Shimano hubs are definitely not virtually problem free.

XT hubs for example, like the M770, have had lots of problems with their freehub design that is well documented. They don't handle mud and water very well and can then wear out and fail quickly. With that model apparently they tried to make it lighter by going to an alloy axle, which meant they had to make it fatter in order for it to still be strong enough, but then they had to compromise with the freehub internals including by minimising dimensions of bearings and such.

The DT Swiss hubs don't exactly have the best flange dimensions for a strong wheel. This includes the 240.

For those cyclists who have to maintain their hub/cassette themselves regularly (eg cross, MTB, tourers) the Kappius could make a lot of sense. For tourers it would be awesome. No need to carry cassette removal tools just to remove the cassette to get to a drive side spoke. No need to carry cone spanners like with Shimano hubs. No need to carry a spare freehub in case of failure on long tours in remote places.

For most lightweight road cyclists who just cycle near home it is most probably overkill, and the money can be spent better elsewhere. I apologise as this is a road thread (but then some of us take "road" bikes where most people don't, and like the idea of parts that are potentially less throw-away).

I'm sorry, but this is so much hyperbole that I'm not sure where to start. Shimano hubs are well regarded and 240s are top of the line. I can't remember seeing and hearing about hub problems at our club. And we live in wet the Netherlands and like to cross.

And this isn't great for tourers at all... proprietary systems which a normal LBS doesnt carry are absolutely a nightmare for a tourer. The romantic idea of vacation riders in the bush fixing their own stuff is extremely rare.

This is a solution for a non existant issue with a potential drawback where we as customers are taking a huge step backwards.

I can understand that in the Netherlands its pretty rare to have to fix something yourself whilst out touring, but I live in Australia. Once I get out of my capital city, there's stuff all LBS until I hit the next capital city, of which the nearest one is about 700km away.

When I was touring in Africa on my recumbent we ran big HEAVY DT 340 rear hubs (after my XT M770 cacked it on the Nullabor Plain in Australia, 1200km from the nearest bike shop, and I had to get lifts from people and a bus to get back to the city to source replacements...), which were overbuilt with the heaviest rims and spokes and spoke count we could fit into that size. Because, if we had a failure, the best we could hope for was to somehow get transport a thousand km or so to the nearest decent capital city, then get parts posted in to us. This wouldn't have been any different if we were running a shimano/DT hub (unless we carried like 500g of spare parts and tools) on say a 26 inch wheel, as Africa just doesn't have parts for multigeared bikes much outside of South Africa. They are really hard if not impossible to get. You can only find single speed wheels, sometimes if you are lucky and in the right country and area, to get you out of trouble.

In that situation when I do something similar in the future, I'd much rather have something like the Kappius, which is much less likely to break down, builds a stronger wheel, that I can fix easier if it does (and clean easier, woohoo!). Because it really sucks to have to mess up a big trip that you've been planning and saving for ages for a mechanical failure, that can now only be solved by having to get days of odious transport and then wait for parts to arrive. Or have to carry a heap of extra weight in spares

As for "exceedingly rare", I give you that, and this isn't a replacement for the existing hubs out there for most people. But that's just like how there is just no need for a Lightweight Mielenstein for most people out there, or carbon fibre chainrings, or , drilling holes in your gear levers to save 3 grams isn't actually needed for most people. This is Weight Weenies, which is very small niche, just as is the niche that needs a hub like the Kappius.

Those in the niche, know who they are.

PS, one day I hope to tour in the Netherlands, it sounds awesome!

It sounds like the ideal wheel in this case is a bike built up with 26 inch single speed (or internal geared so you can switch to single speed).