I don't bother counting, it's not a major cost nor hassle to remove, in fact it's a lot less hassle to fit/remove than ST, Octalink still going fine after 8.5 years on the commuter/utility/do it all bike.
People going through deep water/atrocious conditions and not taking remedial action then finding that this has had a detrimental effect shocker
The external BB design is clearly not as weatherproof as some of the older designs, if it bothers people that much just strip out the chainset/BB straight away or at next time of service and replace with what you know is tried and tested for you.
I run 4 different BB types, well actually 5 if you count the threadless Mavic BB on my Gitane team replica (though it is ST still) they all offer something different, they will all last differing periods of time and they will all require more or less maintenance/replacement. I don't get stressed, or I won't if one packs up sooner than I thought, there are bigger issues to worry about.
So far for me in the last 17 years Octalink has proven to be the best in terms of miles in most foul weather but then that's because that's my main bike, before that I ran the old cup and cone on my Raleigh Record sprint for about 10 years doing an absolute shed load of miles (a lot more than I do now) as it was my only bike then. The octalink is showing no signs of being worn, I think they are about £12 to replace for the one I use. Hardly breaking the bank.
My point is I don't really see the point of the thread, what does it ultimately achieve, what does it tell the vast majority that we didn't already know? And even if it tells you something new does it really matter that much if at all?
