Phil Wood Road Hubs - Cassette Compatibility and Sealing Questions?

[Steve Sr.]

Hello,

I am considering purchasing a pair of used Phil Wood road hubs that
are a few years old to build up for a Shimano 10-speed system.

The seller says that these are only compatible with 8/9 speed Shimano
cassettes and definitely NOT 10 speed. However, when looking at the
current Phil catalog it shows the same hub as 9/10 compatible.

I thought that the 8/9/10 free hubs were all the same. Basically the
cassettes are all the same width so that anything that would take a 9
(before 10 was introduced) should also take a 10 now. Can anyone
confirm this?

Does anyone know if the Phil freehubs are somehow different enough so
that one originally intended for 9-speed wouldn't work with 10-speed?

A second question concerns how well sealed the freehub is in this hub
system. From what I have noticed with other hubs the freehub sealing
seems to be the achilles heel of supposedly sealed hubs. Can anyone
comment on the sealing effectiveness of the freehub seal in these
hubs?

How about in comparison of the freehub sealing in the Hugi/DTswiss 340
series hubs?


Thanks,

Steve

 

[Nate Knutson]

> I am considering purchasing a pair of used Phil Wood road hubs that
> are a few years old to build up for a Shimano 10-speed system.
>
> The seller says that these are only compatible with 8/9 speed Shimano
> cassettes and definitely NOT 10 speed. However, when looking at the
> current Phil catalog it shows the same hub as 9/10 compatible.
>
> I thought that the 8/9/10 free hubs were all the same. Basically the
> cassettes are all the same width so that anything that would take a 9
> (before 10 was introduced) should also take a 10 now. Can anyone
> confirm this?
>
> Does anyone know if the Phil freehubs are somehow different enough so
> that one originally intended for 9-speed wouldn't work with 10-speed?

There are many many threads in the archives that are variants of this
question. They are compatible with all Shimano-compatible 10spd
cassettes. The confusion can lie in either Campy/Shimano
incompatibility, or, more likely, that there are some Shimano 10spd
hubs with tall splines that only take certain Shimano cassettes. Those
cassettes (generally) work on all 8/9/10spd Shimano-compatible
freehubs though.

> A second question concerns how well sealed the freehub is in this hub
> system. From what I have noticed with other hubs the freehub sealing
> seems to be the achilles heel of supposedly sealed hubs. Can anyone
> comment on the sealing effectiveness of the freehub seal in these
> hubs?

Phil recommends that the freehub receives some cleaning and
relubrication of the pawls every 500 miles or so on their cassette
hubs. That's what they told me; I was kinda disappointed to hear it
because that's really not that much. 500 is probably a somewhat
conservative number, but only somewhat. It's also a number oriented
towards guaranteeing exceptionally long life.

The freehub sealing isn't terrible on them but it's not great either.
There is no rubber seal between the freehub body and the hub shell; it
relies simply on a minimum of contanimation/water being able to enter
there. The pawls are very close to the entry point.

 

[A Muzi]

Steve Sr. wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am considering purchasing a pair of used Phil Wood road hubs that
> are a few years old to build up for a Shimano 10-speed system.
>
> The seller says that these are only compatible with 8/9 speed Shimano
> cassettes and definitely NOT 10 speed. However, when looking at the
> current Phil catalog it shows the same hub as 9/10 compatible.
>
> I thought that the 8/9/10 free hubs were all the same. Basically the
> cassettes are all the same width so that anything that would take a 9
> (before 10 was introduced) should also take a 10 now. Can anyone
> confirm this?
>
> Does anyone know if the Phil freehubs are somehow different enough so
> that one originally intended for 9-speed wouldn't work with 10-speed?
>
> A second question concerns how well sealed the freehub is in this hub
> system. From what I have noticed with other hubs the freehub sealing
> seems to be the achilles heel of supposedly sealed hubs. Can anyone
> comment on the sealing effectiveness of the freehub seal in these
> hubs?
>
> How about in comparison of the freehub sealing in the Hugi/DTswiss 340
> series hubs?

The seller is misinformed. Use your Shimano or SRAM Ten cassette on this
very durable cassette hub. Phil cassette hubs are IMHO the toughest
(albeit heavy) choice available, excellent service history under the
most severe and abusive of conditions.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

 

[Qui si parla Campagnolo-www.vecchios.com]

On Sep 13, 7:14 pm, Steve Sr. <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am considering purchasing a pair of used Phil Wood road hubs that
> are a few years old to build up for a Shimano 10-speed system.
>
> The seller says that these are only compatible with 8/9 speed Shimano
> cassettes and definitely NOT 10 speed. However, when looking at the
> current Phil catalog it shows the same hub as 9/10 compatible.

Poppycock...compatible with shimano 10s(and Sram for that
matter)..just need the 1mm spacer onto the freehub first if using
shimano.
>
> I thought that the 8/9/10 free hubs were all the same. Basically the
> cassettes are all the same width so that anything that would take a 9
> (before 10 was introduced) should also take a 10 now. Can anyone
> confirm this?

Yep, just did.

>
> Does anyone know if the Phil freehubs are somehow different enough so
> that one originally intended for 9-speed wouldn't work with 10-speed?
>
> A second question concerns how well sealed the freehub is in this hub
> system. From what I have noticed with other hubs the freehub sealing
> seems to be the achilles heel of supposedly sealed hubs. Can anyone
> comment on the sealing effectiveness of the freehub seal in these
> hubs?

Sealed good....
>
> How about in comparison of the freehub sealing in the Hugi/DTswiss 340
> series hubs?

Nice hub as well but not as durable as the Phil.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Steve