Originally Posted by
Lasse
The outer diameter is determined by the hub shell and basically the same, right? So LX has an advantage here. I don't count my own positive experiences with tools as representative for the general quality of a product, but according to many bikeshop guys, who also happen to cycle around the world from time to time, (on the wereldfietser.nl forums, including people who build and sell touring frames/bikes for a living) say external BBs often last only about 10000km, square taper ones often last 50000km. Not my mini experience, but their expert experience. Most of the time they advise LX hubs and a BB-un54 in combination with Sugino XD cranks. Deore dérailleurs will get you around the world too. When you're not racing, there's no point in paying lots of money to get the latest ultra light race tech although it can of course feel very nice to be riding with extra bling
You are combining two subjects into a mishmash that is rather confusing. Let's limit the discussion to hubs, shall we? If you look at my first post, I say that I don't think the current model of XTR hubs is the best choice for touring for a couple of reasons. I don't think that durability is one of them. Do you have any evidence that there is wide spread bearing failure on XTR? Do you have any evidence of XTR being less durable than LX? Or is this just a case of reverse snobbishness? I've run across that in lots of places: "I wouldn't use XTR because it's too expensive!" Yes, it's expensive but it's not less durable because it's expensive. There's been scattered reports of problems with XT but, as I pointed out, those are issues with the freehub and most of the reports are 3 years old.
As for taking advice from tourists on what parts to use, many of them are rather retrogrouchy (I can be that way but I'm more of a neo-retrogrouch
). Some of them, I'm sure, would suggest using an ordinary because it's old proven technology.
Originally Posted by
Lasse
Using mountainbiking as a test isn't appropriate for touring bikes imo, the use is very different. Distances on an MTB are much shorter, touring bikes are constantly heavily loaded while MTBs get more short hard shocks and cleaning/maintenance of an MTB is usually much more frequent. Replacing parts on a mountainbike when they're worn out is also less crucial at home than when you're touring through Mongolia or the amazon rainforest.
You do realize that the LX hub is a
mountain bike hub, don't you? Proven tough and durable through years of off-road punishment...just like XT and XTR stuff. Yes, the touring and mountain biking are very different but touring is rather gentle on parts and doesn't require standing up to the kind of pounding that mountain bikes have to endure. I doubt that cleaning and maintenance is that much different from one aspect of cycling to another.
And, again, the LX hub is a mountain bike part so if you are going to have problems finding parts in remote places, you still have problems with the LX hubs. But, if I were to go off into a remote area, I'd pick a different set of wheels to begin with...like the Phils. Bearings are easier to replace and probably more readily available. The same would be true of headset (King) and cranks (external King or Wood bearings) .