Originally Posted by
shants
you nay-sayers seem to arguing around the question. i don't think anyone looking to buy them denies that they are proprietary. that argument seems lacks persuasiveness to me. if you are looking for an alternative to a threaded cog system -- which definitely has its faults in non-velodrome contexts (read: lots of backpressure and skidding) -- then you are going to have to go with something "non standard." new products that enter the market don't automatically achieve "standardized" status, as you might imagine.
the level system is significantly superior to disc bolt-on systems because the stresses are absorbed by the machined "knuckles" rather than the bolts themselves. in the case of level, the bolts only serve to counter the minor lateral stresses that one encounters. this is not to say that disc hub retrofits can't work quite well, but, to me, they are a kludge rather than a well thought out design.
Oh i'm not saying they're bad hubs. They're ****ing awesome hubs. Just be exactly sure that is what you want. It's not always about product technical superiority - the LeVeLs clearly have the superior design but hardly anyone knows about them.
It would be irresponsible to discuss the hubs longevity without at least considering that they may go out of business at any time. Even in a niche market, LeVeL is niche. I'll gladly eat my words in a year or twos time when LeVeL hubs become as common as Deep V's.
VHS vs Betamax anyone?
Here are a couple reviews:
http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/revi...evel/index.htm
Originally Posted by fixedgeargallery
This system is really well designed and very well made. But the question "why?" keeps nagging me. As far as I can tell hub thread stripping happens for a couple reasons.
#1. Threads on really cheap hubs that weren't designed for hard skid/skipping (Suzue Jr.) which are then mated with equally cheap stamped cogs/lockrings,
or
#2: Poor match of threads/installation problems..... or maybe both #1 & #2!
Anyways we're straying pretty far off the topic of the OP's original question anyways. He's just asking about the durability of the hub.