Originally Posted by
The Golden Boy
both spin like greased Teflon butter sticks.
That's a pretty good description. First time I ever saw a Phil hub, it was described as
smooth as campy. That was the perspective of the times. Nowadays we're spoiled by all these cheap cartridge sealed hubs.
Never heard that cup and cones were supposed to be smoother. I'd say campy vs Phil when new was a tie AFA buttery smooth. Phil axles don't break though. If you do trash the bearing, you have to send 'em back to Phil. BTW, Phil don't necessarily last forever with no servicing, but they can be rebuilt. The original flavor always got rusty middles, but that was just aesthetics.
Of course the hub friction is basically irrelevant. Practically speaking, people bought campy or phil quality because they lasted a long time. If you bought cheap hubs and rode say 15k or more miles a year, they aren't going to hold up.