Originally Posted by
3dvvitch
I think he had a good sense for the difference between tinkery one-off items for friends on the one hand, and production bikes on the other. His personal preferences can be seen on his meticulously whittled weight weenie builds.
Vintage mtb Workshop did a cool series of instructional posts on how to modify hi-e hubs like WTB did so that you can remove the bearings without disassembling the hub body:
http://www.facebook.com/story.php?st...00069150756252
Example of Charlie being careful about products for consumers:
His own bike and Jacquie's had a toggle brake of his design, that he knew was unsafe for Joe Sixpack because if not adjusted almost constantly, after a little pad wear they could go "over-center", after which you had no brake at all. Thus the birth of the roller-cam, which got most of the advantage of his toggle brakes but without the danger.
Another maker of crazy-expensive aftermarket MTB parts (OK it was McMahon) actually sold toggle brakes to consumers. I was in the shop the day the McMahon rep came by with his own personal MTB that was so equipped. I asked him how do you prevent the brake from going over-center and he asked me what I meant, this was a new concept for him. I gave his brake lever one strong squeeze and POP! — over it went, zero front brake. I think his face went white. McMahon stopped selling those brakes shortly thereafter, hopefully before anyone was injured. I'd like to think I had some small part in averting someone else's dental reconstruction.