i do agree with you and have bought a new bike road bike that has E-Shifting and disc brakes and its a fatty (Scott Addict 10 with Rival AXS that weights over 19lbs omg lol) and was wondering if I made a huge mistake.



but in the end I do love that with disc brakes you can put in a lot wider tires, mine came stock with 32c, braking with disc brakes (especially hydraulic disc brakes) is a lot smoother. the bike is the most comfortable road bike i've ridden/owned and I've done the retro steel with sram red that was so comfortable. i also did the super 14lbs light weight racing bike (van dessel rivet with sram red) that was unforgivingly stiff but fast and light and surprisingly not that expensive for that weight, carbon, and groupset (i spent well under 4k). Its probably mainly do to the 32c tires and i can even fit bigger 35-38c tires and turn the bike into a capable lighter gravel bike. hell even with the 32c tires I did some pretty gnarly semi-mountain trail riding just to see if it works and its good.

a lot of the modern endurance bikes also have mounts for accessory bags and fender mounts (i bought a official fender mount kit from scott thats super clean looking).



i'm contemplating spending $$$$ for carbon wheels/carbon cockpit/SRAM Red Cranks Groupt eventually to get it into that 15-16lbs range, but i actually don't care that the bike is over 19lbs so far I love riding it. The AXS shifting, Garmin Varia, Cadence APP (that tracks power meter and has varia) have made riding super fun and actually safer and mechanical stuff like no cables for shifting is even simpler.

i love this bike with all the newer stuff, I don't love its heavier and somewhat more expensive but everything is (groceries, eggs, gas, concert tickets, houses, etc).

the tech will catch up again and lower in price over time as well as get lighter for cheaper eventually.