It's just standard protocol to pooh-pooh certain gear. Looking back, I see that the pie plate isn't useless, and foam grips weren't bad, either. We viewed them as bad because guys with expensive bikes didn't generally use them, but it doesn't mean they were bad.

Even the so-called safety levers don't seem as bad as we made them sound. I borrowed a friend's bike for a year. It had those levers. I used them. They were fine. I just never owned a bike with them.