I did not buy that then and especially do not now that quality multispeed freewheels are not available. The removal line seems to be willful disregard of reality. Cassettes rarely get stuck. Freewheels almost always do to the point of being at least a pain to remove. I have broken and bent a fair number of freewheel hub axles over the years, not phils, but other shimano and suntour mid to high level ones.
I think 1996 was square in the shimano 8 speed time frame, just before 9 speed came out (or maybe 9 speed was in dura-ace, 8 was in ultegra). I still can get pretty good priced 8 speed casettes from Sram and shimano and sunrace that are new, 3 different models from SRAM with 3-5 cog combos in each. Similar to better availability from Shimano. Availability is certainly down, but they trend toward wider range all purpose ratios, rather than straight block systems. I don't think the availability of casettes is a problem 15 years after that was written. I still would not try to put a 8 speed on a brand new bike (unless I was bottom feeding to outfit it). The irony is I have probably pulled more freewheels than most in the last 15 years. Only they are bmx freewheels on my single speed mtb and cross bike. With more than a change a month, often changing week to week, depending on races coming up. Fortunately Paul hubs are immune to axle breaking and single speed gear ratios tend not to lead to disastrous overtightening. Although my 32-20 climbing gear can be really hard to get off at times. The white industries bmx freewheels suggest that american manufacturers can make really high quality freewheels still, just not with more than 2 gears. The prospect of paying for a phil hub (or NOS maxicar) with a mythical white industry multispeed freewheel would probably challenge nearly any other (non-carbon) hub plus cassette combo in existence. Tarik On Wed, Jun 8, 2011 at 10:44 AM, Jim Cloud <cloud...@aol.com> wrote: > With the subject of freewheels on a recent post, I thought it would be > of some interest to quote a piece of Rivendell history from the first > Rivendell catalog (Summer 1996). > > "Freewheels > > "We don't sell cassettes. There's nothing wrong with cassettes, but > there's something fishy about the way they're promoted. Cassettes > support axles better, so you don't break axles; but Bullseye, Phil and > others have proven that you can totally eliminate axle-flex and > breakages with a better designed freewheel hub. More likely, the real > reason cassettes have overtaken freewheels is to increase production > efficiency for the large hub makers. We and many others find > freewheels quicker and easier to change than cassettes; and freewheels > certainly have versatility on their side. Freewheel availability has > got to be a concern for anybody with freewheel hubs. Cassettes change > often enough to make year-to-year compatibility an issue, so it's not > as though once you've got your cassette body, you'll always be able to > get the cogs. But there's little incentive for anybody who ever made > freewheels to continue making them. Shimano still makes one cheap > model, SunTour is history. Regina-the company still exists, but we > hear they're making conveyor belts or something. Sachs, the great > German hope, still offers a full line of freewheels, but the word is > they'd like to cut back their selection. Factories see freewheels as > money-eaters." > > I don't wish to insinuate that something Grant Peterson wrote in 1996 > is representative of his present opinion. It's still interesting, > however, to see how some (including me) would have chosen a freewheel > equipped bike at that time in preference of a cassette. I'm > personally quite satisfied with the choice I made for my 1996 > Rivendell Standard and feel that its given me good service and will > continue to do so in the future. > > Jim Cloud > Tucson, AZ > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > -- Tarik Saleh tas at tariksaleh dot com in los alamos, po box 208, 87544 http://tariksaleh.com all sorts of bikes blog: http://tsaleh.blogspot.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
