For those of you who are looking for direct-drive reels, here's another source. In the last thread on this subject, we talked about converting older Abus...

However, Daiwa is still making the Black Widow BW2L which is both a direct-drive reel and a lefthander. There is no right-hand version available. This reel has no bearings, a retrieve ratio of 5.2 and a capacity of 185 yards of 10 pound test mono. The MSRP is $59.95.

I don't know how this reel will work or stand up to abuse. I've got a couple on order to see, and I'll report back after I've fished them a few times. I've fished other low-end baitcasters from Daiwa, and I've had pretty fair luck with them. I still believe you get what you pay for, though.

I do not know if the reel is on the Daiwa website, as when I visited it, it showed the 1999 product line.