Kabuki12

yes, I like to support my local bike shops but they don’t have a lot of the parts I need so I buy extra short stem tubes and tan sidewall tires on the internet . I still go in for cables for now but I suspect that will change at some point because the new bikes have different ends.
As far as better, I dunno I’ve never ridden a newer bike. My friend has a very nice Specialized Creo Turbo that he rides . He very rarely uses the ebike function on our rides so it is basically like a regular bike. It weighs 28lbs so not as light as a typical carbon bike but has the same design and puts more power to the road. I have no doubt that the efficiency is improved through modern engineering , but better? I just like classic steel bikes, kind of like when I used to drive around in my 1957 Porsche around. A Toyota was better at braking and probably faster , but oh what class!