Splines vs. square tapers.

[onewheeldave]

After not using my muni for a while (I've been using the 29-er and also had 125s on the muni to use it as a street machine) I put the 150 cranks back on and went for a ride.

I thought I may as well use it as a muni for once, and rode into the 'Ponderosa', a stretch of land that is mainly left to its own devices, with some rough trails and steep gradients.

Within ten minutes the handle felt loose and it turned out I'd snapped the seat base. About to ride it home I discovered the left crank had also come loose, so, for the first time ever, I had to wheel it home.

On the way I started to wonder if my faithful old Nimbus was reaching the end of its days, and what would be its replacement- another Nimbus or maybe the splined KH or Onza?

I've always been very happy with the Nimbus, and with its non splined cranks, but there seems to an assumption that, if you're serious about muni, then a splined hub is the way to go.

However, having done a few thread searches, I wonder if that is true. I think I saw a reply by Roger Davies where he said he uses square taper hubs, and that splines are unnecessary if you're not doing big drops.

Also, looking at splined models, the crank length options for muni seem to be 165-170mm only. As someone who uses 150s and who finds 170s to be uncomfortable and slow (admittedly I've only had brief goes on them) I find that a bit restrictive.

Also, the cranks themselves are consideraby more expensive than non splined ones (by a factor of 4).

One thing I dislike about square tapers is the messing around involved in changing them i.e. grease, hammering etc; but, from some posts I've seen, splined ones seem troublesome to remove as well.

I've fixed my Nimbus by fitting the Reeder handle to an old seat, and the crank looseness was probably cos of the recent switch, having tightened it up I had a long ride today and it's fine again.

However, at some point I'll have to get a new muni; whilst the KH looks nice and it'd be good to have the latest kit, I suspect that I'd get a Nimbus because I've found it to be reliable and a great muni, I also have the tools and knowledge of how to maintain it. I also think it unlikely that I'll be doing high drops.

Here's some questions on splined hubs/cranks.

1. Is there any point to them if you're not going to do long drops
2. Any ideas about what will happen in the future eg will square taper hubs vanish like cottered cranks did, or, if munis popularity drops, will splined cranks dissapear
3. Why no 150mm splined cranks
4. Any other thoughts on splined/square taper hubs/cranks