Pricing out parts for my build, the cost difference in hubs between the bling hubs and say Shimano hubs are pretty noticable. A Chris King, Phil Wood, et. al, are quite expensive, $350ish in the case of the Chris King, $400+ in the case of the Phil.
On the other hand, I found Tiagra 4600 rear hubs for as little as $24.45 online, and 105 5700 rear hubs for $43.45. Now we all know that Shimano hubs are loose ball bearing hubs, but in practice what is the functional deficiency if the bearing preload is properly adjusted? Some people seem to think the 105 hub is better sealed than the Tiagra and if so would be worth $19 to me. But if not...? Rivendell sells 105 5500 hubs on their site, so they must not be that bad. To give some more background, I have a Chris King hub on a frame I was planning on selling. The plan was to re-use the CK hub on my new build. Different wheel size, so I would need to start over with new rims and spokes either way. But if I could sell the CK for $200 or more, and replace it with say a 105 or even a Deore hub, that would help me get my build together faster. The new frame is spaced 132.5 so can take 130 or 135. I also don't love the fact that the CK hub needs to be taken apart and re-lubed yearly. I had an issue before with the lube drying out and causing the hub to be sticky on transition from pedaling to coasting when my service interval was too long. That being said, the polished silver CK is a bit more aesthetically pleasing than the dull silver Shimano hubs. My main criteria is that the hub is sealed well against water intrusion and rolls down the road easily. Low maintenance is a plus. A difference in weight of 100 grams is not meaningful to me. Bling is nice, but my priority is function over form. It does need to be silver, of course. Replacing the CK with a mid-priced cartridge bearing hub might be another option. The Velo Orange hubs look pretty nice. I'm guessing they would probably would require less maintenance than the CK hubs and if the cartridge bearings are of good quality they would probably be well sealed. -Jim -- Keep the metal side up and the rubber side down! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
