Going from two to one?

I ride road and light gravel (no single track) and currently have a Serotta Legend Ti and a Felt Breed 20. I love both bikes, but I wish the Serotta had disc brakes and a newer groupset (older Dura Ace now) and I wish the Felt were a bit lighter and had the ride of titanium. Am I crazy to consider something like a Litespeed Watia? I'm not prepared to spend the money for a new Serotta (as much as I wish I could) or something like a Moots. My biggest concern is that I would miss the Serotta - I've wanted one for decades, and finally got one this year. The ride is just as magical as I dreamed it would be, but I don't know how it compares to newer titanium fabrication and design.

What do you think - better to rebuild the Serotta (it's in great shape) and keep two bikes, of sell them both to get an updated ti model that can fill in for both?

I have a Merlin Ti CR-Works road bike that i love.  It was actually a warranty replacement from Merlin after I cracked the first Merlin frame I bought in 1991. I raced and trained on the original 91frame one for over 15 years. I have rebuilt it with 2019ish DA11 and it is still a fantastic road bike.  I have probably close to 20K miles on it now. I also, recently (a little over a year ago) bought a Lynskey GR Race Ti gravel bike, and I love it too, and ride it more than any of my other bikes now (about 3.5K miles since I got it).  I'm a Ti fan, but If I were you, I'd hang onto and rebuild the Serotta for road use, and use the Felt Breed as your gravel bike, then maybe save for a ti Gravel?  ... but if you want one bike that can do it all, go for the new Ti.  😉

If you think you might miss the Serotta then you probably shouldn’t sell it.  You won’t get what you think it’s worth and at some point you will probably regret it.  

Thanks - this is the feedback I was looking for, and mike d reminded me how I got here in the first place. I actually placed an order for a Lynskey GR300, but while waiting for it to be built, the Felt showed up at a local shop and the Serotta popped up online. The Lynskey is a great bike and compares favorably to the Felt, but I was afraid it wouldn't have the light weight and liveliness of the Serotta. I suppose it's probably best to wait, and maybe eventually just replace the Felt with a Ti gravel bike.

If the braking performance with rim brakes is the main issue with the Serotta, consider updating the calipers.  The 8000-series Ultegras have a bridge between the pivots and are VERY solid.  I swapped a set onto my bike and saw a big improvement in braking.

A bike that makes you smile every time you ride it is worth holding on to.

TC wrote:Thanks - this is the feedback I was looking for, and mike d reminded me how I got here in the first place. I actually placed an order for a Lynskey GR300, but while waiting for it to be built, the Felt showed up at a local shop and the Serotta popped up online. The Lynskey is a great bike and compares favorably to the Felt, but I was afraid it wouldn't have the light weight and liveliness of the Serotta. I suppose it's probably best to wait, and maybe eventually just replace the Felt with a Ti gravel bike.

I used to have a Lynskey GR250.  It was a decent bike, but the frame was heavy, I think around 4.3 lbs for a ML (56cm).  Most quality titanium frames of that size are closer to 3.5 lbs.  I sold it because I use my gravel bikes for bikepacking and loaded up it was pretty flexy.  I don't know if the GR300 has improved a lot on the GR250 or not, but after riding a high end titanium frame I suspect you would be disappointed by it.

TC wrote:I ride road and light gravel (no single track) and currently have a Serotta Legend Ti and a Felt Breed 20. I love both bikes, but I wish the Serotta had disc brakes and a newer groupset (older Dura Ace now) and I wish the Felt were a bit lighter and had the ride of titanium. Am I crazy to consider something like a Litespeed Watia? I'm not prepared to spend the money for a new Serotta (as much as I wish I could) or something like a Moots. My biggest concern is that I would miss the Serotta - I've wanted one for decades, and finally got one this year. The ride is just as magical as I dreamed it would be, but I don't know how it compares to newer titanium fabrication and design.

What do you think - better to rebuild the Serotta (it's in great shape) and keep two bikes, of sell them both to get an updated ti model that can fill in for both?

 

My starting point there would be a T-Lab X3 frameset, rather than Lynskey, Litespeed, or other. 

I just bought a cheap single speed to use for shopping and other errands of no more than 5 miles with no hills.  The principal requirement is the bike is cheap enough to lock up for an hour in a busy area without worrying too much about having it stolen.  I can store it locked in a garage unlike my good bike which lives indoors.

Of course it's less cheap after changing the bar, stem, and pedals to something I can live with.  And fixing up the brakes since I'm too old to learn how to ride without a freewheel.  But it still looks cheap.  I might adorn it with duct tape to diminish its desirability.

A friend of a friend wrapped his passenger seat belt in duct tape for the sole purpose of discouraging people for asking for rides.  Properly applied duct tape is a great deterrent. 

My gravel bike was preceded by a roadie (a Roubaix) that was fantastic and sold for a song, but which I'd no longer have any use for after swapping for my GT Grade.  On the other hand, your Felt is a bit too far in the other direction for me because of the 1x setup.  I spin out my 46x11 high combination far too soon, and need every bit of the low end at 32x40 for climbs (non standard gearing bodged by me).  In my case, the tilt goes toward the Litespeed and 2x, if money's no object.  If your favourite rides are those done on the Felt on trails, then you should be loving it and ignoring the roadie without feeling any regrets.  If you spend more time on tarmac then perhaps you are stuck in between two bikes that are too far in either direction.  While I used to be faster on the old Roubaix, I couldn't care less at this point, and it's all relative anyway (I was still slow at my fastest).  As long as I can range between 32-42c depending upon my interests for the next 1000 miles, what's most important to me is the range of the drivetrain and the comfort of the geometry (which is personal).

Volsung wrote:A friend of a friend wrapped his passenger seat belt in duct tape for the sole purpose of discouraging people for asking for rides.  Properly applied duct tape is a great deterrent. 

OMG I love this!!!  Thanks for the laugh, and idea!