Farewell White Industry M15 Rear Hub. July 2025

back on 10/03/2014 

I had custom wheels built for my 2009 Surly Long Haul Trucker. 

Really nice with black double butted spokes and pewter color skewer...LBS built up two wheels around the White Industry M15 hubs, DT Swiss double butted spokes, and Velocity Atlas rims. 36 hole.

Specs RIM SIZE:700c WIDTH:25.4mm HEIGHT:18mm OPTIMAL TIRE WIDTH:28mm - 45mm TIRE INTERFACE:Clincher / Tubes Only VALVE:Presta 32 - 40mm BEAD SEAT DIAMETER (BSD):622 EFFECTIVE RIM DIAMETER (ERD):605 WEIGHT:620g

With these new wheels, I thought my 'worn hub' issue might be a thing of the past. With 5 years and thousands of miles of fully loaded touring, I had rebuilt bot front and rear hubs twice.

These White Industry Hubs are said to be "bullet proof" !

But yesterday, I discovered, on a routine Brake Pad Adjustment, that the White Industry M15 Rear Hub (currently priced $414.00 – $424.00) had two spoke holes broken on drive side. Two spokes detached from the hub and up against the back of the drive cassette.   

I took the rear wheel to the LBS where the wheels were built over 10 years and 11,000 miles ago.  They said that it happens, but they had never seen it happen to a White Industry hub.  I said, "10 years was a good haul! they actually served me well" ...    

I decide they the LBS should recycle the wheel, so we removed the cassette that still had some miles left it. 

I will not be rebuilding a new wheel with a pricey hub, but decided to put the original rear wheel back on the Long Haul Trucker. the old Trucker is getting used less these days.  AND this might be time to start thinking about a new Surly ... with Disc Brakes.  Bridge Club or Disc Trucker ?