Borked Alpkit Love Mud Dyno Hub?

[Artie Fufkin]

Have been rebuilding my Stooge up with bits off other bikes, inserted front wheel, tested Dynamo lighting, fine. The noise from the front hub does not sound good, and there's lateral movement on the bearings. Well pissed off!
I know the problems with the SP hubs is well documented on this site, but has anybody encountered this problem with these hubs? Also how good are Alpkit at honouring their Alpine Bond?
All input greatly received.
Adam.

[Bearbonesnorm]

[Guessing] Isn't the Alpkit dynamo hub a re-branded SP or an SP copy? I've not actually seen one in the flesh but they look identical from pictures.

[Artie Fufkin]

They are identical, yeah.
Kinda thinking the same, if they are just rebranded hubs then may inherit the same problems???
Ahh well, it was cheap but I suppose that's not the point?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Ahh well, it was cheap but I suppose that's not the point?

It's the faff factor with hubs though, isn't it.

Alpkit customer service seems very good. Probably best to see what they say first.

[jameso]

Isn't the Alpkit dynamo hub a re-branded SP or an SP copy?

It's not the SP hub though some parts are similar/the same - how much is the same inside I'm not sure. SP made hubs in Taiwan with a company that has Taiwan and China arms of the company. We buy cheaper hubs from the China part and the better hubs are made in Taiwan. I'm not 100% sure of the situation between SP and the manufacturer but the manufacturer now offers a lower cost Chinese-made dyno hub that is a suprisingly close to SP's design. Alpkit could offer more info on the bearing spec though as it could be standard, could be improved.

The SP has had a few reports of early failures, SP said they upgraded the bearing spec about a year ago now so I expect new hubs are of the better design. I'm not easy on kit and get through BBs and decent hub bearings regularly, my 1st SP did ~10,000km I think (I'd need to check that thread about them) before developing a bit of play, the 2nd one is at 5,000 or so and running fine. It's a QR version with bigger bearings, used on road in all weathers and simple but wet/muddy off-road. So not what I'd call impressively durable but I'm not sure how some have lasted so little time. I'd go for a cup + cone version if they made it - maybe an XT next time. An SP with XTR bearing internals would be perfect ..

[Artie Fufkin]

Cheers for that Jameso.
This hub has done no more that 1000 miles. Yes, a lot of wet and muddy off road, laid down in fields getting rained on all night. I would of expected better to be honest!
Have tried SP, Alpkit, Shimano. Only really SON to try, however they are too rich for me at the mo. Think I will go for XT.
Cheers all!

[ianfitz]

Cheers for that Jameso.
This hub has done no more that 1000 miles. Yes, a lot of wet and muddy off road, laid down in fields getting rained on all night. I would of expected better to be honest!
Have tried SP, Alpkit, Shimano. Only really SON to try, however they are too rich for me at the mo. Think I will go for XT.
Cheers all!

Although spendy the SON has a 5 year warranty which is worth factoring into costs, especially if you're paying for wheel builds...

[DoctorRad]

@jameso - or anyone else who can comment - can you get to the outer bearing seals on SP dynamo hubs by taking off the axle end caps or similar? If so, would it be possible to carefully prise off the seals and put in some decent grease? Might help with the bearing longevity if so, as I don't imagine the stock grease is up to much.

[DoctorRad]

Although spendy the SON has a 5 year warranty which is worth factoring into costs, especially if you're paying for wheel builds...

If there's no possibility of getting decent grease into SP dynamo bearings, I'll probably be going with Shimano next time. I've been running a second hand (probably came off a Center Parcs hire bike) bog standard low-end Shimano hub dynamo on my commuting / pub bike for the last six years without it skipping a beat. Basically never gets cleaned and gets left out and ridden in all weathers. I can only hope that the considerably lighter XT disc dynamo is as well built.

[johnnystorm]

@jameso - or anyone else who can comment - can you get to the outer bearing seals on SP dynamo hubs by taking off the axle end caps or similar? If so, would it be possible to carefully prise off the seals and put in some decent grease? Might help with the bearing longevity if so, as I don't imagine the stock grease is up to much.

If there is a way to pop the ends of it's not simple.

I'm not sure the problem is grease. My 9mm hub has done approx 11,000 miles. My 15mm died after 842 miles.

[Bearbonesnorm]

My 9mm hub has done approx 11,000 miles. My 15mm died after 842 miles.

And for balance, my 9mm hub lasted less than 500 miles before dying a death ... lottery springs to mind

[johnnystorm]

My 9mm hub has done approx 11,000 miles. My 15mm died after 842 miles.

And for balance, my 9mm hub lasted less than 500 miles before dying a death ... lottery springs to mind

Exactly. If there was anything approaching a pattern then you might be able to tie it down. Another chap on the TD had a 9mm and it was starting to go by Colorado. He worked in a bike shop and they had stopped selling the hubs as it was so much hassle having to replace them. The staff were essentially using them up never to stock them again.

Another chap had a 15mm one and his worked ok running his lights but the output to his battery pack was negligible.

[sean_iow]

I don't want to hijack this thread about alpkit hubs but as the SP PD-8X is being discussed... as I mentioned in "The postman's been" I've just had my warrantee return hub. The hub sent back appears to be brand new and I've checked the dimensions against the latest drawing on the SP website and it matches those of the PD-8X-04 which is dated November 2016. I've checked the flange dimensions against those from when I built the wheel (I keep my notes just in case ) and the returned hub is indeed the new version with different dimensions to the pre-2016 hubs. This is good news as the newer versions have better sealing? but the spokes from the wheel I took apart will now be 2mm too long on the right-hand side Also, there seems to be a flat area on the axle inside the end caps which could allow water into the inside of the hub?



I don't remember my old hub having this. Apologies for the massive picture but I don't have any way to resize them on the wife's PC. Does anyone else have this flat on the axle?

[slarge]

To answer the question of whether the bearings are accessible - I stripped a scrap hub and can confirm that they are really not accessible.

The end caps could come off, but on the connection side the wires go through the axle and under the bearing inner race.

I could not see a way to even get to the bearings to pack full of grease - they are buried in the hub.

Do not split the hub case ( the 2 halves of the hub shell are pressed together with the join the ridge in the centre): it is all carefully assembled with tight tolerances between the windings and magnet.

[DoctorRad]

To answer the question of whether the bearings are accessible - I stripped a scrap hub and can confirm that they are really not accessible.

Thanks @slarge. Shimano XT it is then!

[Pete-G]

Hopefully Shimano will bring out a through axle version before too long.