Cycling UK Forum

Following on from my post about a 3 year+ several 1000s miles old SP PV8 hub having developed a creaking noise, I contacted Ison Distribution, the UK distributor to ascertain out of warranty serviceability.

And this has been a question mark in several threads here and other fora?

Received a prompt email response from Ison offering the following =


Exchange Unit SP hub options offered via Ison:
(Note: All exchange units are pre-used hubs that have been factory serviced and re-conditioned, and are supplied in poly bags.)


1) Exchange unit option:
Total of £25.00 including freight and VAT to end user for the exchange service.
(Customer must send us back their old hub first ‐ at their cost)


2) Option: complete service including wheel re‐building.
Customer to package their wheel into 1 box (keep the tyre fitted to reduce damage):

a) Send back to Ison ‐ Ison will strip and re‐build with Plain Gauge (PG) spokes and return:
Total exchange hub and re‐build ‐ including PG spokes and return freight: £45.00 inc. VAT

b) Option for double butted (DB) spokes ‐ add £5.00 inc VAT

c) Option for Ison to arrange collection of wheel ‐ add £10.00 inc VAT

Which sounds reasonable to me - as I build my own wheels.

£25 sounds pretty reasonable to me, too.

I didn't know they did that.

cheers

Brucey wrote:£25 sounds pretty reasonable to me, too.

I didn't know they did that.

cheers

Perhaps Brucey you could pop round (Ely is reasonably local?) and see if they do the dismantling and 'service' themselves - and glean any tips? Not that I'm condoning industrial espionage of course

Is this the one that costs £60?
So by the time you've posted it back about half price. I don't know about such things, is the reconditioning likely to cover all the things that would have suffered wear? If so it does look a good deal and I like the idea of keeping things going, though I would have preferred to have mine reconditioned rather than get a reconditioned replacement.

Sounds like a known weakness in the SP dyno hubs if they are being "Factory" reconditioned! rather than a LBS obtaining the parts direct and fixing them.
You would have thought that they would have fixed the problem instead of just reconditioning the units "When" they inevitably fail.

Not very good publicity for SP is it.

QUESTIONS
How long will the repaired unit last?
Has the cause of the fault been rectified or have they just fitted new internals?
Are they all failing the same way?

nigelnightmare wrote:Sounds like a known weakness in the SP dyno hubs if they are being "Factory" reconditioned! rather than a LBS obtaining the parts direct and fixing them.
You would have thought that they would have fixed the problem instead of just reconditioning the units "When" they inevitably fail.

Not very good publicity for SP is it.

QUESTIONS
How long will the repaired unit last?
Has the cause of the fault been rectified or have they just fitted new internals?
Are they all failing the same way?

This post refers to an out of warranty hub (SP offer 2 years which seems reasonable). It is over 3 years old and has covered at least 8000 miles in all weathers - it's only creaking, there's no play in the bearings - it is functioning ok.

I have another older SP PV8 hub that has covered further miles without any issue.

It is not an item that is designed for an LBS can just 'fix' if they would want to?

SON hubs (at more twice the price) are only repairable by sending them back the manufacturer in Germany.

deliquium wrote:SON hubs (at more twice the price) are only repairable by sending them back the manufacturer in Germany.

Indeed, I've just had one done, via SJS and including postage both ways (Still in the wheel) the cost was £73.
It has come back looking and feeling like new, not bad for a 16 year old hub that has done a minimum of 4.000 miles a year.

That's why I like Sturmey Archer dynohubs, fairly easy to strip and service/repair if required + parts available (not that I've ever had to repair one......Yet). User friendly I believe it's called.

I've renewed the bearings in a couple of them, though they were fairly abused over a 6yr period.

During the same period I went through 3 SP dyno hubs in 3yrs on my commuter bike 26" wheel "V" brakes replaced under warranty, I never fitted the last one just part exchanged it for a Sturmey Archer X-FDD running AXA 70 lux front "BRIGHT" and AXA rear lights) on it and have had no problems for over 3yrs.
That's also 3+yrs without having to change or adjust brake pads and the rim is still nice too.
It doesn't matter if it's wet or dry the brakes work the same.

£25 sounds pretty reasonable to me, too.

I didn't know they did that.

+1.
Maybe they should advertise this - rather like Schmidt do. Many potential buyers (me included) would see it as a good selling point.

nigelnightmare wrote:That's why I like Sturmey Archer dynohubs, fairly easy to strip and service/repair if required + parts available (not that I've ever had to repair one......Yet). User friendly I believe it's called.

I've renewed the bearings in a couple of them, though they were fairly abused over a 6yr period.

During the same period I went through 3 SP dyno hubs in 3yrs on my commuter bike 26" wheel "V" brakes replaced under warranty, I never fitted the last one just part exchanged it for a Sturmey Archer X-FDD running AXA 70 lux front "BRIGHT" and AXA rear lights) on it and have had no problems for over 3yrs.
That's also 3+yrs without having to change or adjust brake pads and the rim is still nice too.
It doesn't matter if it's wet or dry the brakes work the same.

Which model of SP dynamo was this?

PH wrote:

deliquium wrote:SON hubs (at more twice the price) are only repairable by sending them back the manufacturer in Germany.

Indeed, I've just had one done, via SJS and including postage both ways (Still in the wheel) the cost was £73.
It has come back looking and feeling like new, not bad for a 16 year old hub that has done a minimum of 4.000 miles a year.

'nuff said!

RJC wrote:

nigelnightmare wrote:That's why I like Sturmey Archer dynohubs, fairly easy to strip and service/repair if required + parts available (not that I've ever had to repair one......Yet). User friendly I believe it's called.

I've renewed the bearings in a couple of them, though they were fairly abused over a 6yr period.

During the same period I went through 3 SP dyno hubs in 3yrs on my commuter bike 26" wheel "V" brakes replaced under warranty, I never fitted the last one just part exchanged it for a Sturmey Archer X-FDD running AXA 70 lux front "BRIGHT" and AXA rear lights) on it and have had no problems for over 3yrs.
That's also 3+yrs without having to change or adjust brake pads and the rim is still nice too.
It doesn't matter if it's wet or dry the brakes work the same.

Which model of SP dynamo was this?

8 series rim brake to start then 8series disc brake version(traded for SA X-FDD).
HTH

nigelnightmare wrote:During the same period I went through 3 SP dyno hubs in 3yrs on my commuter bike 26" wheel "V" brakes replaced under warranty

What were the under warranty faults?

You could try here http://www.nabendynamo.de/english/ Seriously though, I done with this hub, although mine gave reasonable service before the bearings died and was a reasonable cost to repair the son is better value long term

I've seen, but cannot re-find, another reference to getting these re-bearinged. Is it only Ison that do it, or is there a third party?

For the record, we 2 have had three of the SP PV8 hubs, on 700c bikes bought in 2015 and used intensively, on road, 4 bag touring, until now.

Bike A, they lasted 4,500km and 26,000km, before the bearings became, respectively, noisy and notchy, and squeaky and noisy. They did still turn and work at times of replacement. This bike does have a loaded shimmey problem, especially early on (hub 1), and I wonder if that may relate either by causing excess bearing load or by common cause. Hub 1 was returned to supplier, hub 2 is here (somewhere).
Bike B, has lasted 38,000km with no trouble.

FWIW, the bike supplier have since advised that 25,000km or so is a typical life for these. Should get one to Australia, unless you get lost. But not back.

Anyway, guidance on service appreciated, as I plan to get hub A.2 serviced and it is probably sensible to do B.1 as well (the rim's pretty well done anyway). I'd prefer to get the specific hubs serviced, rather than exchanged.