flying wrote: ↑Mon Jan 02, 2023 11:41 am
I don't agree as DT friction shifters was a horse of a different color & switching to index DT or brake lever shifting didn't require a new frame
As to Giant yes they are one but not alone
Factor O2 Vam, Trek Emonda & I imagine others still offer rim but have not bothered to look
But people tend to think many things are set in stone. The market will decide what comes back or not to many manufacturers.
Lastly I would say 2023 is going to be very interesting in the Cycling Industry with major companies having major financial problems plus a bunch of new smaller companies coming in & eating a lot rice out of the big boys bowls
But lets wait & see then look back next year at this time
The current Emonda is not offered with rim brakes. Only the 2017 era one…and only as a frameset. The O2 is similarly old and highly doubt the next O2 will have a rim-brake option.
None of the big brands are resurrecting rim brakes on current disc-only models.
This is current generation of DA/Ultegra and Red/Force are likely the last with rim-brake support.
ENVE is done with rim-brake rims, Zipp is close…their rim-brake offerings are just graphics updates of previous designs. HED doesn’t make its Vanquish line for rim brakes.
If you want to rim brakes, your practical options in the near future are going to be Campy, low-end, NOS or these upcoming Chinese brands. So far I have not been impressed at all by Sensah or Ltwoo’s offerings. Similarly I got burned by Magene’s terrible P325CS crowdfunding campaign. They’re rushing to market without proper R&D and QC because, we’ll, that costs money.
We can argue semantically about what obsolescence means, but we can't argue that the sales trends are going to be continually downward, especially on the high-end. Most of the damage was done in the last 4 years, so of course the trend will slow, but it won't ever stop pointing down.