Originally Posted by
Miele Man
Even basic bikes have advanced a long ways from what many of us remember s children/teens. Indexed shifting is a great thing. Be sure to get the shop to show you how things wrok on your bike. When I worked at a shop we'd often getthe customer onto a bike set up on a wind trainer so that we could show them how to use the gears and so the customer could try the shifting themselves. If it was a MTB we'd swap out the rear wheel for one with a smooth tire if the customer wanted to try a specific bike.
Cheers
It depends on how old you are. I am 51 so I agree, today's bikes are better than some of the consumer grade stuff of the mid to late 70s. On the other hand, if you are in your 30s, the stuff from your youth would have been from the 90s. I still have a hybrid from the 90s with the original components and still works at least as well as any $400 or $500 entry level hybrid.