Frankly, the entire C&V forum is anachronistic by definition. I'm not sure why modelmartin felt the need to tell us this. I think all of us (especially those of us who used to race back in the day) are well aware that everything about our bikes is less competitive than the latest snazzy stuff. We're here and enjoying our anachronisms because we like them. I've ridden indexed equipment, including brifters, and I've got to admit that it provides more convenient, more positive shifting. If I was still racing, or if I was a newbie getting on a bike, those properties would appeal to me tremendously. However, for the recreational riding I do it's completely irrelevant and I love the simplicity, reliability and beauty of my old equipment, properties not shared by that new stuff. It gives me joy to ride my fine old steel bike with antiquated equipment that will keep on working perfectly long after most of the brifter-equipped carbon bikes on the road today have been tossed onto the junkheap, and joy is the name of the game.