Originally Posted by
atwl77
You missed the point, it isn't about frequency or reliability. It's about what you can do if it fails. In my example above, several experienced people at the controle couldn't figure it out. A friend of mine recently had connection issues, messed around with the thing and eventually took the bike to the shop to get it rectified. I don't need this kind of stress during an ultra endurance ride. With a mechanical derailleur, all I need are spare cables (you bring them on 1000k and above, don't you?) and tools and I can fix 99% of any issue that comes up.
....
Last summer I volunteered to help staff a control. One rider phoned in, he had crashed, his bike was unable to shift into lower gears on a very hilly course. Rear cable operated derailleur was only shifting onto a few cogs. I drove back to meet him and we got his bike functioning with some prudent use of tools and cable adjustments. I did not want to try to straighten the hanger, if it broke he would DNF. I was sure that his derailleur would die on the ride, encouraged him to stop at a bike shop a few hundred yards off the route on the way to the next control and replace the rear derailleur. But, he was happy enough that his bike was functioning that he skipped the bike shop, finished the 600k on his mangled drive train.
Good thing it was a conventional cable operated system.