Ha, ha, ha. So, assuming you can find drill bits that small, how much weight do you think that it might possibly save? I'm thinking that you're going to set an unassailable Guiness record on time spent per gram reduction.

Well, it doesn't take bits too small to drill the driver, planet cage and gear ring. I figure the drillium will shave at least 1/4 pound off of it, possibly more. I'd say those three parts are the heaviest of the whole hub, contributing most of the hub's weight.

As for finding drill bits for the small parts, well, you can buy them at any Ace Hardware.

I'm not looking to win any records here. All I wish to find out is just how lightweight the old AW hub can be, if nessesary.

Take care,

-Kurt

retro grouch isnt much of a retro grouch. i propose changing your name to "contemporary grouch", or just "i piss on everyones parade grouch"

The reduced efficiency of gear hubs, isn't much, compared to a perfectly clean and lubed derailleur setup with a straight chainline, thing is, within 10 miles of riding, that derailleur setup is not clean anymore, and as it gets dirtier, it gets less efficient, it doesn't take much to make it less efficient then a gear hub, which isn't subject to the same conditions, since everything is internal to the hub. Most derailleur gears do not have a straight chainline, if your lucky there might be 2 or 3 that are close.

As for weight, that's a materials issue, lighter weight materials can be used. Compared to the hub alone, you need the weight of the freehub, the derailleur and the cassette, it's probably not as much of a difference as you might think. The advantage for gear hubs, is that they require less maintenance, deraillieurs need to be cleaned, lubed and adjusted on a regular basis, gear hubs might need new grease every 5,000 to 10,000 miles, or a few drops of oil once in a while.

Rear suspension, for mountain bikes was invented because on technical trails, it takes a lot to keep the back end from bouncing out of control, on technical trails. However it comes with a cost, it eats up a lot of pedalling efficiency, so much so, that a full suspension MTB is unlikely to be the riders only bike, unless they keep the suspension locked when on road, which is hard on the suspension as well.

Electronic shifting is less likely to go out of adjustment, a small ASIC can be instructed to power a stepper motor so many cycles for each shift, the shifters are also much less complex, essentially 2 switches, a low power generator could be built into the wheel to power the shifting mechanism, since we are talking very low power requirements, less then needed for lights for example.