Hubs

Bike hubs: important bike componets at Bikester.co.uk

On Bikester.co.uk, there is a bike and bike part for every need. Whether you use a city or touring bike, a road bike, mountain bike or children’s bike, the Bikester.co.uk website is dedicated to make sure that you find exactly what you are looking for, for your next ride – wherever that may take you. In addition to our vast range of bikes, there is also a huge collection of accessories, including the latest bike hubs models.

What do bike hubs do?

The hub is the central part (or axle) of your bike’s wheels to which the rim and spokes are attached and it is protected by a hub shell. On the front hub, an axle in the centre of the hub enables the wheel to spin freely. It has a tube-like body with a set of bearings at each end that rotate in tandem with the wheel’s rotation to reduce friction.

The back wheel, in addition to the ball bearings, also features a cassette or sprocket, which drives the back wheel and lets you freewheel (unless you are on a fixed-gear or track bike). Traditional rear hubs used to always have a standardised set of threads. This meant that any kind of freewheel/sprocket would be compatible with any brand of hub - which is useful when it comes to replacing parts. However, since the 1980s, the Freehub has replaced the original rear hub on many models. While it loses the versatility of being able to change your brand of hub, this version is very popular because when you wear out the sprockets, you can simply replace them – rather than the whole system. You can buy sprockets individually or in a cluster, known as a “cassette”.

There are three types of ball bearing systems, a loose ball bearing system that allows them to freely rotate, or a sealed bearing system which keeps the bearings enclosed within a sealed tube. These have the added advantage of being much longer lasting, however unlike the loose ball bearing system, when they wear out you have to replace the whole system (as opposed to single bearings that can be replaced individually). Finally, there are ceramic ball bearing systems, which use a smooth ceramic to further reduce friction and minimise the effort required to keep the whole wheel spinning for longer.

Bike hubs that are built to last

The Bikester.co.uk website partners with some of the industry’s leading bike part manufacturers (i.e. Novatec, Shimano, DT Swiss) to offer the best selection of bike gear, including a huge selection of wheel hubs and accessories that are suited to all kinds of bikes, such as mountain bikes, road bikes, city and touring bikes and BMX (among others). Our online shop stocks all the best parts so that you can keep your ride in top condition with no fuss. Want to get more out of your ride but don’t know where to start? Check out the latest components on Bikester.co.uk that are all built upon the foundation of quality, innovation and craftsmanship.