[lavi]

Having owned THREE Love #3s, I think I'm qualified to speak. I also cut my teeth with an early 00s Giant TCR Aluxx.

Both being aluminum, there was nothing similar between the two bikes in terms of ride quality. The Giant, with 23s pumped to 100 psi (as was the norm back then) would make me piss blood after 3 hours. And this was when I was "young" at in my early-mid 30s. My first two Loves where of the older generation (pre Falz) when the clearance was tight that I ran a 25 up front under the Ouzo Pro and a 23 in the rear as that's all that would fit. So, still pretty skinny tires. The Love rode like the my current Love (clearance for 28s with room to spare)....It rode very, very well. I would not ever compare the ride quality of a Love to any other aluminum bike. There's magic in them pipes.

Sidebar: I was/am so into Al bikes. I wanted a Spooky Skeletor for a long time. Remember those bikes? The reports on them is that they were also kidney beaters. That's seemingly how those AL bikes were.

I'm not going to say my current Love rides like steel because it doesn't. It's smooth, but also has the jumpy/immediate quality of Al. I also have an Mxxxxxo and ride them back to back....so ride these comparisons happen regularly for me. Did I mention how smooth the Love rides even though it's made from massive Al pipes????

I'll leave this here: if I had to choose one bike of the two, I'd choose the Love. This is no knock on the Mxxxxxo. It's that the Love does all those things with some added "pep" to boot. It's a marvelous machine.

I've also ridden a number of CAADs. Those are aluminum bikes that ride like my my Giant used to. That's how aluminum gets its reputation for stiff/jarring ride qualities. The Love exhibits none of that.


All of this is so subjective. If you want to experience what a Love rides like, you won't find that riding some other brand's Al offering. A Love is a Love is a Love is a Love. There's a reason why Love owners wax poetic about them. They are different rigs.