I get the QR141 dropouts (though I don't love them), since stiffness should be quite acceptable on a hardtail, But, I don't see how a decent square taper BB and 1x crankset can be less costly than the cheapest decent 24mm or GXP external bearing BB and crank. Maybe square stuff is still being made in enough quantity... I would have thought the economies of scale, and plain ol' demand, had tipped toward modern stuff by now.
I guess cheap-as ST BBs and forged-with-almost-zero-post-machining, riveted triple- or double-ring cranks are still getting pumped out in places, but a direct-mount, 1x, \_and\_ square taper crankset? The modern combined with the anachronistic makes my head hurt.
July 18, 2022, 1:30 p.m. - Justin White
I get the QR141 dropouts (though I don't love them), since stiffness should be quite acceptable on a hardtail, But, I don't see how a decent square taper BB and 1x crankset can be less costly than the cheapest decent 24mm or GXP external bearing BB and crank. Maybe square stuff is still being made in enough quantity... I would have thought the economies of scale, and plain ol' demand, had tipped toward modern stuff by now. I guess cheap-as ST BBs and forged-with-almost-zero-post-machining, riveted triple- or double-ring cranks are still getting pumped out in places, but a direct-mount, 1x, \_and\_ square taper crankset? The modern combined with the anachronistic makes my head hurt.