Quote:
Originally Posted by 1centaur
I got a Vamoots (custom geo same as my Parlee Z1x) a few years ago to see if there was anything special about it to make me want to ride it sometimes instead of carbon fiber. In general, the answer to that question is no. Metal is metal, as I like to say. Nice welds, well aligned, good look, but I never understand smoothness when talking metal vs. CF, and it does not have "resonance" as one poster back then noted which was the hook that sucked me in. Not snappy enough, nor light enough, nor smooth enough to compete with a good CF frame. I won't persuade people who ride metal and prefer it to CF, but just wanted to note this for CF riders who wonder when they hear people wax poetic.
If it's a winter's day when I'll be all bundled up and know I won't enjoy the ride that much but want to get out for exercise, I'll pick the Moots for some variety, but I never pick it if the weather is nice. That was the bike that persuaded me I would never buy a metal bike again. If an archetype of the best of metal doesn't do it for me, nothing will.
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I think it really comes down to what you like in a bike. Happycampyer seems to like bikes that aren't as stiff, which would explain his love of the Vamoots.
I've had my Vamoots for 5 years now and didn't really like it at first. It felt soft and mushy compared to the MX Leader and C40 that were getting most of my miles at the time. After several rides I was ready to sell it but decided to keep it around a bit longer. It turns out that I wasn't any slower on the Vamoots than on the other two bikes and didn't feel as fatigued after long rides. For some reason, the negatives of the bike kinda vanished and it's become my primary ride. I love the simple, understated, industrial look and the bike delivers that low frequency hum/resonance that others have noted with Ti bikes. As mentioned before, it's a keeper.
Texbike