By that same logic, no one pays full price for an SRM or even a PT. ;)
The SRM is the hardest to find used, but there was a 172.5 & 175 in the classifieds last week for 2500 ea. PT is cheaper, of course, but perhaps less cheap than it might seem initially, and I think it is less versatile.
BB friction: first off, does it really use the same bearings as your Chorus or Phil Wood BB? Then, is the machining on the axle anywhere near as good? Then, what sort of friction might there be from the sensor mechanism.
One of my big concerns, assuming (and that could be a big assumption) that they used, say, a Phil Wood axle & bearings, is how much friction is added by whatever seals they might need to protect the electronics? How much friction is added by the electronics themselves? I don't know that there is any. But I'd want someone to test first.
That is the real advantage presented by outboard bearings like on the new FSA and D/A systems. Yes, they are probably a bit stiffer. But that is really irrelevant. Square taper was stiff enough. The real advantage is that the size of the bearings is much larger, meaning less friction. Yes, by being outboard, you may need to replace them much more often than your once-in-a-lifetime Phil Wood BB, but if you keep them clean, there will be less friction. Likely, between the outboard systems and a top quality BB like the Phill Wood or a Campy BB, it is so minimal as to be negligible. But if the Ergomo system is not of similar quality, then you could have real, measurable losses due to the system.
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