Rear wheel hub for Boardman Hybrid Pro advice

MackemMick666

Hi,
I have a few questions and could do with some advice please.
I have a boardman hybrid pro and I need to replace the hub on my rear wheel. Wheel is a ritchey pro 700 and the hub is a formula disc.
When you replace the hub do you need to rebuild the wheel ( remove spokes etc ).
Will I have to replace it with a formula disc hub or can I use another manufacturer such as shimano to replace as I think this would be cheaper.

Thanks

Spacedog

Yes it would mean a rebuild of the wheel including possibly new spokes if the hub is a different diameter. And spokes are expensive.

If I was you I'd probably e looking at a complete new wheel. Possibly a factory one from Shimano, Mavic etc... They do a range so you can pick depending on your budget.

supersonic

I agree, go for a new wheel - will be cheaper overall.

Unless you can fix the hub. What is the problem with it?

The Rookie

+1 hubs rarely fail, bearings do but they can be replaced without changing the hub!

Most Formula are cup and cone, very similar to low end Shimano and easy to fix the bearings on

MackemMick666

Thanks for the advice.
It may be the bearings. For the last couple of months there has been a gritty sound from the hub when the back wheel spins and now when I pedal sometimes the back wheel doesn't engage with the cassette.
Going to take it to the bike shop this weekend and see what they say.

Spacedog

Sounds like the freehub is giving up the ghost.

dee4life2005

If it's not engaging with the cassette then that's likely to be the free-wheel on it's last legs, but the gritty sound will most likely be the bearings. My Boardman Hybrid Comp had this problem, and it got so bad that it had worn both the cups, cones and bearings - on the drive side only. There was some side-to-side play in the wheel as well.

I just bought a Shimano Deore M525 Disc Rear Hub and re-built the wheel myself - followed a few only videos - and it was relatively straight-forward if you take your time, and have the patience - easier than I was expecting. Wheel has now done over 400 miles and still running perfectly true so I must have done something right :-)

The Simano Deore M525 hub had pretty much identical dimensions to the OEM Forumula hub, so I was able to re-use the original spokes, nipples and rim.

heez29

Freehub body is £24.99. 124100 is the item code if you go into Halfords to order it.

The Rookie

heez29 wrote:

Freehub body is £24.99. 124100 is the item code if you go into Halfords to order it.

And probably a lot cheaper if you source it elsewhere.

Lower end Boardmans use Formula, higher end use Ritchey, not seen them use anything else.

If they are after silly money I currently have a spare rear wheel with a Formula hub I could take out and sell on.

mpdouglas

The hubs on my Boardman Hybrid Pro were shot and way beyond rescue with new ball bearings. I rebuilt both front and rear using Halo Spin Doctor Pro hubs which have exactly the same dimensions and use sealed cartridge bearings that will be much easier to service in future. Winstanleys and others sell them for less than £100 the pair. There is a choice of free hub material (CrMo or Alloy), hole count (32h) and spindle type (9mm QR). You get a choice of colours but I stuck with black to preserve the original appearance. I did the build myself despite never having built a wheel before. I got them true and round with reasonable ease. You do need to take plenty of photos to get the lacing pattern right. Because the Ritchey rim has off centre nipple holes, you need to be methodical in stripping the wheel down as the drive side and non drive side spokes are different lengths. I even kept the "over" spokes separate from the "under" ones. You also need to keep track of which type of spoke goes either side of the valve hole. With those rules, I found it pretty easy to get the rebuild right first time. I did have a truing stand and a tension meter but you could do the truing in the frame with some judicious use of bluetac and cocktail sticks. You can get a spoke tension app for most smartphones that use the frequency of the sound when you strike the spoke. I did the rebuild about 6 weeks ago and everything has been fine for the last 500 miles.

The Rookie

mpdouglas wrote:

use sealed cartridge bearings that will be much easier to service in future.

Strange definition of easier there, easier meaning taking longer, needing more than just cone spanners and being more expensive as well?

mpdouglas

I hear you Beginner but:

a) I can just throw the cartridge bearings out and not have to replace the whole hub if/when the salt and water do their worst.

b) a "2RS" bearing with dual rubber seals is likely to be more water tolerant than the sealing on most cup and cone arrangements

c) it's not exactly time consuming to drift out a cartridge bearing and press in a replacement.

d) £6-£8 each for SKF high quality bearings isn't going to break the bank (and certainly cheaper than new hubs/wheel rebuild).

The Rookie

I bought my wheels used with Shimano hubs (M475), gave them a service, 3000 miles later I still haven't touched them again bar a tiny preload adjust at the front, I check them regularily and will service the bearings as soon as they feel less than 100%, so usually before any damage is done.....

desweller

The Beginner wrote:

I bought my wheels used with Shimano hubs (M475), gave them a service, 3000 miles later I still haven't touched them again bar a tiny preload adjust at the front, I check them regularily and will service the bearings as soon as they feel less than 100%, so usually before any damage is done.....

It's six of one and half-a-dozen of the other though, isn't it. It's pretty hard to permanently damage a hub that uses industrial bearings...once a cup-and-cone hub is damaged then it's rebuild time.

supersonic

Thing is you can buy a whole budget shimano hub for about £15-£20 and just transplant the innards over. You drift the pressed in cups out - like a cartridge bearing. And you get a new freehub in the bargain if a rear hub. And usually a nice QR skewer too...