Originally Posted by
veganbikes
No worries. Always happy to help.
The 7 speed era was in the late 80s to early 90s the 8 speed era started in the early 90s to mid 90s, We are in the 2020s now and are in the 12 speed era so the quality has nowhere to go but down and that is where it lies. Tourney, Altus, Acera, Claris... are all really low quality group sets there is nothing really redeeming about them other than they hit an initial price point. They cost very little to start and then the price goes way up in service and replacement costs.
You are correct about quality having nowhere to go but down. Because nobody is investing in better quality 7 and 8 speed groups.
I started a thread a couple of weeks ago complaining about $500 or even $700 bike shop bikes coming equipped with Tourney, and if you want Alivio, Deore, or any road group above Claris, you are talking about spending over $1,000 and a bunch of people jumped all over me, but my point was, if they are going to charge $500 or $600, heck even $400, they could at least go up a level from Tourney and it would cost the bike brands literally a couple of bucks to do.
I bought my first bike as an adult in early 1997 and that bike, a Bianchi Advantage had 7 speed. In those days, you had to go up to Deore LX or XT to get 8 speed, so as a consumer grade hybrid, 7 speed seemed pretty reasonable. But that was 24 years ago. Almost a quarter century.
I would have thought given that there are 12 speed groups available, that by now, even 9 speed would have trickled down to the entry level bikes. But I was wrong. 7 speed is alive and well, and selling for $500, $550, or even $700 retail. (shame on you, Specialized.
https://www.specialized.com/us/en/ro...ext=96121-7002)
Edit. The Bianchi I bought in 1997 cost me $400 retail, and I believe I paid close to full retail as it was a brand new model. Putting that through an inflation calculator, that same bike in today's dollars would be $660. Except that I would hope for that kind of money I could at least hope to get 9 or 10 speed drivetrain, and that is not actually the case.