Originally Posted by ncscott
I'm confused... Why would a manufacturer have a better technology and choose not to use it just because its intended for a road bike? It would seem that if a better seal is available, then Shimano or who ever else would would price similar models of hubs with similar seals. But I'm not a designer or engineer.
It would seem that since most mt bike hubs are now made disk compatable that any advantage in dish would be offset by the disk mount. I realize that getting a non-disk mount hub would eleminate the problem...
Scott
Because road kit is about weight and nothing else. Half a gram of rubber seal is half a gram. And as the market is assumed to want gear that is identical to what the pros run so even low end road gear is built with little sealing. Because everybody repacks their hubs before a race, right?
On the other hand Shimano still make high end mountain bike hubs without disk mounts, as v-brakes are still a weight saving option for the XC rider. The Deore hub is pretty much identical to the high end Shimano hubs (same seals, bearing races not as highly polished) but is dirt cheap.
If you are due for a new front hub and want to build a bulletproof set of wheels then you can't go wrong with a mountain hub on the front. It would be fantastic if Shimano made a 130mm rear at deore level with better seals. After all, they reintroduced cantilever brakes due to increased demand for Cyclocross and Touring bikes.