Originally Posted by Scooper

Hmmm...

The physics have been well known for decades, so I'm not sure where the bike shop guys are coming from.

A frame with shorter wheelbase, steeper seat tube and head tube angles, and less trail will be quicker in turns than one with longer wheelbase, slacker seat tube and head tube angles, and more trail regardless of the era the bike's from (forty years ago or today). The problem, I think, is in how one defines "handling". A short wheelbase, short trail bike might handle perfectly to a rider weaving in and out of riders in a pack, but be squirrelly and fatiguing to someone riding a century. I don't think anyone has yet come up with a bike that can change geometry at the touch of a button.

The analogy they used comparing a 70s Honda to a new one is specious; new cars have digital motor electronics, anti-skid braking, active suspension, airbags everywhere, yada, yada. There have been no such innovations in road bikes.