From: "RTR Magazine" To: Subject: Hub Review Story Date: Friday, February 07, 2003 3:54 PM Water and Fat, Pantour Suspension hubs, the 10 Percent Rule and some friendly spousal advice By Dan Sullivan To a product reviewer, there are a few basic litmus tests for value that always kick in to polarize things that are on the fence. For example, if a product does what it's supposed to do and does it well, but is on the heavy side - is it a good buy? The short and useless answer is 'it depends'. But, if the issue is weight (and only weight), one of our litmus tests can give you a real answer. Say the product is brakes. They look great, stop great, are fairly priced and the decision to buy them would be easy-except they're heavier than others. In this case, my experience tells me to scientifically apply a particular litmus known as 'Water and Fat.' Is the weight difference less than a few swigs of water? Are you fat? If the answer to either is yes, then buy the brakes-who are you kidding about a few grams? But you're not fat, and the Pantour hub isn't heavy or cheap, which brings us to our next litmus test, the 10 percent rule. A Dura-Ace front hub weighs in at 178 grams and costs about fifty bucks plus shipping at the bargain-hunter discount online stores. (...that we'd rather you pass up for a real bike shop with real bike mechanics that you can really talk to...) The Pantour Prolite front hub weighs 160 grams and costs $139. The Pantour is 18 grams lighter than the gold standard Dura-Ace. While 18 grams is not much, it's surprising that the hub with 1/2" of suspension is lighter than the conventional, top of the line hub from Shimano! Since the Pantour Prolite front hub costs about $90 more than the best price you could get for a Dura Ace, the question is whether the suspension feature worth the extra $90 or so, assuming there are no drawbacks to the Pantour? If you're comparing the Pantour hub to a Dura-Ace because that's the quality level of the rest of your bike, then you are not riding an inexpensive bike. In that case, $90 isn't going to be a big part of the total bike package - much less than 10 percent. (The 10 percent rule says don't spend more than 10 percent of the value of your bike upgrading a single component. In the extreme, this is like putting Ultegra parts on a Huffy.) Of course, there is another fundamental litmus test, the perceived value test. This test can be invoked whenever you have a particularly strong desire or need for a particular feature. For example, if your wrists hurt or you really want a smoother ride without riding a mountain bike on the street, this hub is a great example of a premium product fulfilling a need. In this case, the higher price is worth it, because it's a ride/don't ride decision. Be careful, however in describing purchases based on the perceived value test to spouses, especially if you are not obscenely wealthy. The perceived value test can easily be mistaken for the I-simply-must-have-the-cool-thing-no-matter-what test, which technically isn't really a test because the outcome is always 'buy it'. If you are caught, please do not try to change the 'simply-must-have' rationale into a perceived value argument. Eventually, this kind of abuse will wreck the test for the rest of us and we will be mad at you and blame all the cool stuff we're not getting on your poor planning. Back to the hub. We've ridden it. It works. I'm not throwing away my current wheels, but I do have a new ride in my near future and it will have a Pantour hub on it. Sounds like an endorsement? It is. The Pantour smooths out bad pavement and takes the sting off of pavement edges, and it does it without mucking up the geometry or the look of the bike, and it's adjustable. There is no weight penalty-even compared to Shimano's best hub, and the price is... well I think we've already given you the tools to work out the price. What's new at Pantour? A rear suspension hub! We haven't ridden the rear suspension hub yet, and I'm hoping it has the same impact (pun) as the front hub. I'm super old, two hundred and ten years according to my dog, and I can't wait to ride a lightweight, clean-looking full-suspension road bike! -- Charles Coyne Recumbent & Tandem Rider Magazine P.O. Box 337 San Dimas, CA 91773 http://www.rtrmag.com ccoyne@rtrmag.com