[alrs]

In computerland, technologies trickle up. The PC, the iPhone started out at home, found a niche in business, and then took over.

With cycling, innovations trickle down from the top. Starting out with a flat-bar hybrid is not starting at the top, and seems like a really weird choice. Hybrids are marketed to beginners, or mountain bike people who want to train on the road with the same hand position they ride off-road.

Sofware may be "eating the world," but Asian manufacturing has been eating the cycling market for 40 years. Shimano, specifically, is a far more profitable business than any of the branding companies or manufacturers. If you aren't going after Shimano, you're fighting for scraps.