I have a used HED Jet 90 front wheel, has the standard HED front hub.
If I hold the hub in my hands and turn the wheel freely, I can kinda “Feel” something catching as the wheel rotates around.
Is that normal? I can’t feel anything when there is some load on the wheel. Just wondering if this is a sign of worn out bearings or if its normal.
i would be interested to hear any replys my h3 is similar.if i spin it in hand it spins forever so dont think it is due to busted bearings.
this was a problem i had with mavic cosmics b4 spun in hand like a brake pad was rubbing it turned out instalation of bearings was done wrong 
Definitely not normal. Bearings are easy to replace and easy to find on the HED hubs, so you might as well just do it.
Chris
Not sure if this will help in your case. I bought a used set of Hed 60’s which spun freely by hand but would bog down when clamped in the fork. I changed the sealed bearings but it didn’t help. I noticed that the seal on the bearings was slightly deformed so I suspected that the machining is off and that the skewer was putting pressure on the seal which in turn puts friction on the bearings. These Hed wheels don’t appear to have any way of adjusting the load on the bearings.
I pulled the metal\rubber seal out of the bearings and clamped it in the fork, and the problem was solved. The front wheel when spun by hand went from 1.5 minute duration to 8 minutes in duration. These are race day only wheels so I will leave the bearings without seals and just use grease.
I had a similar problem (see the thread below).
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=1793765#1793765
I’d guess you have a bearing issue. Call Hed and I’m sure they’ll hook you up with some bearings.
i wondered about doing this as have seen it reduces friction
i guess you would reccomend but how much maintance is required and is there risk of damaging bearingsor if well greased will bearings still last
also any advice on different grease to use for best performance
.
I probably wouldn’t go this route for everyday wheels because of the amount of rain \ grit etc getting in there. When you take the seals out you end up with basically a similar type of set up as the old loose bearings and cones which often only had a dust cover.
After a seasons use I pulled them out and re-greased them which maybe took a half hour. They didn’t appear to be particularly dirty or rough.
Just used regular bearing grease.
Hi,
I have found that some older versions of Hed Sonic hubs are suceptible to binding under QR overload.
Not over tightening helps.
Backing off on the end caps (think: “anti-pre load”) These allen-headed end caps are not on all vintages.
Calling Tim and Andy at Hed and asking for an assist when the above fail.
Cheers
tp
thanks my h3 is pretty much race only, little bit of training around racs just for handling.
might mail hed and see if they reccomend or not
was just wondering was it goin to cost me money on bearings or just a bit of occasional time greasing bearings
Bearings wear out, just like a chain or a cassette. Have a decent shop replace the bearing cups and it will go away. It’s fairly inexpensive to do.