Phil Wood Touring Rear Hub
The Phil Wood touring hub is the hub that crossed continents before sealed bearings were common, and it is still made the same way: designed, machined and assembled in San Jose, California from USA-made 6061 aluminum, with full-contact sealed stainless cartridge bearings packed with Phil Waterproof Grease, stainless end caps and hardware, a 6061 axle and 135mm quick-release spacing. It is built for heavy-duty durability, drilled in 36, 40 and 48 hole, and it is the hub we build for loaded touring bikes, tandems and anyone who wants a wheel that will outlast the frame. This page covers the Phil Wood Touring Rear Hub.
The Phil Wood touring hub is built to order here. Choose the rim, spokes and nipples in the configurator; the wheel leaves Georgia laced, tensioned and trued.
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.
The freehub takes a Shimano HG body; the hub comes in 135mm quick release for touring frames and 145mm for tandems, in 36, 40 and 48 hole, with Phil's polished or black finish.
How it rides
A Phil Wood touring wheel is steady, silent and permanent. Under a fully loaded bike on a gravel road it does not flex or complain, the bearings never need attention, and with 36 or 40 spokes on a Velocity Atlas or Dyad it stays true across continents; we have customers on Phil hubs with decades of touring on them. It is not light and it is not aero, and on a touring bike neither matters.
For lighter road use the Phil Wood Pro hub is the step up; for loaded touring and tandems, the touring hub is the Phil Wood hub we recommend.
Specifications
| Position | Rear |
|---|---|
| Axle options | QR 5x130mm Rear |
| Driver bodies | Shimano HG/SRAM 8,9,10 or (ROAD 11spd) Aluminum, SRAM XD / XDR 10,11 or 12spd (10 tooth 1st poistion cog) Aluminum |
| Drillings | 36h, 40h, 48h |
| Spoke head | J-bend |
| Brake | rim-brake |
| Left flange diameter | 59 mm |
| Right flange diameter | 59 mm |
| Left center-to-flange | 31.5 mm |
| Right center-to-flange | 18 mm |
| Spoke hole diameter | 2.6 mm |
| Weight | 503g |
| Material | Aluminum |
| Finishes | polished, black |
Which version this is
Version notes. Rim-brake rotor mount, QR 5x130mm, 36h, 40h, 48h, about 503g, in polished, black. If your frame or fork uses a different standard, the other versions of the touring on this site cover it.
This is the rim-brake touring, with no rotor mount at all: a lighter, simpler shell for road, track and classic frames that stop on the rim. It builds into the lightest wheel the model can make and it is the version to choose for a rim-brake bike; the disc versions of the same hub have their own listings.
Sizes, fit and compatibility
The Phil Wood Touring Rear Hub comes in the drillings listed on this page in 135mm quick-release spacing, with 145mm for tandems, and a Shimano HG freehub. J-bend spokes in any gauge; we build most Phil touring wheels with DT Champion or Sapim Strong spokes and brass nipples.
It pairs naturally with the Velocity Atlas, Dyad and Cliffhanger, Mavic A319, H Plus Son TB14 and Velo Orange Voyager touring rims. Pick touring or tandem as your bike type in the configurator and it recommends a spoke count and lacing pattern.
Build it into a wheel
This hub is live in our Custom Wheel Program for road rim brake and touring builds. Start a build with the Phil Wood Touring Rear Hub and the configurator opens with this exact hub pinned at the top of the Phil Wood list — you choose the rest of the parts and it validates every combination as you go.
Phil Wood's testing and certifications
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).
The warranty page states a lifetime limited warranty against manufacturing defects for the original owner, one year on all bearings, and one year on Classic stainless cassette bodies and Pro aluminum parts; normal wear, contamination, misuse, modification, improper maintenance, and incorrect reassembly are excluded, with proof of purchase required.
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 hub in San Jose, California; ProWheelBuilder is an independent custom wheel builder in Georgia and not the manufacturer. The build is the same every time: measured ERD, spokes cut to the half millimeter, staged tensioning with a gauge, stress relief, a final true, and tubeless tape and a valve on request.
The configurator shows only rims and spokes that fit the hub's drilling, strikes through combinations that are not made, and prices the wheel live.
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. If we lace this into a wheel for you, that wheel also carries ProWheelBuilder's own one-year warranty, which covers broken spokes regardless of cause and all wheel-related labor, including truing and rebuilding, for a year from purchase. Where a rim or hub is covered by its maker, we make the manufacturer's claim for you and coordinate it; where it is not, we offer an eligible replacement rim or hub at 25% off current retail. Shipping to and from us is the customer's. This cover does not extend to wheels built from components you supply yourself.
Full terms are on our Policies & Warranty page.
Touring Rear 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.
Why full-contact bearings?
The seal rubs the inner race rather than floating above it, which keeps water out completely at the cost of a little drag. On a touring hub that is the right trade.
What spoke count should a Phil touring wheel have?
36 for touring, 40 or 48 for tandems; the configurator recommends from your bike type and load.
Is the Phil Wood touring hub disc compatible?
The touring hub is rim-brake; Phil Wood makes 6-bolt and centerlock disc versions of its Pro and MTB hubs for disc frames.
Is Phil Wood made in the USA?
Yes. Every hub is designed, machined and assembled in San Jose, California from USA-made aluminum.
Is ProWheelBuilder the manufacturer of the Phil Wood Touring Rear Hub?
No. The hub is made by Phil Wood; we are the wheel builder in Georgia who laces it into a finished wheel to your spec and stands behind the build.
Which axle spacing does it fit?
QR 5x130mm Rear. Measure between the inside faces of your dropouts if you are unsure, or text us.
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.
