>>1675742>Whatever the best rim brake bike is will be the best rim brake bike.From a larger manufacturer that will likely be an aluminum shitter with lower end components. Everything else will be disc-only, which will carry over to wheelsets, so even if you get a nice boutique rim-brake bike, you won't be able to find higher-end wheelsets with rim brake tracks. This is already the case with Campy Bora, where the top-end Ultra is disc-only.
>You're not buying Dura Ace or Ultegra new anyway and you never have.That's correct in the sense that I run Campy and bought Super Record and Athena Ultra new. Was planning on building a new bike around DA9200 but man it's ugly, so it'll probably be whatever Campy replaces EPS with.
>What is there you want innovated? 2x13 mechanical road would be neat. Ekar's shifting is really good, but I think it may actually be too hard to keep it mechanical for 2x and retain good shifting. Would be nice if 12sp could be made as light or lighter than 11sp, though that would compromise cassette longevity. Aesthetics could be improved especially for disk brake hoods and Shimano in general. Reducing cable wear, especially for Shimano. All small things but electronic shifting is the same now, nothing revolutionary on the horizon, aside from everyone trying to play catchup to SRAM without violating patents.
>Will they stop, and never start again, making -very good- rim brake bikes, and mech groups? I doubt it.With respect to rim brakes, yes, they will. It's already happened in offroad. Mech groups will disappear from any road bike with racing aspirations, a trend that will accelerate once 105 Di2 comes along. They'll remain on offroad longer although I expect that the industry will start to seriously push electronic there.
Now, if your definition of -very good- involves Altus, then yes, Grant, I'm sure you'll be able to find something suitable for a long time to come. Except maybe those wheels that can fit 700c x 2.8" tires with rim brakes.
