Just get the basic bike/frame and upgrade piecemeal. My work here is done.

I feel the same about motor vehicles. Give me the absolute minimum of components and features that will let me drive from A to B. If I can pull into car wash bay and hose it down inside and out, even better.

Do you ride single or fixed gear?

I'm not crotchety. I'm just good at confusing and annoying, and it took this long to perfect it.

I was asked to help out a couple missionaries that only use their bikes and had brake problems. As a former mechanic in the 70's and 80's, I thought "no big deal", packed up a couple wrenches and arrived to find two bikes with disc brakes. This was my first time dealing with discs so it took some time to figure them out enough to adjust them, about 20 minutes. The first few minutes were hardest, as cussing seemed necessary and I had to bite my tongue for the sake of the missionaries hanging over my shoulder. I don't know enough to properly service them but they seemed like a good idea for guys who ride every day, rain or snow included and have never turned a spoke wrench. I enjoy truing wheels so I might be biased.

I don't choose to ride in bad weather and southeast Michigan is pretty flat, so no great benefit for me. I'm sure it's useful to emphasize disc brakes from a selling standpoint as it helps justify getting a new bike but the simplicity of maintaining rim brakes wins out for my purposes. Good cables, casings and pads are all I need.

Now about this campy/shimano/sram issue, I'm sure that most all of us agree it doesn't really exist, as a Sugino Mighty Competition+Suntour V or Cyclone setup is all one ever needs, right?

The bike industry needs to sell bikes and one way of doing that is convincing people that the latest thing is better. Now they're pushing disc brakes and various systems for a cushy ride. Fine.
Like most of the people on these forums, I ride enough to have a pretty clear idea of what I want, what I don't want, and what I don't care about. I don't care about disc brakes. I'm perfectly comfortable with rim brakes. That being said, my next bike (who knows when - I'm happy with what I've got now) may have disc brakes simply because that's where the industry is going. I can imagine a day when non-disc wheels will be expensive specialty items.

I can also see myself buying a disc-equipped touring bike when I retire and have the time to tour. Discs make sense to me for a heavy, loaded bike.

Unfortunately, the things I do care about are not what the bike industry is pushing: threaded bottom brackets, external cable routing.

Now? Have you been living under a rock somewhere for the past 15+ years?

Going? Discs have been available for years.

I find the whole disk brake debate to be fascinating. I know opinions are like A-holes (everyone has one), and it is fun seeing how everyone wants theirs to be "right". My opinion is that disk brakes are not necessary for a road bike with my personal riding parameters (mostly dry, aluminum brake track, and personal experience with maintenance). I read an interesting article that I will attempt to link to below about disk brakes being "better" than rim brakes being a myth. The interesting takeaway is that rim brakes are actually disk brakes, using a disk that is much larger in diameter (the entire wheel).

disk brakes better?

Entertaining thread. now back to work! Cheers!

I recently purchased my first road bike, upgrading from a Hybrid. At first I was looking at a Trek Emonda SL 6 with Ultegra and Disc brakes (though I think they were cable). I was pretty excited about it when the sales person showed it to me and we talked about how great it was. But then I started to do a little research and decided on a Emonda ALR 6 with Ultegra and Rim brakes, with a great Aeolus wheel set. The difference in weight was minimal, about 1/4 a pound, I liked the idea of Aluminum over Carbon and frankly at 58 I'm not going to break any speed records out there except for my own. I decided that the ALR6 was the bike I wanted at the price (which was substantially less than the SL6) I wanted to pay. Would that be anyone else's decision? Maybe, maybe not. But this is what I wanted, and that's really all that matters. Get what you think is best for you.

I have no interest in disc brakes either but you'll be limited to find bikes without them.

Jf rim brakes aren't working right, it's because the levers aren't compatible. Mine are, but I tried some straight h'bar levers and they were hopeless.
Interesting to note many kids bikes have brakes which hardly work, especially for little hands. Seen it too often, shocking.

Since when do disc rotors have teeth?

That photo definitely needs a spoiler warning.

If not for "Myth 1: Wider tires are slower," I wouldn't be in the market for a new bike.

I recently bought a new bike and purposely got rim brakes. I do a lot of mountain riding on carbon wheels and have not had a braking problem, even at 60 mph plus. I didn't want the extra weight. My mountain bike has hydraulic disc brakes which are great for riding when it's muddy and wet.