Sorry to be pedantic, but I'm wondering how to identify what quality I need. Say I've got a 68mm shell and 110mm spindle with JIS square taper. How do I know what spending the extra $75 on a Phil Wood vs a Sugino gives me. Durability? Ease of maintenance? Stiffness? Ability to attract unicorns? Ability to impress bike club folks?
Does it matter if I do small time crits? Seriously loaded tours? Riding the cobbles in Boston or Roubaix? What about if I am a female triathlete weighing in at 105 pounds? The actual me, weighting in at 222.5 pounds?
While I know that extremely high speed applications like dental drills benefit from the lower mass of ceramic balls, does it make any difference in a low speed, high force application like a bike? Why, other than the couple of grams?
And, if one is a cheapskate, like I am, how do you know what is truly crap to avoid and what is a reasonable quality affordable part?