Ya, maybe...but...I don't know. That's kind of like Ford saying "Our desert racers don't really use windshields, so we haven't included them in our new models of trucks." I mean, it's kind of great that we largely ride the same gear as the best racers in the world, but I don't really care all that much what is best for them (especially the XC guys), I'm more concerned about what is best for me. They could have easily made it 98% as good by just having a few slightly larger jumps on the granny end of the cassette spectrum.
I'll also say that the change from 11 to 12 isn't all that big of a deal, when you get right down to it. It's more how the change was done. I talked about this in depth when it first came out. We had just gotten our heads wrapped around 11 speed and been told that it was so much better and then all of a sudden SRAM swoops in (zing!) and it's "OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD! That old stuff was crap! This new stuff is soooooo good!" Well...get your shit together and figure out how to give us the good stuff without having to make a wholesale change to everything every couple of years. Like I said...terrible change management.
Same things with Elixirs. "These new taperbore brakes are the best ever! This new reservoir design is sooooooo good! Okay...You guys all bought your new brakes? Everybody forked out their cash? Oops! Sorry! We're back to the old design. It's soooooooo good!"
Jan. 19, 2018, 11:22 a.m. - Dave Tolnai
Ya, maybe...but...I don't know. That's kind of like Ford saying "Our desert racers don't really use windshields, so we haven't included them in our new models of trucks." I mean, it's kind of great that we largely ride the same gear as the best racers in the world, but I don't really care all that much what is best for them (especially the XC guys), I'm more concerned about what is best for me. They could have easily made it 98% as good by just having a few slightly larger jumps on the granny end of the cassette spectrum. I'll also say that the change from 11 to 12 isn't all that big of a deal, when you get right down to it. It's more how the change was done. I talked about this in depth when it first came out. We had just gotten our heads wrapped around 11 speed and been told that it was so much better and then all of a sudden SRAM swoops in (zing!) and it's "OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD! That old stuff was crap! This new stuff is soooooo good!" Well...get your shit together and figure out how to give us the good stuff without having to make a wholesale change to everything every couple of years. Like I said...terrible change management. Same things with Elixirs. "These new taperbore brakes are the best ever! This new reservoir design is sooooooo good! Okay...You guys all bought your new brakes? Everybody forked out their cash? Oops! Sorry! We're back to the old design. It's soooooooo good!"