So, you'll all have to excuse me as I've had a few and I decided I want go have a go at this proper finally
I'll preface this by saying I hate derailleurs, I think they're pesky things, but I also do recognise the beauty of a derailleur setup. It's relatively inexpensive, fairly easy to replace (very perishable), and ultimately allows you to have a proper wide spread of gears. That's if you're going mechanical of course. So, in other words, the beauty of an external drivetrain to me is that it's easily replaceable at a relatively low cost. That's why I'd go for a derailleur. It's a really really basic design that does the job, even with all the electric jimmydidoos and daddididoodas it shouldn't be as expensive as presented here.
Now anyway, that leads me to my actual point. How come they're trying to perfect derailleurs, which have already been perfected? In their mechanical state they're absolutely capable of just about anything thrown at them, sure, they take a knock and get knackered - this may improve that - but ultimately we're still talking a component protruding FROM the frame, sticking out towards the environment, and it's bound to get knocked. And sure, it may be able to withstand it better than other derailleurs, but at the end of the day it's not going to last long is it?
So my question is, how come they're not investing this time and effort into making more affordable IGH, electronically shifted with a much wider spread of gears? Compete with Rohloff. I don't get it. There's far more to be said for tapping into the market of electrically shifted IGH than derailleurs. An IGH be it electrically shifted or not will always outlast an external gear setup, and as such it'd make sense to perfect the craft of an IGH. Derailleurs have had very very marginal benefits from going 'wireless'. IGH would be a world of difference as it allows cheaper IGH to index on a hub level rather than relying on mechanical cable pull, it could provide cheap reliable shifting to the masses at a fraction of the cost..
Oh wait..
That's it.
A derailleur costing you the equivalent of a used decent used car will ultimately break and you'll have to get a new one.. That was the sales technique all along.. Gotcha.
