[Ozz]

I'm having a pair of these built up this January...probably different spokes...Revolutions in front or Competitions in back.

Are you going with brass or alloy nipples?

(I'm 6'2", 180 lbs)

[Chief]

Ozz, probably black alloy nipples since the spokes, rim and hubs will be black with red decals. I have been thinking about red nipples depending how close they come to matching the red decals; I don't want any fighting between the colors. Silver is also an option. I will know more on Thursday when I meet with Joe Young.

[oracle]

would someone (either singly or collectively or both)[1] please give me 10 reasons why the hugis are better and/or worth the extra money compared to dura ace or campin' yolo? btw, the noisy freewheel makes you sexier when bombing down hills.....

[1] i'm confused as well

[Ozz]

would someone (either singly or collectively or both)[1] please give me 10 reasons why the hugis are better and/or worth the extra money compared to dura ace or campin' yolo? btw, the noisy freewheel makes you sexier when bombing down hills.....

[1] i'm confused as well
Since when does any of us need a reason (let alone 10 reasons) to spend more money than we need to on our sport / hobby / obsession?

;)

[quattro]

Oracle, I don't know where the myth that a Hugi hub is loud comes from. In fact, it is the quietest hub I have ever ridden period. You have to really make an effort to listen when you are freewheeling to hear the rear hub it's so quiet. It may be that a Dura Ace or Campy hub set is as good or better I don't know. I do like Swiss precision and I feel the Hugi hubs are very well made. Maybe they had problems years ago but I feel they have solved them. I also own a set of wheels with Hugi 240 hubs and velocity aeroheard rims that I like very much and after over four years of use I have never had a problem with the hubs. Are they worth the extra money, who knows, I guess I like having something different than shimano and campy and Hugi does it for me. To each his own, lets see thats about 4-5 reasons, when I think of 5-6 more I'll get back to you o.k.?

[toaster]

Check out www.oddsandendos.safeshopper.com

You can get the DT Swiss RR 1.1's laced to a Speedcific hub (which, IMHO is a great value and a quality part) for much less than what you're considering right now. Or, you can have Mike Garcia build your rims with other components just as easily. The Speedcific's are really nice and I don't regret my decision at all.

I ordered a wheelset with a different build than what we're discussing here and I am impressed with his service and his work.

[CJV]

Chief, I have Hugi 240s on three wheelsets. The sound they make takes me back to a crit my wife and I attended at the Denver Tech Center. We watched from the middle of a short downhill, where the riders would coast before resuming pedaling on the approaching flat. The sound those hubs made, probably all Campys, was as sweet as an orchestre. I now have that sound of one on my three wheelsets. Sweet! No maintenance problems at all.

[Chief]

I met with Joe Young today. He is out in the Texas boonies and is a real neat guy about my age or older (65-70). He lives about a 1/4 mile off of HWY 16. You drive back along this rutted drive (path), across a lower water crossing with washed gravel on it to a three-car garage. One-half bay of the garage serves as his office and workshop. Joe would probably be classified as belonging to the "ole school" wheel builders. His business is all done on the internet, except that he has some high-end frame builders and a few walk-ins like myself. He has an old wheel truing stand made in Belgium. It has two nylon wheels--one rolls of the side of the rim and one on edge of the rim to detect lateral and radial, respectively, deviations. They are connected to levers that provide a 3 to 1 magnification. I am accustom to the Park type truing stand so this was new to me; probably, some of you are familiar with this type.

He only builds custom wheels and provides wheels for Richard Sachs and other high end frame builders. He worked for Tom Richtey and thinks very highly of him. Apparently up until about 4 years ago we lived about 75 miles from Sachs and the latter would provide him with the parts (Campy hubs) to build wheels for his bikes. He convinced Sachs to let him design his own wheels and obtain the parts. He opted for the Hugi 240s hubs and DT spokes and rims. He build up a set of wheels for Sachs and the latter who is pretty much a traditionalist was so impressed after riding them that he now uses these wheels for his custom bikes. I must say that the Hugi hubs are first class--the machining is exceptional, the mating of the parts is outstanding, silky smooth and extremely quite which was apparently a knock against earlier hubs. (I am not crazy about the decals, but they are OK. Maybe after a while I will strip the decals off to give the wheels a more stealthy look.) Joe says that they turn much smoother than either Campy or Shimano hubs and was going to demonstrate it, but didn't a wheel available with either of these hubs. The rear hub has a total of 4 sealed bearings--two each in the main body and the rotor. It has a 18 pointed ratchet in the freewheel rather than pawls which makes the hub lighter and for quicker and smoother engagement. To service the racket all you do is grab a hold of the rotor and pull it off--it helps to have an axial vise, but Joe demonstrated that it could be done by hand. The skewers rather than no bolts or screws hold the assembly together. The axial is one piece. I am not sure but you probably don't even have to take the cassette off. It has numerous O-ring seals. Servicing the bearings would require a tear down and perhaps some special equipment: e.g., a bearing puller, but I doubt that it would ever be necessary since everything is sealed so well that unless you ran it through a stream or lake, I don't think there is any way the contaminates can get in or the grease can get out. I suppose that if you didn't ride them for a number of years, the grease might stiffen and get hard.


He actually started lacing up a rear wheel for me while I was there to demonstrate how he does it. He is very meticulous. He will use 32-hole low profile rims to minimize the rotating weight with 3X lacing in the rear and 2X in front. He says to use lower spoke count; e.g., 24-hole rims or less requires larger cross section rims to carry the additional load which increase the rotating weight. He will use DT R 1.1 rims and Super Competition 2.0/1.7/1.8 spokes which are forged as opposed to drawn. He has a spoke tension gauge (made by DT) with dial indicator for precise measurements and he claims that the tension in any two spokes will be within 5% which seems excellent to me. It is interesting to note that he tried building 4X laced wheels but was never able to achieve uniform spoke tension. I suspect that with 4X lacing there is too much interference between spokes that introduces friction which is difficult to overcome to obtain uniform tension.

As you can see, I am quite excited about these wheels and really looking forward to getting them. He will have them done on Monday or Tuesday of next week. I suspect that he will have them by Monday because he didn't appear to be too busy--beginning the off season. He builds about four wheels a day. He says that if he tries to do more he loses his concentration. I think he said that he builds about 200 wheels a year. He also build special wheels; e.g., heavily loaded touring tandem bikes or nonconventional diameter wheels.

I'll give you a report on them once I have them and road test them. I promise the report will be much shorter than this message.

[Chief]

Oracle,

I don't want to start or contribute to an argument nor do I feel compelled to justify any expenditure to anyone other than my wife. In all do respect, the following are reasons I selected Hugi 240S hubs:
1] Unique hub design,
2] Functionality different from run of the mill,
3] Excellent engineering,
4] Very precise machining,
5] Much smoother turning than Campy or Shimano,
6] Rachet drive is superior to pawls,
7] Incredible seals and sealing from contaminates,
8] I like them,
9] I can afford them, and
10 Life is too short to have to justify expenditures on your hobby.

[Kevin]

Chief,

Beacuse of your post I know what I want for Christmas. Can you post Joe Young's website or telephone number. Thanks.

Kevin

[bulliedawg]

Cheif:

Thanks for telling us about Joe Young. I love hearing about characters.

[Too Tall]

YOU GOT TO VISIT JOE YOUNG :cool: . I am so very very envious. Thank you for the details.

[Chief]

Kevin,

Here's the URL to Joe Young's website: http://www.youngwheels.com/index.html

He tells me that most of his business comes via the internet.

[oracle]

quattro, chief,

thanks for your responses. my query was not intended to start an argument. i really am attracted to the hugi hubs; i think that they are sexy. i usually build my wheels with shimano or campy hubs, believing them to be nearly perfect, as well as generally flawless and reliable. i would consider the hugis if some other reason than aesthetics presented itself, but as it stands, i am fairly practical and utilitarian when it comes to wheels. most days, i ride on crono f-20's laced to dura-ace hubs. what differences do you notice on a functional or practical level that makes them worth the extra cash? i am not a retro-grump per se, as i own a few pretty high-tech rides; i do, however, value function over form all else being equal. merci,

oracle

[IXXI]

Chief, excellent story! And as if you need another vote for Joe Young's work, I have two sets of his wheels (both 240s hubs, SuperComp spokes, 1.1 rims) and they work really really well for me. Very quiet hubs BTW. After your experience with him, one of these days I want to visit him in person myself; sounds like a real trip.

[Chief]

Oracle,
Not to beat a dead horse, but Colorado Cyclist lists Shimano Dura Ace front hub as $102 and rear hub at $184 for a total of $286. Joe Young is charging $315 for a pair of Hugi hubs for my wheels. Do you mean that we arguing about a relative cost of $30???? :argue: IMHO it is $30 well spent.

[gdw]

Have any of you used 240's for mountain biking or cyclecross? I'm on my second mountain bike wheelset built with them (I won't go into the problems I had with the 1st generation hubs) and have mixed emotions about their seals and durability. After six months and 2,500 miles of mixed use in dry conditions the bearings no longer spin as smoothly as they initially did. The rear is quite rough and feels like it is contaminated. They never were as smooth as Campy and Shimano top end road hubs or Shimano XTR's and unfortunately can not be easily serviced without Hugi's special tool kit. I'm pretty easy on my equipment and expect better performance than these hubs have delivered. Are my experiences unusual or are 240's really fair weather road hubs?

[zap]

gdw-you telling me that i need to keep my 11 year old xtr hub. That hub still spins smoooooooth. Even after several dives into the ocean :D Not to mention mud, cow pies & horse ch it.

[gdw]

Keep it but paint it black so everyone thinks it's new. Better yet, if you can find some of that faux carbon fiber handlebar tape to wrap around it you'll really wow em. :banana: