Originally Posted by
chaadster
I understand that PowerTorque requires an additional sixty bucks worth of tools beyond what's needed for Ultratorque, but it's not as though servicing is complex, longer, or anything like that.
And as far as the multiple gear shift thing, maybe it's nice to have in certain scenarios, but not having it isn't going to ruin your ride or prevent you from winning the Tour de France, as Shimano have proven.
So in all, I think too much is made of these issues, and while they're worth considering when making a gruppo purchase, they are not deciding factors in and of themselves.
The Athena will shift up to 3 gears at once (but you can't downshift more then one at a time), like you I don't see what the big deal is, even when I rode the mountains of California did I ever need to shift more then one gear at a time. I guess if the rider fails to plan his shifts he may find himself scrambling to find gears, but even then 3 would be the most one would ever need to jump.