Originally Posted by
Dave Mayer
Anyway, for the benefit of the OP - when any shop sharts yapping about 'upgrading' to 11 speed, I suggest you head for the door. In this world there is real progress, but contrast this with the bike industries absurd cycle of planned obsolescence. This involves adding another cog every 7 years soley to stir up some sales churn.
The extra gears are providing a wider range, making cycling more accessible. That's a good thing. You can buy compact doubles with wider ranges than the old 9-speed triples. And the low end gearing, compared to an old 7-speed bike is laughably better. True, 11-speed doesn't add range, but it fills in the gaps when 10-speed went to 11-28 cassettes.
All the retro-grouchs complaining about "too many cogs" should be forced to do extended 6% climbs on 52/39 with a 13-23 cassettes because that's how it was done "back in the day".