You're going to get mixed reviews on the multi-focal lenses because people have mixed success with them. As John E. said, it's a shame folks are having to make this decision NOW as the technology will likely be perfected within the next decade. Unfortunately, once you have the artificial lens, there's really not a chance for a do-over.
My decision was complicated by the fact that I only had a cataract in one eye and, being 55 at the time, probably wouldn't get one in the other eye for another 15 years. I had extreme myopia (-7.5 D) and increasing presbyopia. I opted for the fixed-focal lens, and it's worked okay. Because of my extreme myopia, I was still left at about -1.0 D. I under-correct this with a contact because, although you THINK you've lost your ability to accommodate by your mid-50s, you can still accommodate SOME. The synthetic eye cannot accommodate AT ALL. Thus, to wear reading glasses with the same correction in each eye (i.e., the cheap "cheaters"), it's good to have the "fixed" eye at, like, -0.5 D to balance the natural eye that still has about 0.5 D of accommodation left.
Sorry for the long-winded story. My only take-home message is -- fixed lens looks great, but has 0 accommodation. That said, reading glasses are cheap, and pretty much all your peers need them as well. If you can find multi-focal that work for you, hey, even a great bike isn't worth more than great vision.
Best of luck!