Never assume....Read the manual

Ok so in general, I'm pretty good at figuring things out and doing my research.
As you know, I bought the Black pearl 6 weeks ago and have been getting to know my new vehicle. Now there have been some interesting things...like how quiet it is...no click,click.click of the gears when coasting.
On Sunday, Dan noted to me how happy he was to see that I had gotten the new bike and proceeded, along with Carl, to explain why there was no sound (something about the ratchet gearing) and the better gearing system on the new bike. They explained about the better parts...comparing it to the transmission in my car like I had some clue about THAT. I smiled and nodded.
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Just a little aside...It's interesting that when guys are trying to explain stuff they use a car as reference like that is some sort of universal language!!! I remember working with this IT guy, Todd, on a job one time. He was doing some programing for me and I was explaining that I needed the program to calculate both forward and backward. He said that it couldn't do that. I asked why not..his response"Well that's like trying to drive your car in reverse at 100kms/hr." My reply, "What do you mean I can't drive my car in reverse at 100km/hr? Really? You can't do that? What speed can you do?" Todd had a look of horror on his face as he realised that what he had was a failure to communicate. Todd just left it at we can't do that type of programing so we have to have another calculation and never did answer the car questions.
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Ok...back to the Black Pearl....
What was most intriguing though was when Dan noted that I now had 8 gears on the rear hub and how that was great. Again, I smiled and nodded but in my head I was like "What does he mean 8?" I quietly looked down and started counting....See I have been riding 21 speed bikes for about 17rs. When I purchased the BP I only checked to ensure that the high gear was an11 sprocket not a 15...it didn't occur to me that it would be addition and no one mentioned that I was buying a 24speed. And of course, when I was cycling I just clicked until I was at 7 on the back gears. Of course, now they had me thinking...sure enough, as I was biking home I clicked passed the 7 and an 8 appeared. Cool...should have read the manual.