Originally Posted by
base2
What's so wrong with plain ol' mechanical? Am I alone in my view that bicycles are the embodiment of efficiency? Cable shifting is the lowest energy state solution to the need for multiple ratios. Objectively then, from an engineering stand point that makes it best solution...Or does it? Why the need for batteries, stepper motors, circuit boards, connectors, radio, public spectrum allocation, protocols, proprietary IP, buttons, and all the other Rube Goldberg complications to move a chain ~5mm to the left or to the right?
I get it. I've got a 1909 Hamilton 992 mechanical railroad watch that I use regularly. It keeps great time. I can get it serviced today for a reasonable price, using repro or NOS parts. It's
113 years old. There are thousands, if not tens of thousands of these watches still out there, operating flawlessly.
The oldest digital watches are about 50 years old. I found two operating ones on eBay. Once they die, they not not serviceable, that I know of, unless you replace the entire module. I doubt any at all will be operating in the next 63 years.
Thankfully I don't need to say the same for my Hamilton or my down tube shifter-equipped Cinelli.