>>1024331Because weight. Separate individual sprockets used to be a thing. Modern cassettes are now cut from a few or even just a couple (SRAM eagle notably) blocks of metal to cut weight down. Separate sprockets would mean more fitments to stick them together hence more weight. With the move to 1X i expect single metal block cassette soon.
I do agree that for city bikes where performance is not essential that would be a nice option.
