Originally Posted by froze
I disagree to some of what you said; sure if your in China you may have trouble getting Shimano or other parts BUT your going to have a better time at least getting it fixed then you would a Rhollof hub. And internationally the most commom tire and tube size is the 700c and 26 rather then the 20 or 16 inch tire Bike Friday uses. And if you reduce the complexity of the operating system your more then likely are going to able to fix it yourself or find someone who can. Evidently Phil Woods disagrees with your statement about something being "field serviceable" because his hubs and bottom brackets are designed to be just that " field serviceable", and why? Because he sells a lot of these components to the touring crowd.
I'd have to disagree with your disagreement
Finding 700 and 26 tyres isn't hard... but that doesn't mean that finding good touring tyres in those sizes is possible in a lot of places. It's easier in some cases just to order something in for a pickup at a post office down the road than to find something locally. Whether that something is 700, 26 or 20 doesn't make any difference. And I'm assuming that it would be pretty unusual to need a tyre urgently as a spare is mandatory for touring in unusual places.
Phil Woods hubs? I think the argument for something like that it's high quality and highly unlikely to require servicing in the first place. Which is the argument that I'd accept for a Rohloff. Field serviceable? Sure, if you happen to be carry cone wrenches, hub grease and fresh hub bearings. Tourers don't usually carry this stuff, and you can't find it in the third world.
I think that this is a great example of marketing blurb being used to sell expensive kit to a crowd that can pay. For the cost of one of these hubs, it would be much cheaper to to have some spare Shimano LX hubs sitting at a friend's place ready for mailing.