The boring-looking one is the “new” one - even though it’s actually two years older than the “old” one.
I snapped the frame on my previous bike, so I bought another almost identical one - as one does when they don’t learn from their mistakes.
My old one has a 12x1 drivetrain, while the new one has a 10x1, and the gearing ratio is awful. It’s way too stiff to pedal uphill, even in the lowest gear. I’ll start by swapping the front chainring for a smaller one, but I might end up converting it to an 11x1 or 12x1 setup later on.
Other than that, there’s just a ton of duct taping to do.
I possibly could but I haven't given up on it just yet so I don't want to disassemble it into pieces before I've at least attempted to fix the frame.
I bought a 32T chainring to replace the 38T one and see how much that helps. If it's still too stiff then I'll just convert it into 11x1 with a 11 - 50 cassette so then with the 38T chainring it has the same gear ratio as my old bike and I might try then using the 32T chainring for winter driving for when there more need for torque rather than speed.