Re: Why is Shimano so hated by some?

Al frost's post is onto substance. Even before the dubious patented splined
BB'S, Shimano shortened spindles to such an extent that everyone had to
retool away from face and hook spanner designs as 103mm was tooshort. Too
short also describes a fork cut for a Shimano headset when trying to fit
another brand. A pattern? Remember the weak rear der. return springs that
were designed to frustrate Sram users?
    It is one thing to compete fairly, but screwing your customers to sell
more product?
Tom

--
Bruni Bicycles
"Where art meets science"
brunibicycles.com
410.426.3420
Al Frost <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Evan Evans) wrote in
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:
>
> > As a frequent visitor to this group. I've noticed that there are a few
> > posters who use this  as a platform to steer people against the use of
> > Shimano components. What's wrong with Shimano?
>
>
>
> Being a long time (since NR) Campy user and only use Shimano (sparingly)
> on my mtbs I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Shimano's increasing
> use of incompatable designs.  Shimano has continued to push changes in
> many areas in the name of innovation, AFAICT.  Some of these changes may
> be considered improvements and some are purely to force the consumer to
> buy more Shimano.  A perfect example are Shimano's bottom brackets.  We
> have two different spined spindles that only fit specific cranks and are
> not compatable with ISIS splines.  As if that wasn't enough Shimano is
> now selling us integral bottom brackets with their cranks.  At least one
> can still buy (for the moment) Shimano disk brakes with 6-bolt rotors so
> we don't have to buy their wheelsets.  Although, you have to look hard to
> find a vendor that carries the 6-bolt rotor brakesets.
>
> I guess in a nutshell I'm not fond of Shimano to two reasons.  1. Their
> attempts to force feed components to consumers.  (If they could figure
> out a way to make all the components of a gruppo work only as a gruppo
> they would.)  2.  Design change for sake of change forcing obsolesence.
> (In the long term this is a flawed business model IMHO but hey it solves
> the parts support and longevity problems.)
>
> ALF