Dish balanced they should break less spokes , but OP is in a remote
location, and there is no real way of us knowing
what harsh terrain the bikes were submitted to ,
truing maintenance performed , and so forth.
Have 2, 1 in a 26" wheel, Koga Miyata WTR. rear dropout slides to tension chain.
the other is a 406 20" wheel bike friday, it uses their chain tensioner..
2 cross, 26" rim. 1 cross with the 20"
recent option, a different hub shell.. 36 spokes flanges..
on the left side there is a screw to open the hub shell between every 2nd spoke,
32 hole there is 8, 36 hole there are 9 ..
now Phil wood makes an aftermarket hub-shell, wider flanges but more closely spaced.
wider gets past the 2 spoke bolt 2 spoke bolt of the original hub shell..
I also own a brompton M3L, with a Schlumpf mountain drive crankset ,
it does with 2 separate components what R'off does internally.
in low range the highest hub gear follows the lowest gear in the hub in high range.
its that double shift 3<>4, in the MD and 7<>8 in the R'off, that uses the
3 or .. 7 speed twice..
In general you hesitate momentarily when making a gear change with a planetary gear system
the germans rounded off the gear tooth ends to make it a bit easier
under some power in 12 0f the 14 ratios, big range shift being done, first,
Last edited by fietsbob; 09-14-12 at 04:20 PM.