OP: When my wife and I decided to start riding again after a long (25 year) period of raising kids, I fear it would not have happened had we stuck with our much loved, 1970s classics. The new stuff, from frames to group sets to wheels to relaxed geometry, is just that much more user friendly. It makes you want to ride more and more often. In my case, I went from 5 rides a year to as much as 10k miles/yr. Now, when I break out the Atala for a trip down memory lane, I have trouble believing I ever got up and down a mountain pass on it (which I did countless times on 22 year old legs). My wife is not that crazy, but gets out at least 4 or five times a month, can cover 25 miles comfortably on any given day, and has an imperial and metric century to her credit. If you can afford it, I'd say go for it.