Originally Posted by
madpogue
They used solid axles for strength. The move to hollow/QR axles roughly coincided with the advent of the cassette/freehub era, which relocated the drive-side bearings further outboard. Come to think of it, the solid axle / cassette wheel I'm working on presently is probably the only such combination I've come across.
Thanks for the explanation. Come to think of it, the specialized hubs do look and spin unusually nice for a nearly 40 year old bike. I just think my experience with road bikes makes me think "nutted axle = junk", not to mention highly inconvenient. You learn something new every day.