For me, I'm looking for things that make my riding more enjoyable. Faster is not on the table due to a bum ticker. Looking at my MTB and gravel bike, there are a few things that do that. There are a few things that I bought just because they were in-style at the time of purchase, especially on the MTB. There are a few things that go well together as a whole package and aren't so good if you do only one or two of them (like the combination of tubeless tires, thru axles, hydraulic disc brakes). I would not tell you that I think these bikes are perfect and solve everything, or that there's nothing to be nostalgic about. But overall it's better.
I do think that bike companies keep old-school stuff in production just to provide a reason for different price levels for things that are likely not all that different in cost to make. Tubeless is a good example of this, so is the price of 3x systems somehow being less than 1x
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Genesis 49:16-17