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In the past I must have thrown away dozens of rims, nearly all smashed up or badly dented, just one or two because of brake wear - it does happen, but assuming the brake blocks a cleaned promptly when they pick up swarf, it's an unusual cause for scrapping a rim.
three years of daily london commuting and a season of cross will do it. i'm really not sold on the stopping power of disc brakes (is it just me?), but rim wear is a real thing.
And while I'm here.......
'Disc brakes are a good idea because the rims don't wear out'
In the past I must have thrown away dozens of rims, nearly all smashed up or badly dented, just one or two because of brake wear - it does happen, but assuming the brake blocks a cleaned promptly when they pick up swarf, it's an unusual cause for scrapping a rim.
Multiple sprockets above seven
Well I really prefer a five block, but I'll tolerate six. Used with a double at the front for non TT purposes. How does one manage with so few sprockets? Easy, surely you have more than one back wheel, so you change the wheel to the one with the appropriate block for the ride you're about to do. For example if you're going to ride a time trial on the Bath Road, an 18 tooth bottom sprocket will be fine and even then you'll only use that for warming up, similarly, with the HDW chain gang from Twyford to Windsor if you used anything bigger than 18 you would be straight off the back. Touring and hilly road races would need other blocks. To attempt to have a 'one size fits all' solution doesn't make sense to me.
It's clear to me that the bike industry is now keen on built in obsolescence in a way that people like Frank Carpenter would never have dreamed of, although I do remember Dave Russell saying to me "Bloody CTC, they buy one bike and expect it to last a lifetime!"