Originally Posted by jackb

Whatever the so-called advantages of electronic shifting, the reason for it is two-fold. Americans love newness accompanied by convenience. I'm sure that electronic shifting is sure and efficient, but there are some whose goal is not to do something in the easiest and most efficient way. My bikes shift well enough. When they get out to tune I sometimes miss a shift. No bid deal. What if Shimano came out with voice activated shifting? Some cyclists would hail this as a major breakthrough. Now you don't even need to press a button. Just give a voice command like one does to that idiotic Alexa system. But the main reason we have all these technological developments is that companies want to make more and more money. One way to do this is make cyclists believe that they are on outdated equipment. Once you are convinced that you are not on the cutting edge of high tech and efficiency you'll be ready to spend thousands on a new bike. The industry is quite pleased.

As a human being, I like doing things manually. I like turning the lights on and off in my house. I like walking places. I like using my body in many ways. Of course I use modern conveniences like most other people, but I use them selectively. Some relieve me from hard, tedious work, but even then I like hard tedious work every now and then. If one likes electronic shifting, there you go. But for many it is not necessary at all and, in the long run, just costs more money. I'd like to see some rogue company produce and promote simple, basic bicycles at a reasonable cost. Four and five thousand dollars is simply too much to pay for a bike. Pedaling for fun is what most of us like about cycling, not pedaling for speed or to win something or to do something in the most efficient manner. But again, to each his own. Some people yearn to own a driverless car. Many of us do not.