Phil Wood crafts Centerlock hubs, 1” headsets; Alto updates road disc brake thru axles

Written by Tyler Benedict Sep 23, 2018 8:30 a.m. ET

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Phil Wood held out long enough, but the demand finally outweighed excuses and now they have a Centerlock hub option. You’ll find it compatible with their 135 QR and 142 thru axle systems. They’ll also offer new end caps are available to convert their 15mm thru axle hubs to 12mm thru or QR for road, cyclocross and gravel bikes.

Retail will be $450 rear for the rear, $220 front. Weight is TBA, but expect it to be slightly lighter than their 6-bolt hubs due to a lot of material missing (see how much thicker and more metal there is on that silver one in the background?). They’re Available now in silver and black for immediate shipment, other colors as requested and done in batches.

They share the same 5-pawl freehub body as the original hubs, which were updated last year (along with lots of other stuff worth revisiting!) to use individual wire springs for each pawl rather than a single spring running all the way around.

Phil Wood also has new 1” threadless headsets, by request from the fixed gear crowd. Will be available in about 2 months in their full range of colors. Retail will be $150. Find them at PhilWood.com.

Alto Cycling

Last year, Alto Cycling updated their mountain bike thru axle hubs to prevent over tightening. Now, they’ve carried that design over for 12mm thru axles for disc brake road, gravel and cyclocross bikes. One of their big claims to fame are the insanely smooth hubs, which comes from the non-compressible axle design of the original quick release models. To replicate that with a thru axle, they had to redesign things a bit.

It works by having a one-piece axle that runs all the way through both bearings, like most hubs, but puts a threaded preload adjuster on the non-drive side. This adjuster isn’t there to load the bearings, it simply takes up any slack in the system and sets the end caps where they need to be. On the rotor side, the end cap is part of the axle. On the driveside, the cap presses onto the axle…

…and hits a lip to prevent it from being pushed into the bearings as you tighten the thru axle to secure the wheel to your fork or frame. This keeps the bearings spinning freely with no side pressure on them, and allows them to be set as wide as possible. Check them out this video we did that explains their hub system, and find them at AltoCycling.com.

Tyler Benedict

11,184 articles

Tyler Benedict is the Founder of Bikerumor.com. He has been writing about the latest bikes, components, and cycling technology for almost two decades. Prior to that, Tyler launched and built multiple sports nutrition brands and consumer goods companies, mostly as an excuse to travel to killer riding locations throughout North America.

Based in North Carolina, Tyler loves family adventure travel and is always on the lookout for the next shiny new part to make his bikes faster and lighter.

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Nash

5 years ago

450 dollars for the rear, mad money. Are they 4 times better than a hope hub?

5 years ago

Reply to Nash

Cycling can be expensive. You don’t like it, find another hobby.

lop

5 years ago

Reply to Nash

Where can I find Hope Hubs for $112?

Smokestack

5 years ago

Reply to Nash

Value is a subjective measure, but I’d say yes. The attention that Phil puts into the simple spoke hole is beyond what other companies put into entire hubs. And that’s only part joking. Between using all USA sourced and manufactured metals (Hope sources shells in a near net shape from Taiwan), and their processes used, I’d say yes, yes they are. But that’s my subjective measure. YMMV.

Sevo

5 years ago

Reply to Nash

Google broken Hope hubs sometime. Or any brand for that matter. Then Google broken Phil Wood hubs….and then take into consideration Phil Wood has been around almost 50 years making primarily hubs. In fact, they were the first US made hub back when it was just Euros and Japanese.

They also are well known for their ridiculously fast rolling nature. They’ll out roll anything out there. Tall claim? I thought so too until I bought a single speed rear hub and rolled down a very very gentle grade to get run an errand on my monstercross rig. Even with a crap front hub I noticed a signifiant difference over my Paul’s hub (which is a fantastic hub btw).

I have since paid for a front hub and it’s surreal how fast they roll as a pair. Now saving up for a set for my gravel bike as well. Phil Hubs may not make the mainstream media often, but that’s because they’re too busy making and selling these puppies every day.

Eggs Benedict

5 years ago

Reply to Sevo

Comparing Phil Wood vs Hope is not so much a comparison of the hubs, but the different groups that ride each hub. Most of the customers that purchase Phil Wood are probably 50+ years in age, and they use them on road, cross and maybe xc bikes. Where as with the Hope crowd they probably have a much higher percentage of younger riders that are riding enduro, dh, all mountain, hence a more extreme environment and higher likely hood of damage.

Martin

5 years ago

I would definitely get Chris King instead. No doubt.

monstercrosser

5 years ago

Reply to Martin

ride a set of Phil’s sometime and you’ll change your tune. I did.

5 years ago

Reply to Martin

CK’s system is nice, too bad it requires a $200 tool to service it. Very finicky break-in period tho. I think the one glaring issue King has is how bad their employees are treated. Go to glassdoor.com and check out the carnage. I can’t support that company anymore based just on principle. Not even their headsets.

Eggs Benedict

5 years ago

Reply to Martin

I owned a set of CK hubs once. Nothing to write home about. Had to constantly adjust the rear hubs bearing pre-load, was always loosening up, 50-60 miles at best before needing an adjustment. Sold them and replaced with XTRs that have required no maintenance what so ever. Wish I had gone that route from the beginning.

Spiritus Sanctus

5 years ago

Are they going to offer the 1 inch headset with stainless steel cups? I bought a CC110 yesterday, really wishing I held off now!

Tom

5 years ago

ran a Phil rear freehub for a couple years and was not very impressed – the cassette bearings had a ton of drag (even though they ran smoothly) and the hub ate a bunch of axle bearings, yet still allowed a little play. I’ve had much better success with DT hubs, and even my Tune Mag 170 has proven more reliable.