I am planning a Cotic Soul build (small custard yellow ordered for the summer) to replace my stolen Lapierre Pro Race 200.

So to tide me over until the Soul is built I have retrieved my old bike from the in-laws and took it for a ride today. It’s a 200 quid GT Aggressor (that I’ve found out was actually manufactured under licence by Halfords) with super-powerful Tektro V-brakes, wonky rims, about half a dozen gears that work and Shimano’s legendary Acera rear mech – and all of this about 5 years old. And guess what…it was great! It went just where I wanted it to, climbed well, loved going quick, didn’t bounce around going over rooty stuff…

Can I really ditch the Soul and keep this piece of s**t? It sounds all wrong but maybe it just suits me better.

Seriously I’m wondering if I just won’t get on with the Soul’s long top-tube – the Lapierre was longer than the GT and with the Soul being even longer…I can’t spend another 3 months trying to make my mind up, I’ll go crazy.

why by a bigger bike (soul being bigger/longer than the lapierre)? surely you know what size you need?

go try one, I find alot of bikes are fun to ride once or twice. but i can’t imagine the gt being a superior bike to the soul.

I was relegated to my brothers old rigid gt avalanche when I was building up a new frame. Similar spec to yours – and I really enjoyed riding that too! Maybe steel really is real.

surely you know what size you need?

Hmmm, well according to the geometry, the GT is longer than the Lapierre (whereas in practice is quite clearly isn’t) so actually I’m a little confused.

Trying bikes before you buy appears to be trickier in Spain than in the UK, especially when you are looking for a small frame – but yes that’s what I’m going to have to do until I find one with similar geometry to the GT.