Oh and one more thing

The new bike has STI shifters. Every road bike made these days has those (or ErgoPower in the case of Campagnolo-equipped bikes) but this is the first time I’ve gotten to ride with brake-lever shifters. My first reaction, not having ridden this bike more than a mile (I took it home on the bus since it was after dark and I hadn’t put any lights on it) is to run right into retro-grouch mode and badmouth them. the brake levers (Shimano 105) feel both more flimsy and heavier than the 1992 Shimano 105 brakes on my racing bike. My 1992 indexed down-tube friction shifters are reliable and I know what to do to get to the next gear easily. The STI shifters seem to take different amounts of push to go to the next gear, depending on what gear you’re in.

Hopefully after I ride a little I’ll start to realize what a great blessing it is not to have to reach down to the down tube to shift gears and fall in love with the STI shifters. We’ll see. I hope that this is just my initial resistance to change.