> When I was cycling, there wasn't any compatibility between Shimano and Campagnolo (SRAM wasn't a player in road yet). Heck, Dura-Ace (Shimano's top of the line road component group) previously wasn't compatible with other, lesser Shimano groups.
This isn't remotely true at all. For probably two decades people have been swapping Shimano components around, even stuff like putting dura-ace jockey wheels on lower derailleurs because the DA jockey wheels had better bearings and lasted longer.
Manufactures shipped bikes all the time with higher group shifters than a derailleur or brakes (manufacturers love to cheap out on brakes and front derailleurs in particular.)
BTW, Hammerhead is really important in the market because along with Wahoo they were the first serious challenge to Garmin's effective monopoly on bike computers. Frankly, they used to suck - little to no change between models. Wahoo and Hammerhead forced them to actually innovate. Amusingly enough, the first "new and competition-improved" Garmin head units were terrible - the Edge 500/1000 were buggy and tended to crash a lot. It took at least another product cycle or two for Garmin to get their act together.
A similar thing is happening in the GPS sport watch market. Some new competitors have shown up, and all of the sudden Garmin's lower-end sport watch lines are seeing massive expansion of their features which would normally only be found on much more expensive models.
This isn't remotely true at all. For probably two decades people have been swapping Shimano components around, even stuff like putting dura-ace jockey wheels on lower derailleurs because the DA jockey wheels had better bearings and lasted longer.
Manufactures shipped bikes all the time with higher group shifters than a derailleur or brakes (manufacturers love to cheap out on brakes and front derailleurs in particular.)
BTW, Hammerhead is really important in the market because along with Wahoo they were the first serious challenge to Garmin's effective monopoly on bike computers. Frankly, they used to suck - little to no change between models. Wahoo and Hammerhead forced them to actually innovate. Amusingly enough, the first "new and competition-improved" Garmin head units were terrible - the Edge 500/1000 were buggy and tended to crash a lot. It took at least another product cycle or two for Garmin to get their act together.
A similar thing is happening in the GPS sport watch market. Some new competitors have shown up, and all of the sudden Garmin's lower-end sport watch lines are seeing massive expansion of their features which would normally only be found on much more expensive models.