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I completely agree, it would be great if there was a good spec mechanical groupset still available for road, something like 2x10, short and long cage mechs, fully rebuildable. I just don't think there is a market for it, I probably wouldn't buy it. We are already in a small minority of people who would actually want to understand and repair parts and it's an even smaller minority who would pay more for 'less'.
One thing that I think is driving the perception of planned obsolescence (that's getting harder and harder to type) is the reduction of product cycles. Companies are expected to update their bike every 2-3 years, either to be compatible with something, or to follow the latest geometry trends etc. It ends up in a race to be the first to release an ebike with new X motor or whatever and other more meaningful developments get left behind. This also creates a huge list of parts that you need to keep available for service which is a big cost for warehousing and distribution. We all had the hope that 3D printing would solve this for the world, and I think it is helping, but we can't solve everything with filament. It's great to see companies like Madrone keeping parts going, I hope they get some success.
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chiroshi
@Josē
Great topic, the beauty of cycling is not only the exercise/transport aspect, but simplicity of the bike and tinkering factor. I get that not everyone wants to work on their own bikes, but learning how to take care and then upgrade my bikes as a kid gave me a lot of satisfaction.
Making bikes unserviceable at home is frustrating, but deliberately not making spares or parts being written off due to labour to repair is shitehousery.
Not to get into the mech/elec groupset argument, because I'm sure Di2 is banging but it's a shame high-end mechanical isn't on offer new and you're restricted to second hand/fire sales these days. Better get the Abe Simpson yelling at cloud meme out...