Originally Posted by
Rick
Phil Wood, Chris King, Paul and White Industries to name a few are in business because of there quality. The Phil wood hubs on my 28 year old tandem are still in perfect running condition. The tandem came with some of those significantly better price/quality ratio sealed bearing hubs. The rear axle bent the first week. The company replaced it and it bent. I ordered Phil Wood hubs and no problems since. My custom touring bicycle came with significantly better price/quality ratio disk brake calipers. They and two other caliper sets did not make me happy. I purchased Paul Klampers and they do what brakes are supposed to do.
For hubs my Hope RS mono has faired admirably with tandem grade loads. It did bust a bearing at one point but bearings are expendables in these types of hubs. Yet it cost a fraction of a Chris King hub. And the one thing I quite liked in the Hope was the fact that they offered a steel freehub. But unlike Shimano steel freehubs this one was made of some seriously thick stu
The brands you mentioned, quality they may be, but it's highly unlikely that the quality is actually any higher than say, DT Swiss or Hope. Probably higher than novatec. Higher than Shimano? Depends on the line. Higher than Sram? Most definitely.
Hubs aren't high tech. In fact, they are incredibly simple devices. Usually the types of aluminum alloys used are quite similar and many hubs are CNC machined+anodized. Boutique stuff always costs more. It has to. They'd go out of business if say, King had to offer hubs at Halo hub prices.
Sme goes with the Paul Clampers. They seem to use the same principle as Avid BB7's