The talk about electronic shifting and carbon fiber initially didn't concern me. If I became that concerned about outright perfromance it would make sense to have a dedicated fast road bike. But it would be weird to have built up a nice 27 in bike and watch the support for it slowly fade away. Who's to say that some key component spec won't be fazed out in the name of real or just purported benefit. Who's to say that my preferences for frame geometry can't change just enough that what was once perfect is no longer quite right. More and more it is making sense for me to buy something of reasonable quality that is spec'ed the way I want it but not to go all out, cost be damned, assuming that it will be a forever bike. In order words just make a reasonable, well thought out, balanced decision.