Catching back up on this thread:
I put the Hiro Chuck on the website tonight, as of this evening we are shipping them
I think I describe much of the history in the copy for the product. Rappstar is correct, it actually started when I first saw a Hirame in Europe 10+ years ago and really came full circle when one of my close pro-tour mechanic friends asked me to make a ‘better mousetrap’ based on issue that they had with the Hirame. It’s definitely not easy, as an engineer it’s very easy to look at something and instantly think you can do it better, but a part like this has been slowly refined into being over 50 years…it’s been tweaked and tuned at the component level for material hardness, surface finish and cost. The whole reason we are late with the product is that we just missed the mark on surface finish of the lever…it has to be smooth and hard, which the Hirame achieves with Chrome plate…as part of our environmental stance we won’t do chrome…not to mention that anymore in the US, chrome is very, very hard to even get if you wanted it. So we had to harden the stainless, but that led to an appearance I didn’t like, so we went ahead and electro-polished the levers which look really fantastic!
During the month that we are late, we also modified the gasket for easier installation and removal…like most projects, the engineer would spend infinite time refining if it were available. It was worth it. we had great feedback from a triathlon editor on the install/removal force, and in about a week, we developed the means to measure it and then hand poured gaskets to find just the right balance, and now I’m happy with it.