Congrats, I too made the switch to a front deck quick turning mower 3 yrs ago and could't be happier.
I replaced our worn out rider for the lawn with one of these locally built Schroeder "flip decks". The guy has built them for over 20 years in his small farm implement fab shop. I needed a 60" deck and all the big name brand stuff (John Deere) was typically 10k +. I paid 6k for this one and I just love it. Other than the hydrostat drive, it has NO hydraulics and is all double belt driven and has a relatively cheap to replace Briggs 21 hp Vanguard OHV twin. We are rough on mowers with 9 acres to mow. This one is built real simple (which means very simple/cheap to repair) and has manual steering via chain and sprockets (it turns effortlessly). My wife has fibro, so lever steering was out. The neatest patented feature is the ability to flip the deck at will to scrape clippings or remove and sharpen the blades.
While in theory I like the hydraulic/electronic "everything" on new John Deeres, this one mows fast, pivots on a dime and is simple and cheap to fix once it gets old and beaten.
