Originally Posted by cyclezen

so your thread title is "downgrading" from electronic shifters"
... and you're new to cycling and especially higher end bikes...
short comment : I would give yourself time to really get to know the intricacies of 'electronic' shifting, become really familiar and then decide.

Longer comment - running the needed cabling for mech shifting may bring up some issues...
I'm staying with mech shifting... for all the decades of integrated shifting/braking systems, I've had very reliable shifting, and almost never had issues which caused me to interrupt a ride - couple times in the first decade of not paying attention to old cables which should have been replaced - but no issues in the last 25 ish yrs.
I've now become a slave to ALL the recharge battery devices which for wwhich I need to concern myself about 'charge level'... Not a 'bike' thing, but very much a 'life' thing...
... given current trends of bike shifting technology and equipment available, I don't need or want what 12 speed systems have to offer... (to0 lengthy to go into here...)
11 speed seems to be the final frontier for mech shifting on road bikes.
IF, I had a bike with E-shifting, I would prolly just deal with the battery issue, and just ride it...
I will prolly end up with a higher level "road E-bike", as quite a few of my riding/ex-racer buddies have. They've integrated into the local group/peloton rides with the younger racers...
I've had to stay out of many of those rides... At coffee stops, I'm constantly being 'campaigned' by my buds to 'Get an E-Bike!, and get back into the peloton"...
so
maybe give e-shifting some time... you might find a liking...
Ride On
Yuri
The 'End' of the Ride is known, inevitable - but we get to choose the journey and how we get there...