XT replacement

[paulhipwood]

I have a thorn raven sports tour. I have XT hubs and Mavic 717 rims.
The bike is about 2 years old and has done 2000 miles. I bought it second hand about 1000 miles ago. I have been carefull cleaning it and checked the hub recently as the wheel felt rough and found pitting on one side of the hub cone and race and the balls were discoloured. Its as if one set of bearings had been corroded. I put new balls in and regreased to keep me on the road. I could change the cones but can see some damage to the hub races. I do not believe you can change these.

So do I change the hub?
Is it economical to do this with a 2000 mile rim?
How long should an average rim and hub last?
Is there a better hub to use?

Any input would be appreciated.
paul

[stutho]

Personally I would keep the hub running as long as possible and change it only when the rim has worn down - unless a long tour is planned.  If you decided to replace hub, hubs to consider are a HOPE or another XT.  I got both! And both are good.  Also look at a 105.  

An XT Hub should last a lot longer than 2000 miles - maybe the previous owner had being using a spray head, or worse a pressure washer to clean the bike.