**Freewheel or Cassette (Freehub)**

If your bicycle uses a cassette freehub for the rear sprockets, then it was likely made in the late 1980s or later. Shimano came out with the first commercial freehub in 1978 in the Dura-Ace series, but it took about a decade for it to make significant inroads.

Like many other technologies, cheaper bicycles (and notably, many e-bikes) have continued to use freewheels so only the ***presence*** and not the *absence* of a freewheel is a positive indication of date.