Hubs...King, Hope, others??

zahgurim · Mar 8, 2006

Myself, I'm happy with Hopes.

Like you said, maintanance and conversions are a non-issue with them, and when it's needed you don't even need tools to do it. Cost a fraction of the price of Kings, and look just as shwank.

dhkid · Mar 8, 2006

let me be the first to say this, hadley!!!! :cool:

J5ive · Mar 8, 2006

My hopes went to **** after 3 months. Zero maintence? I think not.

Hadleys are my bet. Never touched mine.

seismic · Mar 8, 2006

I love my Kings...a lot of $$$ but nice !

seismic · Mar 8, 2006

WonderBoy said:
Hej Seismic...Do you need to adjust them often, or are they fit and forget items? And Where did you get yours?

You normally have to adjust them after a short break-in period, but apart from that I never have to touch them. For a good place to get them see the link in the bottom of my sign (I got mine there).

wysiwyg · Mar 8, 2006

owned nearly every hope hub ever.

never had a fault bar a broken tab on a bigun, which the warranteed despite being third hand..

bikenweed · Mar 8, 2006

What are the advantages to getting a Hope or Hadley hub over an XT? The only thing I can think of is the bearings shouldn't loosen up over time.

I prefer quick release because it's way easier than bolt on, and my bike (Demo8) is already plenty stiff for me. Are these hubs all QR compatible?

I've seen both Hadley and Hope freehubs either lock up or get really tight, essentially making the bike a fixed gear. Also seen several Hope hubs tense up, not ratching easily enough, giving the chain a ton of slack in the upper chain line. Is this a big problem that others have experienced?

-dustin · Mar 8, 2006

Hope and Hadleys are QR compatible, as well as Kings and pretty much every other 135 hub.

within the confines of RM, you will find people that have plenty of good and bad stories about just about all hubs.

in my opinion, there are 2 hubs i would consider when weight is not an issue; Hadley and King. King's Ringdrive is unlike any other freehub engagement...and you pay for it, as well as their earth-friendly production. Hadley's get 108pt engagement, and are comparable to Kings in weight, when considering the weight gains by adding the Fun Bolts, HD axle, and steel freehub. their 10mm TA requires the use of a single allen key.

i love my King SS hubs. they've only needed to be adjusted a couple times after the break-in period. however, because of the price increase, i will be going with Hadley 108pt 10mm TA from now on.

xy9ine · Mar 8, 2006

i've had 2 hopes that have been flawless. simple to service, durable, nice & light, and reasonably priced. the hadley i had was fairly comperable in most regards, my only criticism was the proprietary freehub bearing that has to be sourced from them (though hadley is great to deal with directly). the hopes used standard bearings you could get anywhere. i've got a hugi hub that i really like as well - the star ratchet mechanism is stupidly simple to service (and makes cool noise), and is light (aluminum freehub body on mine) & durable as well - i've been running it for 4 years so.

joelsman · Mar 8, 2006

hope hadleys and kings save quite a bit of weight over xt, in the neighborhood of .5lb. My past xt hubs I had to adjust the bearings all the time.

fiddy_ryder · Mar 8, 2006

kings are nice,, but obnoxiously priced

Moominator · Mar 8, 2006

Im pretty sure the hadleys arent a true 108 point engagment, they have 36 teeth and 3 pawls and so hadley multiply this up and advertise a 108 point engagment. 108 teeth inside a pawl hub wouldnt last 5 mins. Even a king only has 72 engagment points per revolution.

Hope pro2s have 4 pawls and 24 engagments.

I run aireal switch 2 hubs, amazing quality of finsh, work flawlessly and they can both be switched 20mm/qr 12mm/qr in a matter of seconds. (no boshing out of axels like with the hopes). You would also be able to order them from the UK and so save on any import taxes due to it being within the EU. http://www.topshelfcomponents.com/ if you want to take a look.

-dustin · Mar 8, 2006

Moominator said:
Im pretty sure the hadleys arent a true 108 point engagment, they have 36 teeth and 3 pawls and so hadley multiply this up and advertise a 108 point engagment. 108 teeth inside a pawl hub wouldnt last 5 mins. Even a king only has 72 engagment points per revolution.

it's 36 'teeth' with 3 offset pawls, such that 1 pawl engages at a time.

i believe all 72pts in a King hub engage at the same time, given what the internals look like.

spacemanspiff06 · Mar 8, 2006

dhkid said:
let me be the first to say this, hadley!!!!

all the way, the engagement of kings with out the screwy quirks

OGRipper · Mar 8, 2006

Yeah Hope, Hadley or King.

King might loosen up a bit when new but once settled in, they are good to go. Plus, CK offers up free coffee and pancakes at the Downieville classic every year!! That is my kind of support...

Moominator · Mar 8, 2006

hmm i guess that would work but all the drive going through 1 small pawl... also ive just spun a hadley hub over thats on the back of a mates pdc dhone that im servicing and it only engages 36 times, maybe its a different model? The other thing putting me off the hadleys is that they can be a bit of a bitch to service and that one of the rotec uk riders has one on the front of her bike which has developed severe play within about 2 rides.....

The aireals a that bit heavier than the hopes but i still went for the aireals and im tight when it comes to weight savings! Its just little things on them like the elasticated wire that sits in a groove on the pawls so they dont go flying when you remove the freehub, they really are freindly hubs

Other option from the uk would be the goldtec dracos, had these on a hardtail for a while, very strong and very well made, and a lovely loud clicking freehub! http://www.betd.co.uk

Ascentrek · Mar 8, 2006

I have 2 kings... mostly for trials, but one is on my XC wheelset. I'll sell it to you.
I have a hadley, love it, love the engagement points, and its solid.
Everything else pales in comparison.

Seriously, for XC applications, don't go with a king. I'll trade my CK in a heartbeat for a Hadley.

T.

Brian HCM#1 · Mar 8, 2006

For the money Hopes are great. I also have a set of CK's, I love them except they come loose every once in a while.

Chimponarope · Mar 8, 2006

There's 5 bikes in my garage with Hope hubs on (Demo 9 doesn't at the back because the Ringle came with the frame). Some are old XC hubs from 2000 that I ran on a patriot for 5 years including runs down Fort William and they're not on a hardtail. Never missed a beat. For the price penalty in the EU (especially the UK) I don't think I could justify the Hadleys or the Kings.

JRogers · Mar 8, 2006

Hope, King and Hadley are the best out there (although the newer DT Swiss stuff is pretty darn cool). Any one of the will work and all are well regarded, barring the odd story. I have not had much personal experience with Hope but I have with King and Hadley. The Hadley I had was perfect- smooth, fast engagement, no problems. In two seasons of riding everything from snow in Vermont to dust in Idaho, I never even had to adjust it. As for King, some people basically adjust them once after break in while others have to make periodic adjustments. Either way, it's not hard to do. Plus, in my experience, King offers the best customer service in the industry. I have never heard a bad story about warranties (not that there are many) or anything like that. They take care of their customers.

JRogers · Mar 8, 2006

bikenweed said:
What are the advantages to getting a Hope or Hadley hub over an XT? The only thing I can think of is the bearings shouldn't loosen up over time.

Deore and XT Disc hubs are still the best out there when it comes to bang for the buck. I have had a few and they worked well enough. I would still get a higher quality hub, though, for a few reasons. Engagement is much faster, XT hubs are heavy as hell and I have found that I contaminate the bearings in an XT (requiring cleaning and adjustment, which is a pain) faster than I do a cartridge (which is easier to replace and not very expensive).

bikenweed · Mar 8, 2006

I've got eight years on an XT hub with zero rebuilds, and it still spins pretty well. My other XT hub has about a year of abuse, and the bearings are still good. What must be happening to your XT is it loosens up, then gets contaminated. That makes more sense.

So advantages to these high dolluh bollah hubs is weight and engagement, plus the bearings don't get loose. Thanks for the info.

konastab01 · Mar 8, 2006

if your looking at Kings Cheers out the Industry nines they are sweet
Awesome finish and 128 engagement

cal // sweden · Mar 8, 2006

Apart from all the engagement points, low weight, sexy look and so on there's one more thing that makes the King hubs outstanding.

They are PERFECTLY sealed!

I ran my ISO Disc rear hub in SO much mud last summer (DH). Washed the bike with a fire hose lots of times every day.
But when dis-assembling the king hub in the end of the season there was NO trace of dirt or water inside.
Every other bearing on the bike was quite a mess though.

cal // sweden · Mar 9, 2006

There will be a trials version of the Hope Pro II hub wich will have 48 engagement points, stainless body etc.

I forgot to mention that I use Hope Bulb hubs aswell. They are nice but the sealings arent very good actually.

RogerH · Mar 9, 2006

Is it for 4X?
If you think you can get away with running six gears, you may want to take a look at the new Hope trials hub. It uses four big pawls that are offset to give 48 points. Harder springs may cause some extra drag, though.

Here are some pictures: http://82.110.105.16/tartybikes.co.uk/product.php?id=371

It looks like the bearings in the body is directly under the pawls. That's an improvement over the Bulb that would sometimes skip when only one pawl was engaged.

The hub is just recently released, but if it's designed and tested for trials, it should be pretty solid!

Kings are outstanding, though! :thumb:

Edit: Cal was a little faster!

cal // sweden · Mar 9, 2006

To take down the rear King hub totally you need the tool. Without the tool its hard (impossible?) to get the bearings out of the hub-shell.

But, you can remove the body, clean the ringdrive and put some new grease in the bearings without the CK-tool. If it would be necessary?

And you adjust the bearings with two 5mm allen keys.

I believe that the Hadleys would be great hubs aswell. But I have never tried them. If the sealings works as well as on the Kings, then they would be a serious alternative.

cal // sweden · Mar 9, 2006

I've done it twice in a year.

Actually. Its a good thing that it can be done. With a lot of other hubs you cant adjust the bearings
and when they become loose / play you cant tension them. That sucks.

dhkid · Mar 9, 2006

the only thing i dont get about the hadley hubs is the plastic preload adjuster on the freehub body, what the that adjust?

BIGHIT8989 · Mar 9, 2006

Hopes or DT swiss Both hubs are Really solid and require little or no maitnece

Hubs...King, Hope, others??

Chimp

Underwater monkey

Turbo Monkey

J5ive

Guest

Chimp

Turbo Monkey

Chimp

Turbo Monkey

Chimp

Monkey

Turbo Monkey

boring

Turbo Monkey

Turbo Monkey

Turbo Monkey

Chimp

Chimp

boring

Monkey

back alley ripper

Chimp

Monkey

MMMMMMMMM BEER!!!!!!!!!!

Chimp

talks too much

talks too much

Turbo Monkey

Turbo Monkey

Chimp

Chimp

Chimp

Monkey

Chimp

Chimp

Chimp

Chimp

Chimp

Turbo Monkey

Monkey