Hub Gear Update

I noted last year, here:
"I suppose I have to wait until, inevitably, Shimano brings out a smaller, lighter 9 or 10-speed competitor and actually gets it into bikes in shops.
Hope I am not too old to enjoy it then."

Well, things seem to be progressing further & faster than expected.
Although I only noticed it recently, there was a flurry of information on internet around 2 Feb 2010, about Shimano's future 11-speed Alfine hub.

Gears - 11
Total range - 4.09:1
Weight - 1.6kg (less than their 8-speed)
Cost – maybe £350?
Release date – September 2010?

http://road.cc/content/news/13981-shimano-alfine-11-speed-hub-car-park-test
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wuXoD9db04
http://hubstripping.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/11-speed-alfine-hub-from-shimano/
I borrowed the heading picture from Hubstripping – Thanks!

Sounds good.
In fact, apart from the £350, it sounds almost perfect!
The proposed trigger operation may be a bit slower than a twistgrip for clicking back down from 11 to 1 for a restart?

By the way – did you see that bit of the Tour de France, where Yellow Jersey missed his derailleur gearchange & his chain came off?
Ho! Ho! Ho!
None of the commentators said anything about needing hub gears though…
They seemed to think the others should have stopped & waited while he put his chain back on.

Parting thot: "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein