Sell my modern Full Suss to build my dream retro bike?

As a Lappy fan and ex Zesty owner I'd say sell it. It's inappropriate for most terrain and conditions in the UK. Follow your Ti dream, and with luck you may have enough left over for a Saracen daily hack.

Do it! Consider this - imagine the garage/shed door opens and you're seeing the Lappy and the Fat - which image makes you grin like a loon at just the thought of it?

Cheers guys, glad you can relate! Agreed on the fact that the Spicy is too big a bike for UK trails and conditions with the exception of some of the black runs. But I'm just not that way inclined any more!

You may well see the Lapierre for sale in the >1998 section soon ;-)

I feel a tinge of excitement coming on. Not in that way.

Unless you just ride around flat forest trails, I'd at least keep some money back for an old Heckler or similar as mentioned. On the right trails a light whippy retro bike will still rip, but on the wrong trails.....

walleater":q6tn1s25 said:

Unless you just ride around flat forest trails, I'd at least keep some money back for an old Heckler or similar as mentioned. On the right trails a light whippy retro bike will still rip, but on the wrong trails.....

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Definitely agree...a mate is selling his Orange 5 Pro to me for a grand so that'll work nicely I reckon

Mate I totally feel your pain...I have a 2008 Marin Rift Zone that I have upgraded to mainly XTR and all the lightest bits and pieces wheels etc...but basically its more than I need for my kind of riding these days...It just feels too over engineered and heavy to boot. I recently built up my dream bike (perhaps my dreams are a little more muted than yours!) 1991 Team Marin...which I love but I still like the full suss thang too. So I decided to get an old 1997/99 Marin Mount Vision frame and build it up from there and see how I got on. Went full XTR M95* and it rides very well (just did a Mayhem night lap on it). Its loads lighter than the Rift Zone and is far simpler and requires less maintainence. I still have the Rift Zone but I think its days are numbered...

...as you say if you change your mind 6 months down the line you will be able to re buy the spicey real easy should you want to go back there and if you wanted to sell the fat then you would be sure to get your money back on that too.

So basically nothing to loose so my opinion is to just go for it...its not a one way trip and could always be reversed if you feel the need.

Hope this helps

Doug

This is why I love this forum....glad to see I'm not the only one with this dilemma!

Doug - you've hit the nail on the head in terms of how I am feeling and you're right, it's not a one way trip as I'd easily get what I paid for a Fat Ti (in theory).

I went round my local XC routes at the weekend and I actually managed it quicker than on my Spicy, mainly because it's such a pain to haul a heavy bike round the majority of trails we have here. Having said that I forgot what it was like to ride on cantilevers! Had a few scary moments where I got a bit carried away and couldn't stop...

You know how on Top Gear they always say cars make you feel a certain way, and when you walk up your drive and look back at the car before you get in the house then you know you love it....same as the Fat, sometimes I just want to look at it!

Hmmm, form over function perhaps?

I still feel the same about motorbikes; I love the sound of a tuned British twin (Triumph Daytona 500 in this case) as I practically grew up at Snetterton in the 60's and 70's. I also love the BMW 1200GS, also a twin albeit over twice the size.

Now my heart says the Daytona is my favourite, but my head knows the difference between lugging a heavy bike out of the shed in the eternal hope it will start first kick, before lurching off down the road to a chorus of blatting open megaphone pipes and near-50-year-old valve lash...

...and pressing the button on the GS knowing that in a couple of hours I can be on the other side of the Channel en route to Paris, rather than the other side of town looking for a Chiropractor! :|

Though it's the Daytona I could just sit and look at...

I too say go for the Fat Ti

Just have yet another look at those two pictures you posted. Which one really does it for you? Take the decals off that Lapierre and it could be any decent modern full susser. Take the decals off the Fat Ti and it's definitely still a Fat Ti.

I'm certainly not saying there's no room for something a bit more modern with discs and suspension but like you said, you can pick up something that will tick that box for a good price.

I'd say save for the fat Ti, but keep the full sus. I love my retro hard tails but couldn't be without my modern bike. 150mm stems and cantis are fun for a while but a pain a lot of the time. There's a reason a lot of retro stuff has been superseded.