Chinese quality mtb hubs?

Eastwood

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So I’m in the market for a front hub not hubmotor just regular mountain bike hub and everything is on back order for 8 to 10 weeks. So I found this cheaper Chinese hub with only 1 week delivery time. Was wondering if you guys would trust this??. It has dual disc mounts which is beneficial in my situation since my fork will have dual mounts. Don’t plan on using dual brakes on the front but at least I would have the option if I ever need it.

I was wanting to order the hope pro4 hub but as I mention it’s going to be at least 8 weeks of waiting.

Alomejor 36 Holes Bike Disc Hub MTB Bike Hub Thru Axle Bicycle Hubs Bike Axle Hub Bicycle Tire Accessories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089RJT1HK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_6796EV9HSQEY5K8YQ319?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
 
Since you don’t ride the mountain trails, your front hub quality won’t make any difference. You don’t need the impact resistance of a pro DH hub, and still can use better bearings when they are due for replacement. Hope pro4 are not pro DH hubs despite their name, and are not so much better than Chinese hub. A DH racing hub is pretty expansive, the like of 200 $ and up. Good DH hubs often can be found cheap in broken wheels used stock. When you see a bunch of broken wheels at bike shops, look for the hubs. I have purchased some tacoed wheel for 20$ that had a DT Swiss 440 FR in, yet the guy was freaking happy to sell it. Even old and abused, 40 $ bearings set and 15 minutes of work are making it just as new.
 
Dual disc hubs usually have much narrower flange spacing than single disc or rim brake hubs, and thus make much weaker wheels.
 
Eastwood, I'm assuming this is going on your Schwinn from that earlier post on the DNM fork? While I would agree with Chalo that this hub won't make the strongest wheel compared to some others, I think it will be more than adequate for the bike and use you described earlier. It appears to be the non-boost 20 X 110 you were needing...unless there is some weird offset in the rotor mount which is probably not the case.

I'm surprised you couldn't find the old standard 20 X 110 somewhere since the boost hubs are the hot thing now. There should be a stash of them here and there, but it sounds like you've beaten the bushes fairly hard. Guaranteed there old wheels hanging around in shops and garages as MadRhino suggests, but finding them might involve luck. Do you live where you have multiple bike shops within reasonable driving distance?...or in an area where 20mm hubs were a thing for aggressive mountain biking? Calling some shops might yield what you need.
 
MadRhino said:
Even old and abused, 40 $ bearings set and 15 minutes of work are making it just as new.
Is this for sealed bearings or does it apply to [race, loose bb, and cone] bearings?
 
MadRhino said:
Since you don’t ride the mountain trails, your front hub quality won’t make any difference. You don’t need the impact resistance of a pro DH hub, and still can use better bearings when they are due for replacement. Hope pro4 are not pro DH hubs despite their name, and are not so much better than Chinese hub. A DH racing hub is pretty expansive, the like of 200 $ and up. Good DH hubs often can be found cheap in broken wheels used stock. When you see a bunch of broken wheels at bike shops, look for the hubs. I have purchased some tacoed wheel for 20$ that had a DT Swiss 440 FR in, yet the guy was freaking happy to sell it. Even old and abused, 40 $ bearings set and 15 minutes of work are making it just as new.

Well I do some mountain bike trail riding but nothing too aggressive. Also what about riding at 50 mph on tarmac? I mean I don’t hold those speeds for long but I do get up to those speeds for brief periods. Do you think this hub would be strong enough to handle those conditions? I guess that’s my only scare because the whole point of this is to beef up my front suspension and front wheel and I definitely don’t want to cheap out on the hub if it’s not safe but sounds like you’re saying it’s not that much different in quality than the hope pro4 hub?
 
TNC said:
I think it will be more than adequate for the bike and use you described earlier.

Yeah that’s what I’m thinking since I don’t do too much aggressive riding. the only hard impacts would be at higher speeds on tarmac.


TNC said:
Unless there is some weird offset in the rotor mount which is probably not the case.


Yeah I was thinking the same 😅
But Also it might lineup perfect because that type of hub is probably designed for the DNM or similar forks.

And yes I’m finally pulled the trigger for the DNM lol I contemplated the RST but I wanted to try the inverted fork coming from a motorcycle background I really like the look of it. But I agree that the RST seems to have better ratings for performance.

TNC said:
I'm surprised you couldn't find the old standard 20 X 110 somewhere since the boost hubs are the hot thing now.

I know right! I found tons of 15 x 110mm but no 20 x 110 🧐
I’ve been searching for a couple of days and late July or mid August seems to be delivery times.

Well I ordered that hub off Amazon since it was the last one available and I can always return it thanks to Amazon’s great free return policy lol i’m still eyeing that hope pro4 but I’m not trying to wait that long in prime riding season.
 
Chalo said:
Dual disc hubs usually have much narrower flange spacing than single disc or rim brake hubs, and thus make much weaker wheels.

Chalo do you recommend these spokes for my front wheel?? I’m aiming to make this wheel really strong. Well maybe minus the narrow hub flanges on this dual disk hub lol
My rear hub motor build that you gave me advice on I used the same spokes 13/14ga single butted.

https://ebikes.ca/spcust14b.html

Edit: also will be using halo SAS 36h for the front
 
99t4 said:
MadRhino said:
Even old and abused, 40 $ bearings set and 15 minutes of work are making it just as new.
Is this for sealed bearings or does it apply to [race, loose bb, and cone] bearings?

They are all sealed bearings for a very long time. You can replace them with 3 different quality bearings commonly available, and some more options are available if you buy them at bearings specialty shops.
 
Eastwood said:
Well I do some mountain bike trail riding but nothing too aggressive. Also what about riding at 50 mph on tarmac? I mean I don’t hold those speeds for long but I do get up to those speeds for brief periods. Do you think this hub would be strong enough to handle those conditions? I guess that’s my only scare because the whole point of this is to beef up my front suspension and front wheel and I definitely don’t want to cheap out on the hub if it’s not safe but sounds like you’re saying it’s not that much different in quality than the hope pro4 hub?

It is not the speed but the hits that matters. I mean, expansive hubs are not much faster than cheap ones, and cheap ones can be upgraded with better bearings if faster/longer coasting does matter to you. We buy expansive DH hubs for their impact resistance. They are stronger and bigger, lasting a lifetime of rough terrain, drops and jumps down the mountains.
 
Eastwood said:
Chalo do you recommend these spokes for my front wheel?? I’m aiming to make this wheel really strong. Well maybe minus the narrow hub flanges on this dual disk hub lol
My rear hub motor build that you gave me advice on I used the same spokes 13/14ga single butted.

https://ebikes.ca/spcust14b.html

Those are good, as long as you get them nice and tight. Halo SAS rim can withstand lots of tension, so it's a good choice for the spokes and the application.
 
MadRhino said:
It is not the speed but the hits that matters. I mean, expansive hubs are not much faster than cheap ones, and cheap ones can be upgraded with better bearings if faster/longer coasting does matter to you. We buy expansive DH hubs for their impact resistance. They are stronger and bigger, lasting a lifetime of rough terrain, drops and jumps down the mountains.

OK thanks for clarifying!

Chalo said:
Those are good, as long as you get them nice and tight. Halo SAS rim can withstand lots of tension, so it's a good choice for the spokes and the application.

Thank you, I will order these spokes
 
Chalo said:
Those are good, as long as you get them nice and tight. Halo SAS rim can withstand lots of tension, so it's a good choice for the spokes and the application.

Also do you recommend a 3 cross?
Seems like most wheel builds that have 3 cross alternate the elbows in and out, is this what you recommend?
 
Oh, right this is regular hub we're talking about and not a hub motor.

Use 14-15 ga spokes, unless your hub is drilled oversized for some reason. The thinner the spoke, the more load the wheel can take without problems (and 14-15 ga is still easy to build with). 14-15ga double butted spokes are easier to find, and cheaper, than 13-14ga spokes that don't work quite as well.

If your hubs have hole pattern diameters less than about 75mm, and you're using 32 or 36 spokes, then cross-3 lacing is good. Cross-2 is also fine, if that makes your spoke lengths easier to get.
 
Be careful where you start the lacing pattern, you don’t want the spokes to be interfering with the valve. That is a very common mistake with 3 cross lacing.
 
Chalo said:
Dual disc hubs usually have much narrower flange spacing than single disc or rim brake hubs, and thus make much weaker wheels.
They look cool though. :)
 
Chalo said:
Use 14-15 ga spokes, unless your hub is drilled oversized for some reason. The thinner the spoke, the more load the wheel can take without problems (and 14-15 ga is still easy to build with). 14-15ga double butted spokes are easier to find, and cheaper, than 13-14ga spokes that don't work quite as well.

From looking at the pictures of the hub it seems like it might be drilled oversized. I know most of these hubs with the dual rotor mounts are normally labeled E bike hubs. I’ll have it Friday so I can do some measuring. The listing doesn’t even mention the flange size or spoke hole diameter etc. I message the seller with no response lol

How do I measure for the diameter of the hole? I thought about just buying some 13 gauge and 14 gauge rods and testing to see if it fits lol
I don’t have any extra spokes to test the hole diameter.
I know how to measure for the flange diameter and hub center to flange but I’m not sure what’s the proper way to figure out the diameter of the hole.
 

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MadRhino said:
Be careful where you start the lacing pattern, you don’t want the spokes to be interfering with the valve. That is a very common mistake with 3 cross lacing.

Yeah good point! I may lace with just 2 cross, Still considering though. Need to receive the hub first to do some measuring before I can order the spokes.
 
Eastwood said:
From looking at the pictures of the hub it seems like it might be drilled oversized. I know most of these hubs with the dual rotor mounts are normally labeled E bike hubs.

They look like fairly ordinary 2.7mm hub holes. If they're less than 3.0mm, use 14-15ga spokes. If bigger, use 13-14ga or 13-15-14ga (like DT Alpine III) spokes.

That's the old 20mm through axle standard. Do you have a 20mm through axle fork?
 
Chalo said:
That's the old 20mm through axle standard. Do you have a 20mm through axle fork?

Yes I orderd the DNM USD-8s its 20mm x 110mm
I was in the need for a stronger fork. I have a cheaper downhill fork on my bike now. The fork I’m using now I actually like it but the metal is too thin so I’m always taking it super easy on impacts. It’ll be nice to have the freedom to plow through things off road now with 27.5 inch wheels

But yeah the DNM is nothing special especially compared to a fox 40 but I feel like I can trust it as it’s a pretty heavy duty fork.
 
Chalo said:
They look like fairly ordinary 2.7mm hub holes. If they're less than 3.0mm, use 14-15ga spokes. If bigger, use 13-14ga or 13-15-14ga (like DT Alpine III) spokes.

Yeah if the holes are normal size I was thinking of using these. Sapim double butted
https://www.ebay.com/itm/36-Custom-Length-Spokes-Sapim-BLACK-DOUBLE-BUTTED-w-Nipples-14G-J-bend-/192494831468?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286

But I will look up the DT alpine III now.
Edit: these seem harder to find and they’re also expensive.
 
Chalo said:
They look like fairly ordinary 2.7mm hub holes. If they're less than 3.0mm, use 14-15ga spokes. If bigger, use 13-14ga or 13-15-14ga (like DT Alpine III) spokes.

I’m also considering these if the diameter of the hole is oversized.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Spokes-Black-180-trough-298mm-Single-butted-13-14G-Sapim-set-of-9-spokes-/272391598425?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286
 
Sapim Force is another 13-15-14ga choice, but the elbow is only 2.18mm rather than 2.34mm.
 
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