I started getting a cracking sound out of the rear hub of my bike on Friday night.

I'm told the hub is a Shimano one although it lacks any identifying marks.

As a temporary fix I've put new ball bearings in but it doesn't seem to be as good as it was, and I don't think the surface of the bearing seat is perfect any more.

Is this a one piece assembly, or is it possible to press in new seats? The rest of the wheel is fine, and I don't want to have to buy a new hub with all the hassle that would be to fit to the wheel.

Also how would I identify what hub I have? It doesn't appear to have any numbers or markings.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

It is a one piece assembly. Can't think of a modern wheel with press in cups any more.

New set of wheels would also be cheaper than replacing a hub probably. The hub is probably a generic SR (Sakae) budget item.

Thanks Bockers,

It looks a lot like this one (as you say probably a nobrand clone of it).



The Deore hub costs about £30, which wouldn't be too bad if I could fit it myself.

It is probably 25 years since I tried adjusting spoke tensions.

I also saw some stuff on eBay about how the cones wear quicker than the cups, but I think I'd rather have the peace of mind of a complete matched assembly.

I have a wheel truing jig you could borrow if you do decide to build youself. I changed a rim about 15 years ago, took ages but was a quality job. However since factory wheels have been in i have not had to true a wheel for the best part of 10 years.

If the wheel is quite old you may find that some of the spokes do not take kindly to being released and then re-tensioned.

Thanks - That might be the best option.
Trying to get a narrow rim with a 6 bolt disc hub narrows the options down, and these Rigida rims have the spokes in pairs, so a different wheel isn't going to match.
The bike is about 2 years old, but has done a lot of miles.

Looks like there's a 12mm allen bolt fitting inside the hub. I'm wondering if that might take the freewheel and the dodgy bearing off, saving me having to respoke the whole thing.

Should do. Shimano hubs have the bearings for the wheel on the freehub. On Campagnolo the bearing is at the wheel axle. You can argue that the shimano system is better as the bearings are at the ends of the axles. But in reality it make little difference.

However the bearing race that is knackered is the on in the freehub then you can change that and keep the rest of the wheel intact.

Would have been nice, but the old hub was a Quando, so the way it goes together seemed different.

I eventually bit the bullet and rebuilt the wheel. Now for some sleep