I dopn't trust myself to build rims....so I jsut throw $30 at my LBS to build them for me. but anything else, I do myself. Well, except for hydraulic brakes....I got some Juicy 5s that I'm 2nd owner of, that I've had for 2 years and they've never been bled....never needed to be bled, and they still don't. They've been flawless and powerful for me....and this is on a bike I ride 365 days of the year.

It's hard to nail, but once you get it down pretty pretty easy. Hehe I myself have never been a fan of most hydros. *is picky* lol

Yeah, there's some things to learn about hydros that aren't ever well covered. It's hard to find that info and I've learned most of it because I've had to troubleshoot and fix hydros at work.

In general though, DOT is a shit fluid, mineral oil is clearly superior. That means Shimano or Magura, but I think Magura levers are terrible. They're huge, have square blades designed for two fingers, and don't play too nice with the shifter a lot of times. And the ones I've felt (fresh factory bleed or my bleed) have always been more squishy than Shimano.

The Shimanos with Servo Wave have a funny detented lever feel, but they have loads of pad clearance and feel great in the stroke where it matters.

scrrrrrrrrtch...scrrrrrrrrtch...scrrrrrrrrtch...scrrrrrrrrtch...scrrrrrrrrtch...scrrrrrrrrtch...scrrrrrrrrtch...



I wanna build my first wheels soon. I'm drooling over a TruePrecision rear hub...it's a roller clutch, so it's silent with instant engagement. It's pretty much the singlespeed drivetrain upgrade. And I'm gonna get new fork lowers so I can go 15QR.

Right on. Gives me goosebumps every time. Lol That sounds like a Rad hub! I myself rely on my hub as a horn. Lol Otherwise, I would go for something like that. And 15 mm is the way to go. Lighter than 20-24mm, but much stiffer than 9. Good luck to ya!!

I've got 20mm on my AM bike,upgraded form 9mm...I don't think I'd go smaller...it's just so nice and stiff.

and only the Specialized Future shocks have a 24/25mm hubs I think....as far as i know anyways.


though if you get Hope Pros you never need to worry about axle size, everything on them is interchangeable.

Specialized, curnutt, maverick, and I believe hanebrink use bigger than 20, but those are all kinda forks for people who like being an odd ball. Which is why I like them. Hahaha the maverick SC 32 being my favorite. ;)

Actually, the true precision hubs (both front and rear) are interchangeable too. But I don't think I'll get their front hub, as they don't make a centerlock version. I can live with 6 bolt but if I have a choice, centerlock FTW. And I think the true precision hubs are kind of ugly. So I'll probably go with a Shimano front.

I know the Hopes are durable, sound nice, and look nice, but I dunno why they're so great. They're not really high POE, the one I handled recently was 36, and they have the Al freehub bodies that can get trashed if your lockring gets loose or you use cheap cassettes without spiders.
Speaking of spiders, one of the spiders on the new Dura Ace 11 speed cassette is carbon. I thought that was cool. And you see those new all carbon brake rotors?

Anyway, Centerlock is soo much better. Literally 10 times faster to work on than 6 bolt. I can remove and install a centerlock rotor in 30 seconds, while it takes just about 5 minutes to do the same properly with 6 bolt. It's also safer. You could completely lose the lockring and still have brakes.

Yea,there's a couple companies that have interchangeable axles. I find Shimano hubs complete junk because of their lack of sealed bearings....they're still going with the old cup and cone style. I'll take a sealed bearing hub any day...I've got a DMR Revolver on my rear wheel,nice hub, great engagement....6 pawls and 32 POE I think. I've got the bolt up version,much like Hopes bolt up style...,had it for a year and have had 0 issues.

Hopes are just really reliable and durable hubs and relatively light, that's why everyone uses them. Well, usually if you can afford a Hope hub, you've got a proper cassette to put on it. and I'd put a steel freehub body on it anyways...aluminum is for the weight weenies and XC guys.

I never seen the advantage of centerlock vs 6 bolt. I've always ran 6 bolt. I don't really care how long it takes to swap a rotor, as it's something you never really do unless you're replacing it. and as for the safer thing, you got 6 Bolts holding the rotor on, so even if you lose one on the trail or have a couple come loose(Which shouldn't happen, as they should have blue locktite on them) You'll be fine and the rotor will still be tight. where as center lock, you've just got one nut, and if it's loose your rotor is gonna be loose. 6 bolts are also generally easier to find and cheaper.

Shimano hubs are certainly sealed man, the higher end ones have great seals. Just because they're adjustable doesn't exclude seals. Shimano still uses adjustable cup and cone because the bearing design is more suited to the loads a hub encounters, as they're certainly not all radial. Obviously though from experience, either design works well and it usually doesn't matter, unless your mechanic poorly adjusts your hubs or screws up pressing the bearings. I really don't mind adjusting hubs though, it's usually quite easy, just a slight clockwise turn with 17s on each locknut, and the hub tightens up.

A lot of cartridge bearing hubs also have to be adjusted anyway. The fact is that bearings last longer with preload. I think that bearing systems like hubs that don't adjust or something like SRAM GXP are just taking advantage of the "good enough" longevity of cartridge bearings. Clearly though, shimano doesn't think that's good enough and puts adjustability in pretty much all of their bearing systems.

As for centerlock, I just prefer it because I'm a mechanic and it really makes my job a lot easier. I hate messing with those shallow socket torx screws. The rotors are about the same price, especially high end ones that have carriers anyway. You're right about the rotor being loose if you lose the lockring, but it still functions because of the splined interface that it can't slide off. 6 bolt could potentially fall off the hub if shit hit the fan and everything got loose. But that doesn't happen, so it's about convenience for me.