I posted something a while back (Here) about my new Charge Shaker hub. I was pretty impressed with it at the time but, as with everything bike related, the real test would be using the thing day after day, in the wet, racking up thousands of miles on it.
After all that I can tell you I'm still impressed with this hub. It was very new when I initially built my new wheel with it, I could find no reviews or opinion anywhere online. There were some people expressing various concerns, but that was it.
The reason I opted for the Shaker hub was down to the fact that I broke two or three hubs. I'm a big guy and I found that, when getting out of my saddle and climbing my cogs were slipping, occasionally ending with me on the tarmac. Now, I know what you're thinking, and yes, if I'd invested in a Phil Wood or a similar high end hub then I'd have no problems with stripping threads or lock ring issues. Financially I wasn't in a position back then to shell out that kind of cash.
This hub has held up very well. It's been very low maintenance, and I've gone from worrying daily about potential hub/cog problems to never giving it a thought these days. The bolt system which holds the cog to the hub has been great. I kinda expected to find these tiny bolts working loose over time but after routinely checking them, they have stayed tight. Although, I've noticed that the hub has become fairly noisy lately. I've not serviced the bearings yet as I'd have hoped, as they are 'sealed japanese', they'd not need to be looked at for a while yet.
A friend of mine, who has the same hub, has had problems with the axle bolts, both of which snapped while he was tightening them. Mine have been fine.
I've ridden a couple of thousand miles on this hub so far, including many runs of 50+ miles. Strangely, I've snapped four spokes on my rear wheel lately. This is more than likely due to poorly maintained tension, but it has crossed my mind that it may be something to do with the hub. After replacing the broken spokes myself the first couple of times (but not checking the tension or trueing the wheel) I finally took it to my lbs where they gave it an overhaul (cheers Gav!)
