Hard not to weigh in on this. I'm pretty fortunate to not have it be a big issue. I met my wife in a bike shop, where we both had part-time jobs. Like me, she had worked in other shops and was an avid enthusiast and rider. She knew a lot about bikes, could disassemble and reassemble one, and had built her own wheels. She was even a bit of a retro-grouch at the time we met, around 85-ish (but she's quick to distance herself now that retro-ism has grown to geek-ish proportions). I was already into it at the time, so it was just part of who I was. Love it or leave it, I guess. She rode a Campy SR equipped Trek 770 (still with us) and eschewed such "new" trends as indexed shifting, aero cable routing and cassette hubs. I built a mid-80's De Rosa for her as a graduation present when she finally finished up her degree. I re-worked the Trek as a hot rod for me. It helps that we can ride very similar frame sizes. She eventually went more "modern" and started racing (both mountain and road) after talking about it for many years. When she gave up racing last year, her personal "stable" consisted of about seven or eight bikes, all contemporary (although the De Rosa frame still hangs in the basement). She's now pursuing her other hobby, horses. We sold off a lot of her racing gear to contribute to the "horse-fund", but we (like Lou) maintain our own separate accounts for our hobbies. We both have full time careers, which helps. We now sometimes needle each other when we spend money on bicycle or horses stuff respectively, but she knows bikes and is pretty clever. When I asked recently about how much her new saddle and bridle cost, her reply was "oh, about what that new Chorus groupo cost". Gotta love her!
I've got most of the S-Rec parts accumulated to put the De Rosa back the way it was when I first gave it to her (sure wish I hadn't given up those pano'd levers). It's going to be a surprise anniversary present. I'll get her sucked back into geek-dom yet!
Wayne "fortunate few" Bingham
Falls Church VA