Phil Wood Pro Front Hub
The Phil Wood Pro is the top of Phil Wood's range: the same San Jose, California machining and full-contact sealed bearings as every Phil hub, with Carbonyte low-drag bearings, a 7075 aluminum axle and end caps, titanium bolts and RLR multi-drilled flanges that let one hub be built in several spoke counts. It comes in road rim-brake, 6-bolt disc and centerlock disc versions, and it is the Phil Wood hub for riders who want the durability without the touring hub's weight. This page covers the Phil Wood Pro Front Hub.
The Phil Wood Pro is not sold bare. You choose the rim and the rest of the build in the configurator, and it ships from our shop in Georgia laced, tensioned and trued by hand.
Design and construction
Phil Wood's bearings are the point. They are full-contact sealed cartridge bearings, meaning the seal rubs the inner race rather than floating above it, which adds a little drag and keeps water out completely; packed with Phil's own waterproof grease, they run for years in the worst conditions. The touring hub uses a 6061 axle and 6902 bearings, with a Carbonyte low-drag bearing upgrade available, and the shell is machined thick because a touring hub is not where weight is saved. Wide flanges give the rear wheel lateral stiffness under a load.
A front hub is a bearing carrier with flanges, and that is the whole job of the front Pro: two sealed bearings on a stiff axle, end caps for your fork's standard, and flanges spaced to give the spokes a good bracing angle on the rotor side. There is nothing to engage and nothing to swap. Everything written about freehubs and engagement applies to the rear hub only; what you get up front is the same shell quality and the same seals without any of the moving parts.
How it rides
It is the hub for a road, gravel or light-touring wheel that the customer intends to keep for decades, on an HED Belgium, Velocity Quill or Mavic Open Pro.
Front wheels on disc bikes take a beating from braking: the rotor side sees the whole braking torque and the spokes on that side run at higher tension. That is why we build the front Pro with the rotor-side spokes crossed and tensioned to the rim's limit, and why the hub's flange spacing matters more than its weight. Ridden on a rim-brake bike the same hub makes one of the lightest, simplest front wheels there is.
Specifications
| Position | Front |
|---|---|
| Axle options | QR 5x100mm Front |
| Drillings | 20h, 24h, 28h, 32h |
| Spoke head | J-bend |
| Brake | rim-brake |
| Left flange diameter | 45 mm |
| Right flange diameter | 45 mm |
| Left center-to-flange | 31 mm |
| Right center-to-flange | 31 mm |
| Spoke hole diameter | 2.6 mm |
| Weight | 112g |
| Material | Aluminum |
| Finishes | polished, black |
This listing
This is the rim-brake version: QR 5x100mm, 20h, 24h, 28h, 32h drilling, about 112g, in polished, black. Same internals and flanges as every other Pro; only the mount and axle differ.
No rotor mount here: this is the rim-brake version of the Pro, which drops the disc flange and the weight that goes with it. It suits rim-brake road, touring and track frames and it is often the lightest hub in the family. Disc-brake frames need one of the disc versions listed separately.
Sizes, fit and compatibility
The Phil Wood Pro Front Hub comes in the drillings listed on this page with the axle and brake options shown in the configurator: rim brake in 130mm, 6-bolt or centerlock disc in 135 and 142mm. J-bend spokes in any gauge; we build most Phil Pro wheels with Sapim Race, Laser or CX-Ray spokes or DT Competition and brass nipples.
It pairs naturally with the HED Belgium R and G, Velocity Quill and A23, Mavic Open Pro UST, H Plus Son Archetype and Boyd Altamont. Give the configurator your bike type and weight; it picks a sensible spoke count and lacing pattern, which you can override.
Build it with us
We build this hub to order. Open the Custom Wheel Program with the Phil Wood Pro Front Hub already selected and pick the parts around it; it is offered for road rim brake, track and road single-speed and touring builds, and the configurator will not let you assemble a combination we would not build.
What Phil Wood says about testing
Phil Wood & Co. states it was founded in 1971 and that its products are “completely designed, manufactured and assembled in San Jose, California”, machined from US-produced materials on CNC machining and turning centers with diamond-tipped tools. The company says a front hub shell passes through seven production stations before assembly, and that it specifies every bearing it uses, many made exclusively to its specifications. It publishes no load, fatigue, salt-spray, or ISO/EN figures.
Phil Wood states its Standard bearings are stainless steel cartridge bearings with a 100% Phil Waterproof Grease fill and full contact seals; Carbonyte bearings use a 30% Carbonyte grease fill with a partial contact seal and are not recommended for year-round mountain biking or touring. Shouldered axles position the bearings so no adjustment is required. Shells are 6061 aluminum with 7075 axles and end caps; the front touring hub weighs 202 g. Rider-plus-bike limits are 280 lb / 127 kg (Classic) and 190 lb / 86 kg (Pro).
Phil Wood's videos
Certifications
- Made in USA — “Our products are made in the USA- they are completely designed, manufactured and assembled in San Jose, California”; “All of our manufactured items are machined out of US-produced materials” (source)
- Lifetime limited warranty — Original owner, manufacturing defects; one-year guarantee on bearings and on Classic stainless cassette bodies / Pro aluminum parts (source)
Sources on Phil Wood's site:
- About Us - Phil Wood and Company
- Warranty and Return Policy - Phil Wood and Company
- Bearings - Phil Wood and Company
- Hubs - Phil Wood and Company
- Touring Hub Front - Phil Wood and Company
Everything in this section is published by Phil Wood. ProWheelBuilder is the wheel builder, not the tester, and the hub reaches us as the maker ships it.
Building it at ProWheelBuilder
Phil Wood makes the Pro; ProWheelBuilder is an independent custom wheel builder in Georgia and not the manufacturer. Every Pro wheel we build gets spokes cut from the measured ERD of the rim, staged tensioning with a gauge, stress relief and a final true before it ships.
In the configurator you will only see parts that fit this drilling; combinations that are not made are struck through, and the price updates as you pick.
Warranty
Phil Wood's warranty. Phil Wood & Co. gives the original owner a limited lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects, with a one-year guarantee on bearings, stainless cassette bodies and aluminum Pro parts. Proof of purchase from an authorized dealer is required, and bearings that fail from contamination or lack of maintenance are not covered.
ProWheelBuilder. Lace this into a wheel here and the finished wheel gets our own one-year warranty as well as the maker's. For twelve months we replace broken spokes however they broke, and the work on the wheel is on us - truing, re-tensioning, a rebuild where it is needed. If the rim or hub is covered by its manufacturer we put the claim in and chase it; if it is not, we supply an eligible replacement rim or hub at 25% off the current retail price. Carriage both ways is the customer's, and this does not cover wheels built from parts you send in.
Full terms are on our Policies & Warranty page.
Pro Front Hub questions
Can I use this hub with disc brakes?
No - this is the rim-brake version and it has no rotor mount at all, which is exactly why it is lighter and simpler. It is the one for a rim-brake road, track or classic frame. A disc frame needs one of the disc versions of this hub, which are listed separately.
What is RLR drilling?
Phil's multi-drilled flanges, which carry more than one spoke-hole pattern so a single hub can be built in several spoke counts.
What are Carbonyte bearings?
Phil Wood's low-drag sealed bearings, which keep the full-contact seal but roll with noticeably less resistance than the standard bearings.
Pro or touring hub?
Pro for road, gravel and light touring where weight and drag matter; touring hub for loaded touring and tandems where strength is everything.
Which axle spacing does it fit?
QR 5x100mm Front. Measure between the inside faces of your dropouts if you are unsure, or text us.
Does it need special spokes?
No. It takes standard J-bend spokes, which the configurator offers in every gauge and finish we stock.
How long will the wheel take?
Build time comes down to parts availability rather than bench time. The estimated ship date is shown in the configurator before you check out.
Not sure? Text or leave a voicemail on 470-253-0929 or email info@prowheelbuilder.com — you will be talking to the people who build the wheels.
