Originally Posted by
dwinks
One of the earlier comments by 'Tourist in MSN' linked to a thing called "Mountain Tamer Triple adapter - LOWER GEARS for bikes of all kinds", which when you follow that link, it's a device to allow as small as a 17t chain ring to be installed. This device also allows 18, 19, 20, and higher, but it seems silly to buy such an adaptor when cranks with 20 and 22t are already available. If someone were to put this thing on, I'd guess the whole point would be to go from a 20 or 22t ring to a 17t. This would increase chain tension quite a bit, and while repairing a chain is much easier than repairing a hub, buying a decent hub means such a repair is probably never needed.
Most of us have been discussing bolt-on 20 tooth inner rings rather then the Mountain Tamer. I've used the Mountain Tamer Quad (2 chainrings) in the past and never had a problem with breaking chains nor hubs. But the Mountain Tamer requires a 5 arm crank without forged standoffs for the inner ring. That configuration is rather rare and, if CrazyLemurBoy is looking at getting a 20 tooth inner, I'm assuming that he is using a 4 bolt mountain bike crank with 104/64 BCD which is the only
widely available crankset taking that small a inner ring.
Originally Posted by
dwinks
It's not possible to buy stronger 10 speed chain, while putting a bit of money into a good hub with steel parts instead of alloy, and a reliable pawl mechanism can pretty much reduce the chances of hub failure down to a level not worth worrying about. I'd rather break a chain than a hub too, but I'd rather break neither more. A decent steel (at least steel cassette body and innards) and a 20t ring up front with a 40t in back will give as low of inches as can be really used (~13") without putting more stress on either the chain or the hub than can be reliably tolerated.
The problem lies in defining a "good hub". With the exception of a few high end or boutique hubs, the vast majority of freehub bodies are already steel. Even then, the quality of the freehub doesn't vary from hub to hub all that much. They are all very good.
On the other hand, there is no such thing as a "decent" or even fair all steel hub on the market. All steel hubs are found in department store bikes and are all very bad.