Triban 3 hubs

robertsims

Sorry for newbie question but never done any bike mechanics beyond tuning brakes/gears and putting pedals on.

I've heard that a very common issue on Triban 3 is lack of grease in wheel bearings and overtightened hubs. Therefore as I've only done about 150 miles on mine I wanted to check out the hubs before any damage takes place.

Now I've seen a few YouTube vids but (silly question coming up) they all start off with the wheel on floor without the QR part. Now obviously most wheels (including Triban 3) have QR - I assume I need to remove these before servicing the hub/greasing the bearings.

How? Also any tips on servicing the hubs etc. much appreciated (will any grease do? how long a job is it to do both wheels?)

zx6man

Yeah, that bit just pulls out.

I would say though, unless there is play in the wheel (side to side movement) or it grinds when you spin I wouldn't bother, as it can be a pain to get them setup right once in bits.

EDIT :- I used you tube for first time doing it. Wasn't too bad, but I consder myself ok with spanners :-)

robertsims

When you say play in the wheel do you mean when in the frame? Or with wheel out of the frame and play in the axle? From vids it looks like pain to get right tightness at end

zx6man

its felt when in the frame yes. With wheel out there should be a tiny bit of play as the QR nips it up once done.

Yup, can be a swine to get right, just takes patience and practice.

I am assuming they are ball and cone ones too, as I have no experince in changing the "posh" sealed ones :-)

robertsims

Yeah, with Triban 3 definitely not posh anything!

Manc33

Didn't wanna start a new topic but yeah, I had to slightly loosen the 17mm hub nuts and when I say slightly I mean like 1/64 of a turn, then check. They were overtightened, making me think the bearings had gone when they had not. Now both wheels spin pretty well.

Gonna switch back to these because they are bombproof (32/32H) and I think safer for long commutes than my far lighter 20/24H ones.

Here's something you don't hear often - less spokes means if a twig does go into your wheel, there's less chance of that twig snapping a spoke than if you had more spokes - simply because there's a 10cm gap in a 20H spoked wheel and the gap is far less than that for a 32H. I mean with a 20H wheel you might have the twig flirt out, but on a 32H it would get caught up.

Reason I am posting though is to ask what bearings do these wheels take (some sort of cartridge?) and can you just get ceramic bearings in that size and put those in?

I mean I think what I can see is the plastic side of a cartridge bearing, but I don't want to take it all apart. :oops:

keezx

As far as I know the bearings are traditional cup+ cone.
The only thing you can change is the balls which is advisable to do once a year with fresh grease.

cycleclinic

change based on mileage not time. On a hub like this I'd change the balls every 3000 miles or so. Once a year could mean trashed hubs. Deore LX hubs need doing every 3000 miles or so of mixed weather riding.

Set the hub up with a bit of play, that the Q/R once tightened in the frame, removes.