SP Hubs some statistics

[Dave Barter]

My 650B wheel .. bearings failed 2 months outside of warranty
My 700c wheel .. bearings failed 4 months outside of warranty
My 29'er wheel .. bearings not failed currently in warranty only a few months left and winter is coming

The numbers are telling me something and I think I'm done with SP hubs.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Have you contacted SP directly Dave? My last SP hub failed outside of the warranty period and they sent me a new one ... it had only done about 600 miles though.

[Dave Barter]

Yes, no reply. Tried the UK distributor as well similar no reply.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Yes, no reply. Tried the UK distributor as well similar no reply.

Odd, I know both Andy and me had a decent result emailing Tiawan directly. Had to post the hub over to them but I recall that was only about a tenner.

[rufus748]

Dave, as Stu says they were very helpful when I found the right person..
I'll see if I can find his email address and send it across.

[fatbikephil]

I'm currently contemplating the fat bike version - supopsed to be better sealed but no evidence to indicate if this is true. Its £200 versus £300 for the SON so I'm really leaning towards the SP. Both my current ones have been fine but one is on the fargo so minimal mud (about 3000 miles) and one is on the pacer so no mud (about 2000 miles). If you could get the things apart it would be an easy fix

[dlovett]

I'm currently contemplating the fat bike version - supopsed to be better sealed but no evidence to indicate if this is true. Its £200 versus £300 for the SON so I'm really leaning towards the SP. Both my current ones have been fine but one is on the fargo so minimal mud (about 3000 miles) and one is on the pacer so no mud (about 2000 miles). If you could get the things apart it would be an easy fix

I have two sp's both been fine and the son fat bike hub. No contest the son is beautifully made and put a out more power at low speeds. For any other hubs I buy it will be son

[slarge]

Yes, out of 4 SP hubs I have owned only 1 is still going. 1 magnet moved inside, 1 bearing failed and 1 sat in a road wheel that just doesn't have any output. 1 working example sold to buy a SON hub which is still working.

[AlasdairMc]

Richpips goosed one
I’ve had one replaced for bearings too

[BreninBeener]

Is this q/r or the 15mm? I thought the q/r were better lasting than the 15s?

[rufus748]

Yes, no reply. Tried the UK distributor as well similar no reply.

Dave, found my email trail and forwarded it to you.

Good luck !

[Bearbonesnorm]

Is this q/r or the 15mm?

Exposure (who wanted nowt to do with me or my hub) branded QR in my case.

[sean_iow]

I'm currently contemplating the fat bike version - supopsed to be better sealed but no evidence to indicate if this is truel

When mine was replaced under warranty (normal width exposure branded qr15) the new unit had a D shape to the inner part of the axle. A Google image search at the time only found the same on the fat bike version. They have changed the casting as the current version has a larger flange on one side, I needed longer spokes when I rebuilt the wheel. Hopefully the new version has better seals and bigger bearings and hence the new casting. Still going strong at the moment moment.... which has obviously now cursed it

[MuddyPete]

A warranty period is one thing, but do any manufacturers state the design life of their products (e.g. 10 years; 100,000 km, etc)? This will influence how the product is designed; the component choice and the quality of the manufacturing processes.

[sean_iow]

Exposure were very helpful but when I spoke to them I kind of picked up from the tone of voice that perhaps they'd wished they'd chosen a different make of hub to re-brand? Maybe the guy had just had a hard day and I was reading too much into it?

[MuddyPete]

This seems to be the sort of thing to look for:

https://www.nabendynamo.de/produkte/dynamos_en.html

...and...

https://www.vsf.de/qualitaetssiegel/

[firestarter]

Son all day long, worth every penny

[In Reverse]

Mine's three and a half years old and still going strong.

Hope that helps.

*tbf it's had fairly regular services at Keep Pedalling which may have been beneficial...

[ianfitz]

Mine's three and a half years old and still going strong.

Hope that helps.

*tbf it's had fairly regular services at Keep Pedalling which may have been beneficial...

Serviced how? I didn't think there were any serviceable parts.

[slarge]

Andy, apart from external cleaning and spoke tensioning, there's nothing serviceable about a SP hub. I have one in bits at home and the bearings are buried inside, and you definitely need special tools to take apart and reassemble, and the hub must be taken out of the wheel. It's a design made for manufacturing, not servicing.

The one thing that puzzles me with the SP hub is why the bearings don't last. They are industry standard bearings, sealed like any other 2RS type. The spacing is similar to other front hubs like Hope etc, so it is either bearing quality or some other forces. The internal clearance between stator and magnet are very tight so bearing play is a problem.

SON all the way for me, 5 year warranty seals it.

[Bearbonesnorm]

SON all the way for me, 5 year warranty seals it.

For something 'utility' I woudn't dismiss Shimano Steve. I'm very impressed so far, especially considering the price and the fact you can get to the bearings.

[In Reverse]

Fair enough, i thought Rich had said he'd "done" the bearings, i obviously wasn't paying attention. Oddly its low-speed performance seemed to improve significantly after the first time it went in.

Still going strong without servicing then. Having said that I'm probably buying a SON soon based on the universal praise they get.

[GregMay]

Still have one of the first Exposure 15mm hubs going fine. Just a little over 15,000km done offroad on it. It's not been treated well. But still works fine.

[ScotRoutes]

My Exposure/SP is also still going fine. I'll be looking at Shimano if/when it fails.

[Bearbonesnorm]

It's a shame that there doesn't appear to be any common denominator at play. If there was some underlying reason for failure such as water ingress or upon reaching a certain mileage, then you could take steps to avoid it but failure appears to be completely random ... so random, that I can only think it's a QC problem and whether you get a Tuesday lunchtime or Friday afternoon hub, is simply luck of the draw.