New MTB wheels

[Pete Biggs]

Peter B wrote:
> "Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email protected]> wrote in
> message news:[email protected]...
>> I'm also wondering to what extent the wash-down process might be
>> contributing to the failures.

Good call, I reckon that's it........

> In my case Guy I use a light sprinkle of water to loosen the grime
> then brush & cloth with car shampoo to remove grime followed by a
> light sprinkle of water to wash off residue.
> I never, ever use a jet wash, kiss of death to bearings IMO, and
> never point a strong hose jet at the bike.

A weak hose jet is enough to get water into hub bearings. It seems to get
more water in there than heavy rain does, somehow. I nearly £*#~ed some
Campag hubs like that. The grease turned to a grease and water emulsion
after a few short miles after a rinsing down with LOW pressure hose. Of
course that won't always happen but it's not worth the risk, IMO.

> My philosophy is that the bike should be able to be used in a rain
> storm and therefore so long as my cleaning method doesn't exceed what
> a rain storm can deliver I've breached no limits.

It does, though.

~PB

 

[trembler50]

I have bought three sets of wheels from Merlin Cycles and they have all been great value and quality.

I would go with XT if you can afford it, or Deore if you can't. I have no experience of LX hubs recently.

 

[Peter B]

"Pete Biggs" <pblackcherry{remove_fruit}@biggs.tc> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Peter B wrote:
>> > My philosophy is that the bike should be able to be used in a rain
> > storm and therefore so long as my cleaning method doesn't exceed what
> > a rain storm can deliver I've breached no limits.
>
> It does, though.

S'funny, I've never noticed you present when I've been cleaning my bike, do
you use a spy sattelite?
I said a ""light sprinkle", that means the hose has a sprinkler head
attached and the water is pointed up and allowed to fall much like a light
rain shower downward onto the bike from a distance.

For the record: I've never ridden a laden touring bike at all, let alone on
an expedition. Because of this I have no concept of how one would handle nor
how it's components perform and wear, therefore I offer no opinion of such
matters.

Have you ever ridden a mountain bike for several hours weekend after weekend
in the Peak District? No? Well then you are very unlikely to have a
realistic appreciation of the abuse an mtb gets when ridden as intended,
comparing it to road riding in the rain is naive in the extreme.

Goodnight Sir!

Pete

 

[Pete Biggs]

Peter B wrote:
> "Pete Biggs" <pblackcherry{remove_fruit}@biggs.tc> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Peter B wrote:
>>>> My philosophy is that the bike should be able to be used in a rain
>>> storm and therefore so long as my cleaning method doesn't exceed
>>> what
>>> a rain storm can deliver I've breached no limits.
>>
>> It does, though.
>
> S'funny, I've never noticed you present when I've been cleaning my
> bike, do you use a spy sattelite?
> I said a ""light sprinkle", that means the hose has a sprinkler head
> attached and the water is pointed up and allowed to fall much like a
> light rain shower downward onto the bike from a distance.

I assumed the sprinkle would be more horizontal/heavier than that because
it's only natural to use a hose more heavily than a light rain shower when
keen to clean a bike. A light rain shower is not an effective cleaner.

Sorry my guess about your situation was wrong Pete. However, although I'm
no mountain biker, I do feel qualified to disuade people from using hoses
on LX hubs beacase I know they're not fundamentally different from normal
bog standard hubs from servicing them, just a little better sealed. I
flooded a bog standard hub really easily therefore I assume it's not that
much more difficult to do the same with LXs, and it's all too easy to be
mistaken over how "light" a hose or sprinkler is. I was mistaken about
mine.

> For the record: I've never ridden a laden touring bike at all, let
> alone on an expedition. Because of this I have no concept of how one
> would handle nor how it's components perform and wear, therefore I
> offer no opinion of such matters.
>
> Have you ever ridden a mountain bike for several hours weekend after
> weekend in the Peak District? No? Well then you are very unlikely to
> have a realistic appreciation of the abuse an mtb gets when ridden as
> intended, comparing it to road riding in the rain is naive in the
> extreme.

Actually water can enter the sort of hubs I was referring to from road
cycling, particularly at high speeds. Rather than comparing off-roading
to road riding, my point was that it's even easier to waterlog them with a
low pressure hose: a warning that hoses are dodgy things to use on hubs.

I take your point about LXs being designed for rough treatment but not a
lot of compaints about them are posted so one way or another yours were
getting much rougher treatment than average.

~PB

 

[Peter B]

"Pete Biggs" <pblackcherry{remove_fruit}@biggs.tc> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Sorry my guess about your situation was wrong Pete.

No problem t'other Pete.
Yesterday could have gone better work-wise so by the time I got home I was
feeling a little tetchy.

I was just trying to give the OP my genuine opinion from hard learned
experience then felt under attack for it.
Had the original question been LX hubbed wheels for all-year round commuting
then Guys opinion would have been the one to go for.

Anyway, I see Guy is providing first -rate entertainment in the cross-posted
thread about pillocks on bikes

Rgds,
Pete

 

[Pete Biggs]

Peter B wrote:

>> Sorry my guess about your situation was wrong Pete.
>
> No problem t'other Pete.
> Yesterday could have gone better work-wise so by the time I got home
> I was feeling a little tetchy.

That's alright t'other Pete. You're quite right to keep me in check when
it comes to MTBing stuff. I did over-step the mark with my assumption
about how the hubs got wrecked.

It is dissappointing to learn LX hubs can't take serious "abuse". It's
not as if they're dirt cheap.

~PB

 

[Dave Kahn]

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 17:25:37 +0000 (UTC), "Peter B"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Anyway, I see Guy is providing first -rate entertainment in the cross-posted
>thread about pillocks on bikes

I don't know where he finds the time or energy.

--
Dave...

Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live. - Mark Twain

 

[Just zis Guy, you know?]

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 21:35:30 GMT, Dave Kahn <[email protected]>
wrote in message <[email protected]>:

>>Anyway, I see Guy is providing first -rate entertainment in the cross-posted
>>thread about pillocks on bikes

>I don't know where he finds the time or energy.

I find the time when waiting for Windoze to do Stuff which it should
have done already. I find the motivation by noting that Windoze
should already have done the Stuff and noting that although a copy of
2003 Server is costing us several hundreds of dollars, we still get
f***-all support from the thieving gits. And don't get me started on
HP DL140s...

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

 

[David Martin]

On 15/9/04 6:25 pm, in article [email protected], "Peter B"
<[email protected]> wrote:

> Had the original question been LX hubbed wheels for all-year round commuting
> then Guys opinion would have been the one to go for.

I use a pair of LX hubs on my MTB/Commuter/Tractor. They seem to be going
fine after a year of use. The wheels are good (despite the dozy *** at
Halfords lacing them incorrectly when he built them [1]) adn I tend to give
them a thorough service (repack the bearings etc once a year and retension
the wheels). I'm not particularly hard on wheels though, the original hubs
and wheels were made of brie and are still serviceable after about 15000 km,
the reason for the change was that the rims were wearing a bit thin on the
braking surface...

So for commuting use, LX will be fine if you are reasonably gentle and look
after them.

...d

[1] Yes my local Halfords do build wheels and are OK as an LBS (and closer
than the real bike shop across town). The error in the lacing was to not
have the valve hole by the big gap, but by the small gaps (look at a 3x
wheel and you'll see what I mean) which makes it slightly harder to access
the valve. Otherwise it was a good job at a good price.