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Over the years I’ve had at least four Surly hubsets in service on various bikes—I’ve always been a fan of the forged hubshell, and the wide variety of configurations available. The fact that the hubs used a “standard,” as in widely available, threaded axle and track nuts made them some of the more field serviceable hubs out there, though if for nothing more than tradition required a 15 mm wrench to change a flat. I’ve always found them hard if not impossible to keep in perfect adjustment and eventually resigned myself to run each and every hub I’ve had a bit loose. With new guts that should hold their adjustment better to 6 mm hex axle ends, the Surly Ultra New Hubs are a small step forward from previous designs. 
All of the same spacing, threading and disc/non disc hubshells will be available sporting a new axle, new bearings and a cleaner overall design. While I’ve never minded carrying a 15 mm wrench, there are certain dropout and frame designs that preclude the use of a track nut, let alone once racks or trailer mounts are figured in. What is given up in the convenience of readily available threaded axles may be made up for with the cleaner axle end holding it all together—to each their own. Axle kits will also be available to swap out your old-New Hub guts to the Ultra New hub if you so desire. I’d expect retail to be a couple of dollars more than the current generation of Surly hubs, check the Surly blog for availability.
Good and exciting news. I’m a clyde (220 lbs), and had problems with the bearings in Surly hubs in the past. Looks like you guys got an early scoop, as I don’t see any word of this on their website, yet.
Finally.
I’m not a clyde (145lbs) and those bearings STILL sucked.
The angular contact bearing in a hub was a cool concept, but in practice is was the worst of both worlds.
For cheapo hubs i’d been advising against Surlys due to the bearing issue, but there weren’t many alternatives for 130 or 135 spaced flip flop hubs for my polo bike so I still have one…and the bearings are sucking.
Any word on if the bearings will be upgradeable from the NEW to the Ultra?
dontcoast beat me to it…
The 7901 “adjustable” cartridge bearing is an oxymoron, and really serves no purpose. I’ve replaced them with high-grade 6901 “standard” cartridge bearings, and lived happily ever after.
Yeah, if the bearings are such a problem, why not just pop some new (different) ones in?