As the song goes, you dont know what youve got til its gone. This is true of everything except herpes, which you dont remember that youve got until it flares up again. STDs notwithstanding, this aphorism continues to resonate as cycling journalists lament the disappearance of the mechanical bicycle drivetrain:Obviously I agree with him, for all the reasons he cites, and more:What you never have to do is remember to charge a mechanical drivetrain.Or update its firmware.Or remember to replace those tiny hidden shifter batteries that you forgot about.Or worry that you leaned another bike up against your electronic-shift road bike, and not only drained the battery, but actually destroyed the battery by over-draining it. Yeah, I did that with a Di2 setup several years ago.Also, a couple of years ago, I found an AXS battery on the side of a trail about 2500m above sea level, high and deep into the Swiss Alps. I hope someone lost their spare battery. Because if that had fallen out of their mountain bike derailleur there, it would have been a really long day stuck in the wrong gear before they made it back to civilization, where theyd have been able to shift again.Though for the record I dont hope the rider who lost their battery only lost a spare. I hope they lost their one and only battery, learned the error of their ways, and immediately replaced their electronic drivetrain with a mechanical one when they finally made it back to civilization. But then again, like most retrogrouches, Im bitter and twisted.And my twisted bitterness doesnt stop there. As someone who believes in mechanical drivetrains I should feel vindicated that a story like this is appearing in a mainstream cycling publication, and I should applaud the author for writing it. But I do not, and I do not. Sorry, but as the fertility clinic said to the hypospermia sufferer who missed the ovulation window, this is too little, too late.Granted, Im not immediately familiar with this particular writer, and for all I know perhaps hes been staunchly defending mechanical shifting in the cycling press for decades. Even so, this is yet another publication that for years and years has given us headlines like this:And now Im supposed to raise my tankard of ale and emit a hearty and robust Hear, hear! because theyve placed a single wilted flower on mechanical shiftings grave?I dont think so!And what do these publications have to show for all this new-tech rubber-stamping, anyway? The bike companies dont even buy ads from them anymore! In fact, as I read this particular article, I kept seeing ads for nicotine pouches:Just like I refuse to post the Obligatory Tomac Photo, I also refuse to post the Obligatory Tour de France Riders Smoking Photo (or the Obligatory Mario Cipollini Smoking Photo for that matter), but as advertising revenue becomes increasingly scarce and the cycling media continues to wither I think cycling is ripe for a takeover by Big Tobacco. First get all the riders hooked on nicotine pouches, then gradually re-introduce cigarettes for their pre-climb lung-opening qualities, and soon smoking will once again be seen as a healthy lifestyle choice.Look, the mechanical drivetrain is dead, and YOU PEOPLE (that is the cycling media) have nobody to blame but yourselves. Go ahead, keep telling me that thingsHave neverBeen better:And yes, that video is a glowing review of a steel road bike, but its a steel road bike with a carbon fork and disc brakes and mechanical shifting:That certainly doesnt make it a bad bikeno doubt its an excellent bikebut still, I dont think bikes like that should get to claim membership in the steel bike community:So yes, high-end mechanical shifting is dead, and its not ever coming back. How do I know? Well, back inI dunno, maybe 2017?I briefly returned to bike racing. Now, please note when I say bike racing I dont mean I was training or setting goals for myself or trying to win. No, what I mean is that I went back to racing in the park at the crack of dawn because its a great way to get a fast group ride in, maybe do a little socializing, and be home by 9am. Basically, it was the equivalent of a normal person joining a gym. I even got a bike for it:Im not exactly sure, but I think I got that bike in 2018, and I obtained it at minimal personal expenseyes, partially because I had connections, but also because it was a racing bike with rim brakes and mechanical shifting, which even then pretty much nobody wanted. It served its purpose very well, too, though after awhile I stopped racing again and switched it for another Specialized better suited to my lifestyle:In retrospect that was a better gravel bike than the PRJCT GRVL bike (for me anyway), but thats beyond the purview of this post.The point is, you could barely sell that plastic Specialized as a new bike even way back in 2018. Admittedly, thats more because of the rim brakes than the mechanical shifting, but one begets the other. See, people demand disc brakes now; more specifically, they demand hydraulic disc brakes. If people were okay with mechanical disc brakes then the drivetrain companies could keep making high-end mechanical shifters that worked with either disc brakes or rim brakes. In fact, in some alternate dimension where things actually made sense, the mechanical disc brake would have become the standard for road bikes. Imagine a pro-level Dura-Ace mechanical disc brake caliper, and being able to use the same shifter on a modern carbon disc brake race bike or your beloved 40 year-old steel frame.But this didnt happen. Instead, Im pretty sure the Dura-Ace 9100 drivetrain on that Specialized represents the last fully mechanical, non-fluid-filled top-tier road racing group Shimano ever made. Braking went hydraulic, shifting went electronic, and all cables and hoses went inside the frame, or else vanished completely. As a result, virtually all high-end frames have internal cable routing, and more and more of them arent compatible with mechanical shifting at all. When I put together that PRJCT GRVL bike using a completely mechanical drivetrain, by far the most difficult job was routing the cables through the frame. In 2026, any person not suffering from my (perhaps irrational) level of commitment would would have concluded that simply using wireless shifters and cables and more flexible hydraulic brake lines was a far better choice. Theyre charging everything else in their life anywaythe phone, the TV remote, the watch, the e-reader, the Apple pencilso whats a few more batteries on the bike?Basically, the holes in the frames have closed up, and no bike company is going to open them up again. Its like that earring you used to wear in high school. Try putting it back in now and its not happeningat least not without lots of pain and bleeding. Youre asking the bike industry to bleed for you, and theyre not gonna do it.

For most of his career, Filippo Ganna has been defined by raw power. World titles against the clock, Olympic gold on the track, and an engine capable of sustaining numbers few in the peloton can touch have long marked him out as one of cyclings most formidable specialists. Heading into 2026, howeve...

This weeks Debrief features a shiny new crankset from Stridsland, an illustrated map of koala sightings, colorful Tanaka racks, a 32-inch fork from Intend, two events to follow live, and much more. Find it all hereThe post Friday Debrief: 32-Inch Forks, Stridsland Cranks, Colorful Racks, and More appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

While the 2026 road season is already underway following the Tour Down Under, Friday marked the first one-day race of the European calendar with the 2026 edition of the Classica Camp de Morvedre. A strong field featuring riders such as Ivan Romeo, Pablo Castrillo, Antonio Morgado, Christian Scaroni...

This week's Reader's Rig comes from Adam in Sheffield, UK, who offers a look at his kid-hauling, singletrack-cruising Stooge Scrambler and shares some thoughts on how it perfectly suits his evolution as a rider. Meet Adam and scope out his Stooge here...The post Readers Rig: Adams Stooge Scrambler appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

The Gran Premio Castelln is going to be the second Spanish race of the early season and will take place on the 24th of January. It is expected to start at 12:36CET and finish at 16:30CET. We take a look at the profile of the Spanish race. The Gran Premio Castelln Ruta de la Cermica has quickly...

With our sixth-annual Good Night Campout wrapped, we picked a random handful of winners from the hundreds of participants around the globe. Find the full list of lucky folks and the prizes they'll receive from Rogue Panda, Rene Herse, and Tumbleweed here...The post Announcing Our Good Night 2025 Prize Winners! appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com.

The Cycling Weekly experts have always rated Velocio's range of premium cycling apparel highly, and now it's your chance to find out why, with massive savings across the men's and women's range

The Dont Be Dim, Be A Bright Cyclist campaign is raising awareness about keeping cyclists safe on our roads by urging riders to use front and rear bike lights and wear hi-vis clothing, after a councillor counted 27 cyclists riding without lights in t

At a team shaped around the presence of Tadej Pogacar, clarity of role is essential. For Jan Christen, looking ahead to 2026 has meant embracing that reality, while also identifying where his own path can continue to open up inside one of cyclings most stacked rosters at UAE Team Emirates - XRG. I...