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Well, as long as we're agreed that SunTour were first and Shimano isn't much of an innovator either. If I'm going to continue to fight this corner, indexed shifting and STI shifters are just incremental improvements on the cabled groupset; Di2 is a cabled groupset too, with some admitted improvements. I've made the comparison before between CDs / Minidisk / MP3, which I think is quite apt. Minidisk was an improvement on CDs in a lot of ways, but it was quickly sidelined by the convenience of digital music.
Wireless is a paradigm shift.
p.s. I'm not half as much of a fanboy as I make out. I think wireless shifting is cool, but I've got Shimano and SRAM cable groupsets on my bikes, and it'll stay that way for a long old time I recon. I prefer SRAM shifting and hood shape, but I've used Campag and own Shimano without complaint. I enjoy the discussion if I'm honest.
MechaMorgan-
MP3
If we REALLY really want to go to the source then MP3 was invented by Fraunhofer Society and I hope they got royalties.
Who invented it first is hardly relevant in the mainstream.
Wireless is a paradigm shift.
100% agree. The relevancy is subjective. Pros dont care, noobs would love it. If Shimano comes up with it then it will be a better, more solid and cheaper product than Sram. And I will thank Sram for making that paradigm shift and buy Shimano.
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So your claim that SRAM are the super innovators falls down. Whereas Shimano HAVE actually innovated. Thank them for freehubs, hollow cranks, STI, SPD and their lovely fishing reels...
If you think being able to shift from the handlebars compared to the drops is an 'incremental improvement' then how on earth can you consider wireless shifting, which does nothing except accelerate the need for battery charging a 'proper groupset update'?
STI was a "paradigm shift". Wireless means more charging and inferior shifting but hey at least you might be able to install it yourself without seeing your LBS.
"I've got Shimano..." => "I'm not racist, but"
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"quickly sidelined by the convenience"
Tell me more about having to change button cells in your shifters and only getting 1000k out of a derailler charge...
amey
hippy
Zap "achieved neither technical success nor commercial application" and was beaten by two years by SunTour BEAST anyway.
You're funny, proper off the deep-end fanboy syndrome. Indexed shifting and STI shifters are the two biggest developments in groupsets since the cabled derailler was created by Simplex. Then we have Di2.
"The first commercially successful electronic gear shift system for road bicycles was introduced by Shimano in 2009, the Di2" followed six years later by those well-known innovators, SHAM.