Quote: Darby wrote: The mechanic tried to talk me out of using Topolinos saying that every rider he knows with Topos has had the hubs come apart sometimes injuring the rider and damaging the bike.
As previously posted, I broke a spoke in my rear wheel just riding along and my rear hub came a little bit loose at a separate time. Neither caused injury or damage to the bike. When I bought my Topolinos I asked the wrench at the shop about spokes breaking and having to send the wheel back to Topolino for repair. He scoffed and said that he'd only heard of it ever happening once. I haven't been back to the shop yet to tell him that he can double that scoffed at number.
Sounds like it'll come down to how much you trust and value the mechanic's opinion. Certain people at the 2 LBSs that I visit have opinions I trust, others don't.
As for the Conti 4 season tires, I've heard good things about them as well but there's no way to know until you try them. I think you can find a tire pressure that will make most tires relatively comfortable but you have to balance that with being high enough to avoid snake-bite flats. When it starts raining here this winter I'm going to try out the 4 season tires and see what I think of them.
If you go to roadbikereview.com you'll find good and bad opinions on any product you can think of.