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Comment by AlexandrB | Hacker News Reader

What he points out is true, but I could never get comfortable shaving with a double blade razor (constant razor burn) whereas the cartridge razors were much easier to use and get a comfortable shave. I wish there was a middle ground where you could have a durable multi-blade razor body and still replace individual blades instead of the whole head.

Edit:

Some of the other examples given are less strong (tea is still pennies a serving when buying in bag form). However electronic bike shifting systems always seem absurd to me. You mean I have to charge my bicycle!?

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I largely agree with the article, but...

> Well understood mechanical bike shifting transitions to electronic shifting which requires you to pay more and charge your pedal bike

This has been on my mind lately. I own a bike with mechanical cable shifters and derailleurs. I've talked to friends who had to maintain these parts over the years, and even seen one maintenance session personally. Namely, you have to change the steel cable every so often because water and dirt enter through the ends and contaminate the cable. And after every few cable changes, you need to change the housing as well. Ask anyone who has ridden over 10 000 km, and they will tell you that they've changed the cable and/or housing during that operational period. Also, cables stretch and shift over time, and even without changing the cable or housing, you have to constantly re-tune the cable tension to ensure crisp shifting and not get stuck between gears - you probably have to do this every 1000 km.

Electronic (wireless) shifters/derailleurs don't have this particular failure mode because there is no mechanical cable. Sure, the derailleur needs lubrication and occasional maintenance, and you need to charge/change the batteries, and of course you need to make sure you don't destroy any electrical cables. But I believe the maintenance of as electronic shifting system requires far less labor. Electronic shifting isn't just a cash-cow gimmick; it offers real advantages. Another point is that some cargo bikes with a long distance between the rider and the derailleur(s) use electronic shifting instead of running a long cable, which again reduces maintenance and failure modes.

On road I don't see the point, any decent derailleur works well in all conditions you regularly experience. Generally rides (consciously or not) let up on the torque to improve shifting, not a big deal.

However on a MTB it's more challenging, more forces (sideways, skidding, jumps, rock gardens, etc), larger temperature changes, more variable torque (large gear ranges and suspension travel induced torque), and more need for shifting under full torque. For example when climbing a steep technical climb strewn with rocks and roots.

All cassettes in the last few decades have on/off ramps to help shifting, however it's pretty much the luck of the draw when you shift, doubly so when shifting multiple gears at once.

SRAM has managed quite the evolution and got the bike industry on board. First they replaced the weakest part of the frame (I've personally lost a frame to this), the derailleur hanger. Now the derailleur is effectively attacked to the rear hub and is perfectly aligned, there's all kinds of silly demos showing them being hit by hammers or standing on them when the bike is on it's side. I saw a study showing that on 5 year old bikes something approximately 50% of bikes has a misaligned hanger, enough to make shifting worse.

Now with that crazy big improvement in strength, durability, alignment, and best of all the bike industry now doesn't require a custom hanger for every bike with variable derailleur positioning, it can now just design in the bike axle.

Now they have a electronic shifter that gets rid of temp variability, cable issues, and can tuck in to avoid hits. It also knows where the ramps are, so it can shift exactly when needed, which allows full torque shifting seemlessly. In fact people complain it doesn't work particularly well when on a bike stand, but does extremely well when actually ridden on the trail.

Is it worth the cost, complexity, and charging once a month? That's up to the end user, but it is a pretty noticeable improvement. Some ebikes can supply the derailleur from the main battery.

I'm pretty late to the game with most bike developments, but I'm considering this one, perfect shifting under load is pretty attractive. My current bike is pretty finicky shifting wise. I replace the cable, casing, and clean/lubricate my derailleur and it gets better, not great though or at least not for long.

You beat me to it. I can never get a pleasant shave from a DE blade, even using high quality soap and a brush.

Maybe you need better shaving cream. I use some sort of slimy soap, works well.

I tried the whole "old school" stack: double edge razor, Wilkinson shaving soap, hog hair brush. Still got a more comfortable result with a cartridge + any kind of soap (even hand soap). It's probably a question of getting more skilled/practiced with it, but now I keep a beard so I shave quite rarely.

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