Hub Quandary.

Shami Sniffer
Shami Sniffer Posts: 33
edited June 2011 in Road buying advice
I will soon be building a new pair of wheels which will initially be used on my Campag equipped Trek 5200 but hope to acquire a SRAM force groupset for it at some point. Ideally therefore I would like a rear hub that can easily have the freehub replaced and hopefully not have to re-dish the wheel.
I would like to keep the hub weight below 260ish g. The new rims will be Stans road (alpha?).
Options seem to be:-
1 Dura-Ace with Campy freehub conversion. (Are all Aftermarket freehubs steel? Seems that way)
2 Campy Record and get a Shimano freehub conversion when the SRAM comes along. (Does such a thing exist?)
3 Any other make of hub (hopefully not much over 200 quid) which offer either freehub option. (DT,Hope III, Chris King.)

I quite like the Dura-ace option but cant find a campy 10 freehub conversion.

Any advice appreciated.

Comments

  • huuregeil
    huuregeil Posts: 780
    Hope hubs are great - a new freehub body (with bearings) costs in the region of £50.

    Alternatively, I have a shiftmate (shimano hub & cassette, campag shifters) and it works a treat. Cheaper and you can choose your hub freely. (And also save buying a new cassette potentially).
  • APIII
    APIII Posts: 2,010
    If you go for DT 240s, I have a spare campag freehub from a broken lightweight rear.
  • Thanks for that, I had not seen that shiftmate gizmo. May come in useful sometime but don’t think I will plan a build based on its use. The hope pro3 option seems quite good but spare freehubs are a bit of a rip-off. I have some of their tech x2 brakes and they are just perfect so expect the hubs to be the same. They are a reasonable price but a bit heavy and anyway, its always good to buy British.
    The DT hubs are a bit lighter but quite expensive. I get the feeling you are paying for the name. APIII did you have a failure in a DT hub?

    Speaking of rip-offs...........park spoke tension gauge. Think I will have to build something.
  • APIII
    APIII Posts: 2,010
    I snapped a spoke, which can't be repaired on Lightweights (they are carbon spokes moulded into the rim), so the whole wheel is toast.

    I think you do pay over the odds for the DT Swiss hubs. I have two sets of wheels built with records hubs and they are perfect IMO, and much more reasonably priced..
  • huuregeil
    huuregeil Posts: 780
    The spare freehub price for the hopes is not too bad when you factor in the bearing cost too (i.e. you get a new set of bearings with the freehub). However, regarding the shiftmate: "but don’t think I will plan a build based on its use" - why's that? They really do work very well, weighs next to nothing and you hardly notice it on the bike. I'm really very impressed with mine, it's opened up a world of possibilities!