The Chainlink

Velocity sealed vs. XT cup&cone

I am looking to get some new wheels for my Surly LHT.  I would appreciate any thoughts on Velocity's sealed bearing hubs vs. Shimano's XT cup and cone hubs. These would be 32 hole wheels used for commuting and light touring.  Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Bailey Gene Newbrey on July 27, 2011 at 10:04am
Sealed bearings will inevitably blow out. They'll be really great up until that moment though. Salt, grime, & etc.  eat away at the seals. A well maintained cup & cone will last for quite a while without the having to spend too much to replace bearings. Shimano also produces cones that are far superior to anyone else making 'em these days. I've got a Shimano tandem hub that's winter commuted, toured, and everything in between. It's the smoothest rolling hub I've got and it's only been cleaned out once in thousands of miles.
Permalink Reply by Brendan Kevenides on July 27, 2011 at 10:21am
Thanks Bailey!  Interesting.
Permalink Reply by Liz on July 27, 2011 at 10:31am

I just got a new wheel set from Bicycle wheel warehouse after debating the sealed vs cup cone, and decided that since I get regular maintenance on my wheels during tune ups that a good set of cup/cone would last longer.  

 

I'd recommend looking into their wheelsets, for the price of the parts you get a quality hand built wheel set.  I just got a commuter/touring set with Pure tour rims and ultegra hubs, I'm waiting to get the cassette in so I haven't used them yet though.  

 

I got Cam a wheel set from there with Mavic CXP22 rims to convert a bike to fixed 1-1/2 years ago and aside from truing the wheel after an accident that broke the fork he's had no problems. 

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on July 27, 2011 at 10:54am

Sealed bearings last a darn long time in adverse conditions (like winter salt and slush) but do not last forever and will eventually wear out like it was mentioned above by others.

 

Until that point they will be zero maintenance and will give you good performance without the worry of upkeep.

 

But while traditional loose ball cup/cone bearings do not last as long between rebuilds/greasings they are extremely easy and cheap to work on and will only need new grease and maybe balls to get them back up to 100% if they are not allowed to get too bad.  

 

Replacing the sealed bearing components may be extremely expensive when sourcing proprietary bearing units and the tools to properly remove and re-install the sealed bearings from their sockets are not only more expensive but are also sometimes proprietary.  So the cost to have these sealed bearings replaced/repaired is going to be more although this cost will not be up-front because they do last quite a long time.  Sometimes the sealed bearings get good and seized in their locations and are a real bear to get out.  On rare occasions they cant' be removed without destroying the hub or whatever component they are stuck in. 

 

If one buys new and trades bikes/wheels often for new again then probably the zero-maintenance of the sealed bearings is well worth it.  But for someone who buys used fixer-uppers and does the work themselves then the traditional cup/cone/loose-ball bearings will be easier & cheaper to repair/replace/upgrade at a later date.  So it's a cost/benefit analysis that is kind of hard to accurately figure. It'll be different for just about everyone with different needs/budgets/bikes/riding-style/wrenching abilities. 

 

The partial exception to this is the sealed bottom bracket.  While everything I said above is still technically true the cartridge nature of these BB's, and with their extremely low replacement cost,  they are quite economical to just remove and dispose of while buying a new replacement BB cartridge.  Cheap Shimano cartridge BB's can be found for just about any modern bike for under $20 -and many older ones too with the notable exception of the 26tpi Raleigh BB's.   It is unknown if this will always be the case but for the foreseeable future I believe they will continue to be cheap and commonly available short of the Zombiepocalypse.

 

If the zombies come then the ability to refurb a ball & cone bearing with just grease, or grease + bulk balls, will make the old-style bearings superior for the post-apocalypse bike mechanic/bike owner.  

Permalink Reply by Duppie on July 27, 2011 at 11:01am

Sealed FTW.

If you ride year round your cup and cone hubs will require occasional maintenance. If you do it yourself, it’s dirty work and I find a good hub adjustment one of the hardest things to do. If you outsource your maintenance then it just adds to the cost.

Sealed hubs OTOH require no maintenance during their lifetime. Yes, they may “blow” out (what does that even mean? Will they explode?), but it has never happened to me on thousands of miles of cheap (Formula brand) sealed hubs.

 

Right now, about half my wheels have sealed hubs. When other wheels come up for replacement, I will replace them with sealed hubs as well. Having said that, moving to sealed hubs is not the primary reason for replacing my wheels.

 

 

Permalink Reply by Adam "Cezar" Jenkins on July 27, 2011 at 11:13am

I've run both before. I've also overhauled hubs on dozens of bikes. With my latest wheelset I went with sealed. One reason is that there is a brand now called Quanta/Quando. If you can find the cassette version, they are an excellent value. They also use "standard" bearing cartridges, from skateboards IIRC.

 

Everything wears out, but the annoying and frustration of adjusting a hub just got to me after a while. To change a sealed bearing, you pop off the old one and press on a new out.

Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on July 27, 2011 at 11:16am
Supposedly, sealed bearings have more drag... I still like em!
Permalink Reply by Brendan Kevenides on July 27, 2011 at 1:05pm
Interesting input.  I guess I'm still on the fence...
Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on July 27, 2011 at 3:06pm
Shimano is cheaper, lighter, and easy to maintain. I'd go with the value.
Permalink Reply by Brendan Kevenides on July 27, 2011 at 4:28pm
I've heard that cleaning and replacing the bearing in cup and cone hubs is easy, but as Duppie noted readjusting can be a pain.  Does anyone else have some input on how difficult it is.  I'm reasonably handy when it comes to bikes.
Permalink Reply by Michael A on July 27, 2011 at 5:00pm

I would say it just takes an touch to get them adjusted right, and a set of cone wrenches

 

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/cone-adjustment.html

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on July 27, 2011 at 5:41pm
It's a snap -easiest when adjusted on the bike if you have nutted axles.   Sheldon Brown has a write-up on it.  You will need the correct cone wrenches for your bike <$20 in tools. I could teach a 5th-grader how to do it in 20 minutes.

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