Which Freehub Should I Choose For My Cassette? Jul 23, 2021

As technology advances, we have witnessed the evolution of bikes from 8/9/10 speed, to 11 and 12 speed.

Nowadays, 11 and 12 speed are the mainstream for carbon road wheels and carbon MTB wheels.

During this process, the freehub body of hubs have also evolved so as to match new cassette or free wheel.

Thus, the compatibility of freehub and cassette is becoming more and more complicated.

In this blog, we summarize the freehubs that are widely used on carbon bike wheels in the market, and explain their compatibility with cassette.


There are mainly 3 brands available for road wheel freehub, Shimano, Sram and Campagnolo.

Shimano HG 10/11-Speed Road Freehub

This freehub is designed for road 11-speed cassette. It is compatible for either Shimano or Sram 11-speed cassette. Besides, it can also fit 10-speed cassette by adding a spacer (1.85mm).

Campagnolo 10/11-Speed Road Freehub

Campagnolo system is quite different from Shimano and Sram. Campy freehubs are only compatible with Campy cassettes. Campy 11-speed road freehub is compatible with Campy 11-speed and 10-speed cassette (no need to use spacer).

Sram XDR 12-Speed Road Freehub

Sram XDR road freehub is with same looking as Sram XD MTB freehub. It is just a bit longer (1.85mm). XDR freehub is designed to fit Sram 12-speed cassette (such as Sram Red eTap, Force eTap). When needed, it can be used same as XD freehub by adding a 1.85mm spacer.

bike wheel freehub
freehub and cassette
bike freehub cassette


There are mainly 2 brands available for MTB wheel freehub, Shimano and Sram.

Shimano HG 10/11-Speed MTB Freehub

This freehub was initially designed for 10-speed MTB cassette. When Shimano introduced 11-speed MTB cassette, they made the spacing between each cog a bit narrower, so the overall width of 11-speed cassette is exactly same as 10-speed cassette. Thus, such freehub is able to fit both Shimano 11s and 10s MTB cassette. It is also compatible with Sram 10s MTB cassette, but does not fit Sram 11s or 12s.

Shimano MicroSpline 12-Speed Freehub

When Shimano launched 12-speed MTB cassette, they created a new freehub system, called MicroSpline. Such freehub is shorter and has 23 splines (traditional HG freehub is only with 13 splines). More splines helps to distribute the load and make it possible for Shimano to make lighter aluminum alloy freehub (instead of steel freehub as they usually did).

MicroSpline freehub can only fit Shimano 12-speed cassette, does not fit any other cassette.

Sram XD 11/12-Speed Freehub

Sram XD freehub was introduced when Sram launched 11-speed cassette. Later on, when Sram created 12-speed cassette, they made the spacing between each cog a bit narrower, so the overall width of 12-speed cassette is exactly same as 11-speed cassette. Thus, such freehub is able to fit Sram 11s and 12s MTB cassette. But it is not compatible with Shimano system.

road wheel freehub
12-speed MTB cassette
carbon bike freehub


In case you are not sure which freehub to choose while purchasing ProX carbon wheels, please feel free to contact us (info@proxcarbon.com). We will get back to you soon.

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