ive been offered a set of mavic 519s with surly hubs (single speed), anyone got any info on these/opinions?

cheers.

dan.

Its a sealed bearing hub which is a mixed blessing. Ive got sealed press fit bearings in my sss bottom bracket, and theyre play-free and sweet, but for hubs its not a black and white issue.

They stay cleaner longer than most cup n cone bearings, especially nice on a mtb, but when you replace them, its $50 for front and rear bearings instead of $3 for some fresh balls.

The convenience might overwhelm the cost of ownership, as servicing them is very easy.

I revisited the hub world this morning as I repacked the SSs hubs in anticipation of this weekends Tour de Holler.

Im a proponent of cheap factory built wheels for SS hack jobs like mine, but of course I always recommend destressing spokes, retruing, and repacking the hubs first thing. Quality of craftsmanship in wheels trumps individual part quality...usually.

Id done the stressing and truing bit on my 6 month old Mavic cxp22 jobbers, but neglected the bearings as, meh, they felt "OK". Thank goodness I got a hair up my butt to actually do the hubs today.

The front was lumptity bumpy and one cone was pitted on 5% of its surface. No biggie as long as that part of the cone isnt the load bearer. Caught it just in time though.

Repacked both with new 25 grade bearings, which is XT or Dura Ace quality. Now they turn like buttery high end hubs. Very loverly!

Apparently, Shimano adjusts factory hubs tight to aide in wheelbuilding, but a lot of wheels ship with the hubs tight. Not good.

My advice stands though, if you find a cool set of wheels for cheap with LX/Sora or lower hubs, dont dismiss them, repack with nice 25 grade balls and plenty of cheap automotive bearing grease and theyll last nearly forever.

With quick release hubs, adjust for the slightest play possible--something like 0.25mm of axle wiggle, the QR will tighten them up when installed. If you adjust with no play the QR tension will make them too tight.

More from Capn Bike:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/cone-adjustment.html

I dunno, theres something about him that makes me not trust him.

Quote from: soopahflyI dunno, theres something about him that makes me not trust him.

I trust him on 95% of bike stuff, but hes a hairy sandal wearing hippie as well, so not to be totally trusted. Weve had a few arguments on Usenet that led me to question his grasp of reality.

His expression has a sort of strangeness  to it.

I just repacked the bearings on the Brodie so I wouldnt kick myself in a year. Tightern hell. The locknut on the generic Taiwanese hub was so tight I had to soak them in solvent and use 2 12" wrenches. Fortunately, disassembly showed it to be of 105 or Deore quality, and was easily adjusted to insane smoothness.

What is it with factory adjustment? Even if they tightened till the cone gets resistance, then backed off 1/10th of a turn, it would be close enough. Dumbasses.