Mike Kone wrote:
" I used to need to overhaul at least once a year if not more often. And when I had my shop, I saw more of the same. I've also done the grease gun grease purge thing to get the contamination out of hubs. If they were so well sealed to begin with, then why is this necessary?"
My question exactly. What symptom prompted the "need to overhaul" and the "necessity" to purge a Campy hub?
I've ridden Record hubs for 15-20 years, with no symptom of any kind prompting me to do any service. If water gets in there, the hub's toast and needs parts, but in practice under normal varied conditions I've very seldom had this happen despise frequent delicate spray-offs with a garden hose. When it happened, I had been blasting mud away with a directed stream. Usually the grease doesn't thicken, but a couple of poor greases did, over the years. Campy grease, never. Nor have I ever had a properly adjusted Campy hub develop roughness. For sure I haven't put a ton of miles on any one wheelset, nor have I left my bike out in a hurricane, but have done a LOT of off-road hours and have been caught in about a hundred downpours over the years One thing that I have seen cause contamination to bearings is WD40 applied externally near a wheel or BB bearing. This stuff penetrates aggressively and carries dirt with it. I have known cartridge bearings to be particularly vulnerable to this form of assault. It kills 'em every time! Another thing I suspect could make an oil-ported hub rough is the application of oil to a greased hub. Oil is then free to move around and can easily carry dirt from the dust cap's small gap at the cone into the working area around the ball track. That's bad. The user might have no idea how much oil they're adding if the can nozzle is against the port, and the oil just flows from there, usually flooding one side of the hub. I never use the ports except to revive a beater hub.
David Snyder
Auburn, CA USA