Originally Posted by
late
My complaint with shimano is that they are chasing a nonexistent improvement.
I want brifters designed for touring. I could care less if they were 7, 8 or 9 speed.
I want a broad range of gears starting with a really low bailout gear, not zillions of tiny cogs that wear out quickly.
I somewhat agree. The great thing about Shimano is (was) the ability to mix and match the mountain stuff with the road stuff. So you could put, say, an XT rear derailleur with a 105 group to get a wide range casette. Unfortunately now that everything has moved to 10 speed above Tiagra, while mountain stuff is 9 speed, you need to either get NOS or Tiagra brifters.
I'd love to see a 9 speed Ultegra/105 level cyclocross/touring type group. Unfortunately I don't se eit happening.