Originally Posted by BluesDawg

I used to be one of those people who stubbornly resisted every change and new technology. My '92 Bridgestone RB-1 came with 7 sp indexed bar end shifters which I soon changed to downtube friction and later bar end friction.

That changed somewhere along the way. Friction was a PITA for mountain bike singletrack, so I accepted indexing there. I was a rigid bike purist for a while, but had to admit that front suspension was a big improvement for keeping up on trail rides. Then I raced XC mountain biking for a season, planning to use the team discount to buy a nice steel hardtail. I figured I'd go to disc brakes, but definitely not those complicated hydraulic type. Instead I bought a full suspension Stumpjumper FSR with hydraulic discs and was completely in love.

I remained a purist on the road with my lugged steel bike with friction shifting until a car hit me and destroyed my beautiful bike. I decided that after recovering from cancer and the crash on the bike, I might just be mortal after all, so I'd better start experiencing more things instead of clinging to old standards. So I got a carbon fiber Roubaix with STI and fell in love. I still had a steel road bike with friction shifting which I started riding on dirt roads. I swapped all that gear over to a monstercross frame and made a fixie of the steel road bike. I caught myself last week ranting about the uselessness of disc brakes on road or gravel bikes, so naturally I just ordered a carbon framed cyclocross bike with hydraulic discs.

I have little doubt that my next road bike will have electronic shifting and possibly disc brakes. None of these changes are necessary, but most of them truly enhance the fun of riding bicycles and that is what it's all about. BTW, I still have a rigid steel MTB with friction thumb shifters and a Brooks saddle, a steel fixed gear road bike and a steel monstercross bike with a Brooks saddle. Just because you embrace the new doesn't mean you have to abandon the old and proven.