Originally Posted by
msu2001la
Agree. Pretending that Shimano or SRAM mechanical shifters are somehow the same as a luxury watch is hilarious.
It's the manual crank windows of the groupset world. They worked fine for years, though were mostly forgettable. The motors work better and the vast majority of people will happily move on without ever thinking about them again. It seems very likely that electronic shifting, like power windows, will soon just be standard on bikes, rather than marketed as a top-tier upgrade.
A mechanical watch is hardly a luxury item. I wore a $30 Seiko 5 for years.
Mechanical shifting is an opportunity to interact directly with your bike, get feedback on how it is shifting and control the speed and force as appropriate. The amount of dexterity and force you have to pay is not significant. Certainly not enough to effect ride performance.
There is a joy in using well tuned mechanisms. I prefer making the effort to shift my sports car or bike mechanically, reset the date on my watch, use a chef's knife and keep it sharp, draw something with a pencil, polish a shoe.
Considering that no one I'll ever meet will win a race or set a KOM because they didn't have electric shifting - it is purely a luxury. I feel a bit sorry for all the people that apparently hate interacting with a modern mechanical bicycle. They work so well.
Downtube shifters are the crank windows of bikes.