I have never been one to pay too too much attention to the handling of my race bikes over the years -- they all seemed to handle pretty sharply -- but I had an opportunity to borrow for a long easy ride an old (?70s or 80s?) Peugeot road bike, not sure what model, and I thought the ride was amazingly sweet. Is there some basic difference in geometry or something? I am wondering what the difference was -- never felt like there was all that much difference between my race bikes but the french bike had a very different feel. I'm not perceptive enough to say what exactly it was, but I sure did like riding it. It was a bit heavier than a modern race bike, but other than that it seems like something may have been lost in the translation to my more modern machine. Not particularly interested in the retro aspect of it, I just wonder why the ride felt so distinctly different.