Originally Posted by
chaadster
Possibly, yes, if all you ride is uphill at speeds under 10mph.
But who does that?
I do, for the most part. I ride uphill under 10 mph quite a bit, and I don't care much about the stuff in between.
On a typical climbing ride, I'll spend 75% or more of the time going uphill. It makes sense for me to optimize the bike for going uphill.
Another point: For most people, the climbs are where they are tested to their limits, so making climbing easier is the most sensible thing to optimize first.