Shimano M525 hubs?

Kowalski675

I need a new rear wheel (or wheelset), due to failure of the freehub in my original wheels (which I'm told are Formula DDMs - not WPPs, lol :oops: ). Most of the cheaper replacements around seem to have the Shimano M525 hubs. In the Bike Radar reviews these get a decent write up, supposedly being long lasting (subject to servicing), but when Googling them I found customer review of them (on MBR site) where the feedback is far from encouraging (including several reports of freehub failures):

http://www.mtbr.com/cat/tires-and-wheel ... 27crx.aspx

So, are these any good, or as pants as the owner reviews are saying?

The Rookie

Shimano hubs are very good, inevitable on the www that you get more complainers than satisfied reviews, my commuter (OK not off road) has 2 M475 hubbed wheels, both bought used (one cost me £4) and both have done over 3000 miles since then, both had a good service when I bought them and :oops: :oops: :oops: nothing much since.

spacedog

I generally prefer hubs with cartridge bearings but if you are trying to keep the cost down and are only interesting in standard quick release hubs the Shimano hubs are good. I had one on my Spesh Stumpy that just kept going for years and years.

I was advised by a Shimano guy at Mountain Mayhem a few years ago, that the best thing to do with Shimano hubs is to pull them apart, put some proper grease in them and build them back up. He said the build standards are random (with some being too tight, some too loose) and the grease is rubbish.

You can buy replacement freehubs is something goes wrong with it.

If you keep an eye on the bearings to make sure the bearings cups and cones dont get pitted by bearing corrosion, I've killed a cheap pair of road wheels due to knackered cones, they will last a good while.

.blitz

Have got a couple of sets of 525 wheels they've had a hard time but they've never failed. They're a popular hub and it stands to reason some people are going to have problems.

Routine maintenance is easy when you get into it and even if the freehub does break you can buy the whole hub inc cones and bearings for £20

Kowalski675

Cheers. I was hoping that it was a case of the few folk who do have problems shouting about it while many more satisfied owners don't, and you always need to take anything you read on t'internet with a healthy pinch of salt, since the Shimano hubs seem pretty ubiquitous on cheaper wheels.

Kowalski675

Spacedog wrote:

I generally prefer hubs with cartridge bearings but if you are trying to keep the cost down and are only interesting in standard quick release hubs the Shimano hubs are good.

Obviously cartridge bearings would be preferable, but you only get those in more expensive wheels. My forks and frame are standard old school QR dropouts.

cooldad

I disagree - with a tiny bit of maintenance cup and cone hubs will last forever, and have less friction than cartridge. And unless you are totally useless and let the races get damaged, replacement balls are really cheap.
They are also easier to work on than most cartridge hubs.
I do have cratridge bearings on my main bike, mainly because I got the wheels really cheap, but I also have Shimano on a few bikes, including one that has 25 year old wheels, still running perfectly.
Do a forum search for bearing problems, and a lot of them relate to wheels with presumably fairly rubbish cartridge bearings that are dead in a few months.
Then comes the joy of working out how to get some of them out, and finding replacements.

Kowalski675

Guess I'd just have to get the appropriate tools and learn how to service the hubs.

One of these days I will treat myself to the blind bearing puller set that I've been promising myself for motorcycle maintenance (on of those pricey investments that's worth every penny once you've used it, like my brake caliper piston removal tool set), I imagine that would make short work of removing any cartridge hub bearings.

The Rookie

A Hammer and screwdriver work pretty well on wheel bearings and come much cheaper!

Kowalski675

The Beginner wrote:

A Hammer and screwdriver work pretty well on wheel bearings and come much cheaper!

After a couple of decades of drifting bearings out I reckon it's about time I deserved a decent blind bearing puller set though, lol. Makes a pain in the ass job a lot quicker and easier.