Psimet2001 

Agree with your whole post. Wanted to bring this part out particularly. I was slow to come around to electronic. I work on it a ton now in almost all forms (no EPS). I eneded up finally moving that way myself last year. I love a ton of it. It really is nice and a leap forward.

BUT.... Twice I've gotten on the trainer and not been able to shift until I go grab my charger and plug in the group. It's immensely annoying. Almost in a large enough way that there will absolutely be a retro movement back to cables at some point by the riding public for sure. You just don't have to worry with mechanical and it just simply works so well.

Point of clarification - XDR is XD just an "11 speed version" meaning the same body length as an 11 speed HG freehub or 1.8mm longer than XD. As a wheel builder I have to admit it's a good system. In application it's about as proprietary as Shimano HG 7/8/9/10/11 is/was in that it is readily open licensing and just about every hub manufacturer I deal with already has them on hand. .....they are also "hot swappable". You don't have to rebuild a wheel or even re-dish it in essence. Just pull the axle apart and pull the driver and replace. On most modern thru axle hubs with endcaps that's a 20 second swap.

They have a lot of engineers. We race with a lot of them and at least a couple I can actually consider friends. I put together a how to video on YouTube about how to service sticking road hydraulic levers because they hadn't. I had to see one of the engineering/the engineering manager the next night at a local event for the cycling community. I was sure he was going to give me an earful. Instead he came up smiling, shook my hand, and thanked me for getting the info out there. Said he ran it by some of his engineers that designed the product initially and they had 4 comments they wanted to forward on. 1 was "don't forget eye protection". 2 was "if they can't flip it over in the stand remind people they can loosen the stem and rotate the bars. 3. We can debate the value of greasing the piston o-rings - manager says "I get the feeling this is an engineering vs good mechanic in the field kind of debate. You're both right and it comes down to preference and what the customer wants." 4. Get a tripod for the camera.

So...actually knowing a lot of people at SRAM....

They have a lot of problems. They have a lot of staff, particularly a part of the Zipp/Indy crew that are immensely pompous and just can't interact with people without covering the ground they walk on with a sort of vile grease of smugness. Think vile, pompous millennial attitude. The sales force has a lot of the same issue. The engineering staff is smart. They know their stuff and they do race and ride the hell out of everything. They're immensely awkward and aren't the best talking to the public but they honestly love the sport and really are working on what they feel is technology they hope will improve the experience for everyone.

The marketing group... Some of their leaders I truly like, consider friends, and admire what they can and have done. I think they were the start of the smug culture that currently is pervasive throughout SRAM but I've never known them to be too busy to stop and shake a hand or say hello. that goes a long way.

So are they in the business of just creating new stuff for the sake of creating new stuff? It may seem that way from the outside but it's not a part of their engineering DNA. I don't know anyone in that organization that doesn't ride and many to most race. They are us. Many are on here and just don't out themselves or participate because they can't. I am sure they are reading this thread. They're good people trying to make good stuff. That really is their goal.

Marketing - they did a great job this time at timing the release and information to go off in the right way. I can't think of anyone in this industry that has ever done a better job with that. That's truly industry changing and impressive. Shimano couldn't coordinate a tech memo release to coincide with a leap year holiday if it tried. They are truly disjointed and it's sad because they really could do a lot better. Don't think they aren't watching this launch though.

Pricing....I'm with you. It's too much. Way too much. but maybe we have finally hit the era where riding the absolute top components was actually within the reach of the vast majority of the enthusiast riding public. That said - I vaguely recall some issues they were having with pricing and costs when eTap was first around. We had been seeing it in races for a couple of years and talk was they had it ready to go but they couldn't release it because it was just too expensive and they were doing everything they could to bring the costs down so they could sell it at a reasonable or at least sell-able price and not lose money on it. I still don't think it ever really became profitable for them in the way that it should or could have. I think this is more of a move to right that wrong.

End of the day - it's an interesting group. I applaud their effort. I admire their boldness at introducing so many pieces that are proprietary when the industry has shown that is almost never awarded. I hope for the sake of the future of SRAM and their employees that play such a large role int he cycling community here locally that it all works out and is seen as a good move when we look back on it.