I am a fan of original MIDI too, I even had a T-shirt, but 2^7 controller resolution was a bit of an issue, since the gaps are audible when you are using them for filter sweeps. Some synths can smooth that out, I guess, but I would have preferred 2^16 for this reason, which probably wasn't an option when the original protocol was designed in the 80s.
Pitch bend messages are 14 bit though, right?
Works for some scenarios, but the receiver needs to support it.