SRAM Purple-Orange: it's 3 grams lighter than Red; it'll make you go faster, kid. The offer of saving 3 grams is like crack for Cat-3 racers.

Hmmm... Lots of interesting responses...

SunTour's heyday was a little before my time, but over the years I've developed an appreciation for their components (even though I've primarily been a Shimano guy, stemming from my single-track days in the mid to late '80s). I went car-free about ten years ago, and since then I've found that the basic economy and utility of Shimano's 8 sp. gear couldn't be faulted. My commuter, mountain, & touring bikes all sport HG 3 x 8 groups and probably always will; it's a good all-around gear ratio, they're easy to maintain, & spare parts are fairly easy to find, if not ubiquitous.

With regard to my sport bikes, I made the shift to 9 sp back around '01 or '02 and frankly, I've been less keen on their 4500 - 6500 groups because they can't be rebuilt: the aesthetics are fine and they work quite well until they wear out, but when they do? C'est fini- they're finished; done with; no second act.

I quite like 7700 D/A, but viable spares are becoming ever more expensive, which will eventually necessitate a move to 10sp. And Shimano's 10 sp groups are (for me, at least) kinda 'faceless,' kinda lacking in style. I feel SRAM does a much better job of that within the same aesthetic parameters and- more importantly- performance is similar; however they also suffer from the unfortunate problem of not being repairable: if your 'Force' shifter breaks or wears out, you have no choice but to toss it in the trash and spend another $250 for a new one. Which might be fine for pro teams with multimillion-dollar budgets, but- well, I don't know about you folks, but I see disposability as being more than a little wasteful outside the context of racing.

With an eye to these concerns, I've been gradually preparing to shift my sport bikes to Campagnolo 10 sp, acquiring both a Centaur & a Chorus gruppo, piece by piece. Performance is excellent; aesthetics are A-one; and they can be maintained & repaired (and thus kept out of the landfill). Another nicety for me is that Ergos fit my hands better than STIs; I have better 'reach' from the drops.

Looking at the broader picture, from what I understand, the general idea has been to try to eventually get all the gearing on the rear cluster with a single front chainring. I guess in terms of pro performance, the few grams of saved weight can be an advantage, but it would be an illusory one for the remaining 95% of cyclists, hence why I have no interest in 11 sp; it's really unnecessary for me, and every wrench I've mentioned it to, hates it working on it: apparently the tolerances are so fine that it's very finicky to set up & keep tuned; chains are prone to snapping, etc.

I dunno...

Fwiw, while I love tinkering with my bikes, I love riding them more, and the more time gets spent on necessary maintenance, less time gets spent on the saddle.