Originally Posted by
prairie*boy
Mathematician versus engineer, the loads aren't exactly balanced...but close enough for practical purposes.
No, a mathematically dyslexic shade-tree mechanic who has owned and disassembled a lot of different freewheels (SunTour, Shimano, Miche, Campy, etc..) and cassttee hubs (Edco, Coda/Hugi, Phil Wood, White Ind, Shimano, Chris King, Campy, MAVIC and Asian-made-your-brand-goes-here) and who has seen quite a few different hubs that have failed for a variety of different reasons vs. some commonly held beliefs based on what others have heard said or read on the internet.
The point was, in theory, multiple pawls and engagement points are used to distribute loads around the hub and if that gets out of whack bad things usually begin to happen.