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I got a really good deal on an Enigma Etape as a full bike second hand, a bit of juggling with parts since to be able to afford it so safe to say I'd not have it otherwise as I'm skint 99% of the year. It's a lovely frame, very stiff and lots of rack mounts and I think the clearance is pretty decent if you're wanting to run guards and 28c for touring, if you want to run 42c a la Scoblesque then you might struggle of course.
I guess when you get a 'do it all' bike you inevitably end up compromising on some things though-the wheelbase and the ti dampens a lot of the feeling I'd get out of my much sportier steel Roberts even so it can feel a bit ho-hum at times. That said, if I was riding my Roberts now I'd have fucking annoying clip on mudguards rubbing away, one bottle mount and have to worry about cleaning it down every ride to prevent rust. My main problem with it is that it's kind of made my tourer and cross bike redundant and I don't know how I feel about that!
Last Ti bike I had was a Sabbath Silk and that was lovely-really responsive and lively with sportier compact geo and shorter head tube, but alas I hit a monetary speed bump and it got punted, which I guess is the main challenge to owning any Ti bauble, it's like riding a payday loan.
Anyway, I'd go second hand if the price is already troubling you-the market for used Ti is pretty much a buyers one simply because they don't corrode or wear the same way other frames do and there's a lot of them around now.
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So I've been thinking about this bike before I go to sleep and as soon as I wake for a couple of weeks and am wondering if I'm spunking too much money on it, especially with a young family. I've set up an ebay search for second hand Ti, perhaps with new carbon forks. What a flake. Hopefully going to visit Enigma and maybe Fatbirds to see what's up though. I think I'll know what to do when it happens. It's funny 'cause I'm generally all about the second hand.