In the past 10 years or so, the marketing of "innovations" for cycling has increased at an accelerated pace. My observation has been that when participation in the sport stopped growing at the same rate....and then began decreasing, the big manufacturers attempted to replace new participant sales with new product sales. Very quickly, they ran out of good ideas. For example, they've gone to the "you can't have too many gears " well so many times that one of the major players (SRAM) has introduced as an "innovation" the single ring rankest. It's no surprise that the industry is pushing very hard for disc brakes. It's the single change that will render more previously made bicycles incompatible...and obsolete in the eyes of many. In doing so, it will also eliminate one of the greatest and most useful features...The quick release wheel. Even under the most optimal conditions, a disc system can't improve braking performance on a bicycle but slightly as the limiting factors still remain the limit of friction between the tire and road surface and the reaction time of the rider. I like equipment of a certain vintage for a number of reasons-nostalgia being one of them....but I am not a retrogrouch. I appreciate REAL innovations such as integrates shifting (Ergopower) clipless pedals and more gears than 6 in the back....but we are moving well into the territory of silliness...IMHO, of course...