Funny about the turn the corner. 1st cx race tires folded over and crashed and DNF'd. That is why I decided to get some better wheels.

The amount of disciplines and specialization now also make things different. I was chatting with kid's team director (new hall of fame inductee last week) who won elite cross nationals and he mentioned he just used his road bike then. Asked if that could be done now - nope. So doing cx, road, TT means at least one bike for each, when it used to be done with one bike for all events. Add MTB, track, hill climbing - also another at least another bike each.

On the topic, as the disciplines diverge a bit, each will get more specific parts. For road races, the FD and 2X, is going to stay. For hill climbs, TTs, crits, and MTB I see the 1X gaining as it is simpler, lighter and the range is not needed. 1X came on the two cross bikes we got - cause you need two. There was no need to change. The narrow-wide I see as an advantage. I was thinking of putting the Shimano road cranks on and the Wolf Tooth Narrow-wide. Likely not now.

On parts (seen if a few times in different threads)/ the personal advice I get on supporting the industry vs training methods. When my kid starts a new discipline he starts as a Cat 1. Parts do matter to a degree. Brand X vs Y, not as much. His wheels definitely matter. I don't see any podiums with those current wheels. There is a lot more support that goes into this than folks assume. It still costs money, but for youth elite racers there is a lot of help.
We also re-purpose all the time. Note the stem used this month in cx - same as in crit in 2014.

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