Originally Posted by
gugie
Yeah, but bacon tastes good.
;-)
Oh, I agree with fashion, that's not what I have beef with. Who can argue with bling, after all? I know I ride faster on a good-looking bike, just because I don't wanna let the thing down by being slow.
My problem is the unnecessarily thick axles at the expense of smaller bearings, the loud, unreliable ratchets, the cantilevered axle that I thought we got away from by getting freehubs, the play adjustment controlled with a setscrew, or worse yet, with nothing at all. I've had Hadleys and Whites and Phils and some off-brands and they're all the same, beautiful but at what cost! I keep coming back to old reliable Shimano, even though they are pedestrian.
In fact, I have half a mind to draw up the CAD and bug my buddy to run me off a few large-flanges to rivet onto Shimano hubs. I've tried to put magneto bearings and dual labyrinth seals in an old XT rear hub, but sadly that is impossible without machining and hardening a custom bearing race at least on one side.