Originally Posted by
livedarklions
So I totally don't get the point of the OP. Is the question whether anyone wants this stuff? The answer is clearly yes. Is the question whether some people don't want this newer stuff? I'd say there's a whole lot of bikes being sold without most of the doo-dads, but stuff like index shifting are things almost everyone prefers to the "old stuff". So obviously there's still a market for bikes with basically 1990s era technology.
Anyone have any idea what the percentage of bikes being produced today have carbon frames? For all the talk about carbon frames, it hasn't exactly revolutionized the mass market bicycle. Forks maybe, but even that...
Disc brakes on road bikes seem to me to be innovation for innovation's sake with no real benefit, but I really don't feel like arguing the point.
That's kind of where I fall, too. Based on my recent personal experience, the biggest difference in performance, convenience, etc. is between 40 year old bikes and 20 year old bikes, not between 20 year old bikes and new bikes. In fact, I found that years of riding bikes with brifters made dealing with DT shifters, even the friction kind, much easier.