[JesseK]

I disagree with you Chris. Sure, some teams did it and had success in the seasons they did it. But that says nothing about how they made it work, the level of maintenance involved, or what their current preference is.

It's also not about length of deflection so much as it is angle of deflection.

I admit I'm also probably biased. Back in the day when my team did dead-axle wheels (pre-2013), there was hardly a first event where we didn't struggle with constant chain issues - even when the robot drove well before ship day. After the switch to 'standard' WCD, it's like night and day - we can build a drive train and do only minor maintenance for all 70-something matches in a year (including offseason).