Originally Posted by
Darth Lefty
... these bikes selling mostly because they're fashionable right now. What supposed magic of design is helping a normal average person get up a hill easier with 15lb more bike and higher gearing and potentially a hundred pounds of kids/groceries/payload?
Fashionable? These bikes haven't changed much for decades and have remained the predominant transportation bicycle for decades.
No magic is needed. The average person who is not trying to put 3 seconds in to a competitor climbing the Alps will not much notice the difference in speed or power required. What they will notice is much greater comfort and better handling when carrying stuff.