Originally Posted by
Landgolier
I doubt one of the knuckles would shear completely, but I do think they'd deform. It strikes me as not all that different from the Miche cog carrier, and those are steel on steel and they develop play. Also, I'm not sure I buy that the bolts are only getting lateral forces, if they're torqued down hard enough to do any good in that direction they're getting any front to back that's going on too.
I don't think it's a bad system per se, I just feel like it's a solution looking for a problem. I just worry that in 10 years it's going to be like any other jingus proprietary stuff that's going to be impossible to find and $$$ when you do (see also: 10 pitch, 151 chainrings, French thread anything), while ISO drilled cogs aren't going to be a big deal to get your hands on.
the tolerances between the hub and cog are quite tight. if i didn't have side to side motion to deal with, i'd think the bolts to be unnecessary. i have two cogs for mine, so while i cannot be sure that all are equally tight, i suspect that they are. because the knuckles hold the cog pretty tightly, the bolts won't ever be subjected full forces. at worst case, i suppose that each bolt gets 1/5 of the total.
ISO drilled cogs aren't even remotely common - only one company that i know of has made them (feel free to correct me). i am inclined to suggest that instead of making that a standard, a system more akin to level's is the way to go. ISO cogs, right now, are just as proprietary as Level's offering. Just because you can ghetto-rig cogs to work with disc front hubs (or rear, i suppose), it doesn't mean that the proper long-term solution for threadless fixed gear setups is to go with a 6-bolt design. If i had the resources to start manufacturing hubs, I'd definitely talk to Scott at Level to get access to the specs. I think they really just need one more adherent in order to gain the popularity that they deserve.