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just for the other side of things
with an old style shimano free hub you should fear the day Cassette carrier bearings fail as its not easy to replace or service them
and it pays to keep an eye on the condition of the smallest gear that holds the others in place,
if its loose you get something called cassette bite where the cogs supported by the spines are free to rotate independently of the locking gear/nut
some newer Free hub body types by Novatec and Joytech have improvements that reduce such problems
but aside from some small problems the Freehub has some benefits
because the freewheel body is more integrated and compact the entire Cassette is placed further to the right,
so too is the drive side hub flange moved further right, this reduces the amount of spoke dish in the drive side of the wheel, so makes the wheel more resistant to buckling sideways
the same effect can also be achieved by a larger diameter flange on the drive side and or a asymmetric wheel rim that sits closer to the drive side