Bike Hub Buying Guide

The Hub is the central part of your bike’s wheels. The hub is the component which allows the bike's wheels to rotate. Hubs are the centre of the bike wheel, and are axle mounted in the frame of the bike on bearings which the wheel rotates around. As we supply bikes, and not unicycles - all of the bikes that we supply online require two hubs - one for the front wheel and one for the rear wheel.

A front hub and a rear hub are two different designs, as the front hub only needs to allow the wheel to spin. The rear hub is more complicated, as it is also part of the bike's gearing and transmission - with the cassette or sprocket, which provides momentum to the rear wheel - being attached to the rear hub.

Front Hub Guide

Bike Front Hubs are the simpler of the two hubs found on a bike. Front Hubs have a tubular body, which is metal. These hubs usually have bearings at either end, or loose ball bearings which are secured into the hub with locknuts. There are also cartridge style bearings that are pressed into the hub. The axle of the bike runs through the body of the front hub, and spins on the bearings contained within it. It’s possible that the axle will be attached to the bearing with quick release clamps, or bolts. The front hub will also have a raised lip at each end, where the spokes sit. If the bike has disc brakes, the hub will also have disc mounts.

Rear Hubs Guide

Rear Hubs are part of the transmission of the bike, and most will feature a freewheel - which creates the clicking sound you can hear when you stop pedaling, and coast the bike. The rear hub is one of the most upgraded components of a bike, with a different number of teeth that can increase available torque, or provide a quicker transfer of power.

Mountain Bike Hubs Guide

Mountain Bike Hubs are available in a massive array of designs. These different mountain bike hubs suit a wide array of mountain bikes, and it’s important to ensure you buy the right hub for your type of mountain bike. For example, you should not use a lightweight alloy racing hub on a downhill mountain bike, which is used to taking big hits and jumps. MTB Hubs also need to fit your frame and fork dimensions.

Road Bike Wheel Hubs

Road Bike Wheel Hubs are amongst our most popular components to supply to road cyclists. The Hub is the single most important component in powering your road bike forward. These hubs are usually completely sealed from damaging road spray and grime. There are a couple of types of road bike wheel hubs available, the first being hubs with cup and cone bearings. Cup and Cone bearings can be serviced at home, with new bearings and a fair amount of grease to keep them running smoothly. Cartridge Road Bike Hubs are popular choices for road bikes.

As with everything in the world of road cycling, a huge part of upgrading and changing components is to save weight, and the cycling industry has created incredibly lightweight road bike wheel hubs - which use carbon fibre, superlight axles as well as ceramic bearings to provide performance upgrades as well as weight saving upgrades.

Hub Spares

As well as providing a complete range of road bike and mountain bike hubs - we also stock and supply a complete range of hub spares, encompassing bearings, bodies, sprockets, pawls, springs, axles as well as servicing items. All of which can be purchased online.