Thanks for the advice. It's encouraging that you all have had good luck with your hubs. tsl, I saw your pics while snooping around before I wrote this post, looks great! I've got a salsa vaya that I built up with Ultegra/105 parts, love it.

Does anyone have any idea what is different between the DH-s501 (Alfine) and the 3D72 (the "sport" version)? Shimano make great stuff, but they do a TERRIBLE job publishing specs on their products. Peter White seems to think all the shimano hubs are the same, although I thought the whole advantage of the 3N80 was that it was .5lb lighter, double contact bearings and an aluminum axle! Sheldon Brown points this out, but his descriptions seem to indicate that the 3D72, the Alfine and the T660 are all the same but with different logos and casings, which is also what this poster said on bikeforums.net, and this poster heard from the shimano rep. ARRRRRGH! If they are all the same, why can't shimano just come out and say it! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!

It's looking like if I want a mid-range disc compatible dynamo hub, it's the DH-s501 (alfine) or the DH-3D72, which are, in actuality, the same hub, but with different casings. Am I missing something?