LOL
NON-hugs all around then!
No doubt Take Off made some legendary stuff, and I'm right there with you on the downsides of changing things right when the advances of rubber are making great progress. I don't like that the "standard" is suddenly gone just as much or more than anyone else does, but part of my job was to make sure that if it wasn't going to come back - I had to somehow find a diamond in a pile of you-know-what.
Speaking from a racers point of view, there is Sorex which seems to be not so much accepted in the US, and with the double whammy of being completely out of the competitive price realm, and then a lot of OEMs that are price competitive but severely lacking in track performance. Take Off had it all, and that is the reason we were so successful with them. Again - I take no credit for being anything but stupendously lucky for finding this new brand that brings the same performance and price point back to the racer.
Unfortunately necessary change, lucky find, and the end result being that the racers/tracks/series/major races will soon have a steady supply of a quality premount again.