Greetings. I just joined this forum and looking for answers to many questions about bicycling. I am 70 with bad knees that need to be replaced, but I'm still playing softball with braces just fine and ride a recumbent exercise bike with no problem. My wife (only 58) and I are riding the old Fuji Tahoes we bought about 23 years ago. We have not ridden for about 2 years and are getting back into it now for exercise. We have a major state bike trail through our town and ride the country roads around our home. We want to upgrade or modernize our bikes, but have no clue what we're really looking at when we go to bike shops. We don't know Shimano from Sun Tour and every dealer has their own agenda about what the best bikes would be for us. Most dealers around here seem to be pushing the Trek line, like the Neko SL or FX. One guy offered up a Fuji Absolute 1.0 at a "great price" (900), but obviously we have no clue about that at all. So how can we intelligently proceed?