Hey,
Regarding the bearings - it looks like one of the reasons for premature wear on the bearings was that we were too conservative in how tight we recommended the knurled bearing had to be clamped (ie. we recommended it to be tightened too much), resulting in the typical wear you get on a uni with overly clamped bearing housings. It wasn’t the only factor - hence why the new hubs are coming with larger triple bearings - but was a big factor nonetheless. The assembly manual has been updated with that change. You should find that only slightly more clamping than with a normal bearing housing is OK to keep the knurled bearing from turning (5-6 Nm). Feedback on this would be appreciated if you have a torque wrench and can quantify the minimum torque rating to prevent slippage on the knurled bearing side.
By the way I second that with Corbin having so much fun on the geared 24. My personal favorite is a geared 26 because I find that a 2.3" tire has lower rolling resistance in second gear, and the type of trails I’d take a geared uni on are suitable to the 26’er (e.g. all-mountain trails versus pure technical freeriding). If you typically ride with fit mountain bikers, this is an awesome setup for being better able to keep up, especially if your rides are split up by dirt road connectors between singletrack.
Kris