Originally Posted by
surak
Whoops, you're probably right, it would only work if one were to get a rd change in addition to a wheel change. So not useful in a race.
I think you mean it would only work if you had a shifter change. It's the shifter that has the indexing that has to match the cassette spacing.
Anywho, although neutral service wheels are a potential drawback, I don't think it's that big of a deal. Bring your own pit wheels, or accept the fact that a flat might mean the end of your race. Which it will if you flat in the last five laps of a crit anyway.
I built up my kid's race bike with Tiagra because it was a heck of a deal on Chain Reaction or Ribble or one of those UK sites, don't remember which. And it allowed me to share wheels with my own 10-speed bikes, including a nice set of carbon tubulars that wouldn't take an 11-speed cassette. It shifts gears just as well for a few grams more and a few dollars less.
So, put me in the pro-Tiagra bucket.