Hey East Hill,
Thanks for the warm welcome.
I guess I'd be into classic steel bikes, but honestly, I'm not sure what the huge difference is.. I just know I'm into having more classic collectible things.
SG/FG seems like the hugest trend around the Bay Area... I almost don't want to get into it because it's everywhere. But at the same time, from what I've read, I like the simplicity of it, the smoothness of it, and (if it really is this way) how quiet it is.
From my little experiance with mountain bikes, they're noisy, and all that gear switching can get a little crazy. But then again, it has been a couple years since I've ridden one, AND, I might have just been doing it wrong.
Single gear I guess is something I'm really used to. When I was younger, I always used to take my BMX up to mountain bike trails with my friends, riding around all day.. It was nice knowing I didn't need gears to get up these huge hills. The SG/FG is naturally appealing to me, but a multi geared bike might make things a lot easier for me.