Originally Posted by
Phil_gretz
A question for those who know the technical reason. Why didn't they spec the ST-A070 brifters for this bike? They'd be compatible with the derailleurs, but maybe not the mechanical discs? It seems that the separate paddle shifters only clutter the cockpit. Why would I want to move my hand to the stem to shift on gravel?
Hitting a price point.
Retail, the STIs are something like $70 and the thumb things are something like $25. So at that price difference, its for sure significant enough to not be able to use the STIs, even at OEM cost. This is an industry that will use soft steel bolts that strip and rust instead of paying a penny or two more for quality bolts that wont strip or immediately rust. Pricepoints must be met someway somehow!
Microshift's 7speed STIs retail for $45 on ebay. So the OEM cost of those would be a lot closer to the top of bar thumb shifting things, but I would guess even that would eliminate a good bit of margin or force the cost of the bike to increase.