Long live mechanical gear shifting – for now.

Now, I must admit I have never tried electronic gear shifting. But whilst I had the option to put it on my bike I decided to go for mechanical XT 8100. I am not an electrical engineer and I don’t think I would find it so easy to fix electronic derailleur on the side of the road, plus, I already always forget to charge my phone, my earbuds, and my music player before a ride, adding shifter batteries would be the end of me!

So the horror when the MTB press announced that XT mechanical shifters were over and XT M8200 would only come as electronic! A few month or more have passed since that announcement. The first thing I did notice however, was that whilst XT M8200 were only electronic, production of the XT M8100 mechanical shifters never actually ended and were for sale as a mechanical options alongside the electronic XT M8200 all along, giving me a glimmer of hope. But now the XT M8200 mechanical shifters have been announced and released. Hurray! I can have the latest group set without going electronic  (also XT M8100 group sets can be had very cheap now as back stock from retailers).

So how much longer has mechanical shifting got left? I can’t say for sure. I don’t know if the life has just been extended for a bit or it is here to stay – They definitely have their market for long distance riding, or riding with no support. I am hoping that it will mimic the car industry who went all in with touch screen cabins and electronic door handles, only to now make a U-turn when they realised that some things are simply better as they are, and reintroduced physical buttons and actual door handles for new cars!