# 8-Speed Hub Quality Issues?



## Caseysdad (Nov 1, 2002)

I do some repair work for friends on occasion and recently had someone bring me a bike with a Campy 8-speed drivetrain that needed a new cassette. Long story short, the bike ended up requiring a lot more work than originally thought, including a new hub. 

I called around to find a replacement 8-speed hub, and not only did I find them particularly hard to come by but I had several shops recommend that I stay away from them altogether. One went so far as to say that the 8-speed hub was the worst-engineered part that Campy ever produced and indicated that they're notoriously unreliable.

What's the real story? Is this part really as bad as all that? I doubt that my friend would be too excited about having to upgrade his entire drivetrain unexpectedly just to circumvent a bad hub. Thoughts???


----------



## J24 (Oct 8, 2003)

I never had any probs with mine, 
I recently converted to 10 spd and have a 97 Mirage 8 spd Mavic CXP 22 wheel set with about 1500 miles on it and a 96 Chorus 8 rear hub with 4000 miles.
You can PM me if you want them.


----------



## flakey (Feb 8, 2003)

whats wrong with the hub that it would require complete replacement?

You can still buy cones, axles, maybe more parts that will fit on that hub/axle.
You can buy 9 speed freehub bodys that will fit and that you can run 8 gears on.
You can still buy the freehub pawls and springs to work with the original 8 speed freehub.
If your original freehub is good Campy stills offers a 2 or 3, 8 speed cassettes.

Sounds like the typical shop employee these days whose product knowledge slants heavily to Shimano and is limited to 2 or 3 years back.

Its sad that shops dont take advantage of the Campy resources that are out there. Campagnolo's main office has a service dept. that offers parts and tech help and there are distributors like QBP that have Campagnolo Authorized Service Centers and stock a large number of different spare parts.
Last I heard QBP stocked 6-700 spare/small parts.


----------



## yanksphan (May 18, 2005)

Clearly the shop employee has never encountered Campagnolo mountain bike parts.

Flakey is correct - rebuild parts (although difficult to find) are certainly available. There are distributors out there (Ochsner, EuroAsia) who have been Campagnolo distributors for 20+ years and have plenty of NOS.


----------



## Mark McM (Jun 18, 2005)

*A few comments*



Caseysdad said:


> I do some repair work for friends on occasion and recently had someone bring me a bike with a Campy 8-speed drivetrain that needed a new cassette. Long story short, the bike ended up requiring a lot more work than originally thought, including a new hub.
> 
> I called around to find a replacement 8-speed hub, and not only did I find them particularly hard to come by but I had several shops recommend that I stay away from them altogether. One went so far as to say that the 8-speed hub was the worst-engineered part that Campy ever produced and indicated that they're notoriously unreliable.
> 
> What's the real story? Is this part really as bad as all that? I doubt that my friend would be too excited about having to upgrade his entire drivetrain unexpectedly just to circumvent a bad hub. Thoughts???


A few comments:

What's wrong with the hub that you need to completely replace it? As others said, service parts (bearings, cones, etc.) are still available.

I'm not surprised you had a hard time finding a Campagnolo 8spd hub sitting on a shelf - they haven't been made for about 7 years or so (9spd was introduced in 1997, and Campagnolo phased out 8spd around 2000).

In the early '90s Campagnolo 8spd hubs had seal problems on their right side bearings, and riding a lot in wet weather was sure to get some water in the right main axle bearings. By the mid-'90s they had added a second seal on the right side, and the hubs improved in reliability. With the 2nd seal upgrade made them "okay" in terms of wet weather reliability, although maybe not quite up to the standards of Shimano hubs.

If you really do need to replace the hub, its okay to use a contemporary 9/10spd hub. Many 9spd and 10spd cassettes (lower end cassettes with loose sprockets) can be respaced to work just fine in 8spd drivetrains. While 8spd cassettes are still available, they are starting to become scarce - 9spd cassettes are, and will remain, more available. Also, service parts for 9/10spd hubs are (and will remain) more available. Finally, a wheel with a 9/10spd hub will hold its value better, as it can be used with contemporary 9spd and 10spd drivetrains.


----------



## yanksphan (May 18, 2005)

Mark brings up a good point. A current hub, a 9 speed Veloce cassette and a spacer kit made by Campagnolo will do the trick.

KIT-04 is the spacer kit.

Any 9 speed Veloce (has to be Veloce since they are individual cogs - no carrier) will work - just toss out one gear.


----------



## Richard (Feb 17, 2006)

yanksphan said:


> Mark brings up a good point. A current hub, a 9 speed Veloce cassette and a spacer kit made by Campagnolo will do the trick.
> 
> KIT-04 is the spacer kit.
> 
> Any 9 speed Veloce (has to be Veloce since they are individual cogs - no carrier) will work - just toss out one gear.


Been there and done exactly that. Works great and I don't even have to touch the rear derailleur adjustment going from an original 8 speed hub to the modified 10.:thumbsup:


----------

