3 PEOPLE DIE EVERY DAY WAITING FOR A TRANSPLANT, DONT TALK HIM OUT OF BEING PART OF THE MUCH NEEDED SUPPLY CHAIN.
The showroom was just around the corner from my office, if you buy one from them it's just direct sales now and terrible customer service. Dont buy cheap carbon, but if you are then buy a frame from Aliexpress - one of the open mold type - thats what the planet X ones are. Try - https://www.lightcarbon.com/lightcarbon-super-light-carbon-road-frameset-lcr007-v_p145.html Open mould frame, very similar to the Cervelo S5 or S3, can't remember which and a good review. I have just ordered a gravel bike frame. But if you are looking at spending £5-600 on a non branded carbon frame, why not just buy an Aluminium frame? Look for a CAAD12 frameset and build that up, if you can still get one, if not then a trek emonda.
You do get good value(they market for cycle to work/direct sales), but the frames are budget and open mold. Had an RT80 when I started to commute about 7 years ago, but wouldn't buy a bike from them again. paid £1k for it and sold a few weeks ago to fund gravel bike fro £750, so it paid for itself
Hmm, I like their road frames, the geometry is nice and you can have a matte black option with minimal/blacked out logos. They'll be getting their frames from the same factories in China/Taiwan like all the other companies I suspect and either having them built up over there and shipped, or doing that when they get here. Thanks for the insight though, something to think on. As you say the direct sales approach keeps their price point down, also the fact they don't seem to be sponsoring any pro teams or pushing themselves as a big brand etc Glad your RT80 held a bit of value for you
Planet X do some good stuff. Another good budget brand is On One. The bike industry, like surf, snow, and just about every outdoor sport are part of the consumer society where they want folk to buy new kit every year. So they have 'new season' stuff come in and some people just have to have the latest kit, so there are bargains to be had both in the 2nd hand market and with places like Tredz, Chain Reaction etc who sell off last year's models with big discounts.
Doesn't it all depends on how much effort you put in? Surely it doesn't matter unless your training for the Olympics or something....
Yeah effort required, but weight on a bike makes all the difference. A heavy old clunker is a pig to ride, because it takes more effort to get the thing moving and longer to slow it down. When you think about the variance in speed you do on a bike, stopping, starting, slowing down, going up hills etc, then you can see why weight saving is such a big issue.
I've got a Planet X carbon road bike. Went a bit over the top and had Sram red groupset fitted. I then took delivery and added £150 Look carbon pedals. The bike is lovely but the pedals are ****e. They creak when I'm going uphill, probs also when going fast but can't hear it cos of the wind noise.
Yeah I wouldn't put carbon anywhere there's going to be a lot of strain like pedals or seat posts. I've got an older (2016) Ragley MTB. Alu frame. Then I've spent the last few years building it up with better components from ebay that folk are selling on. So Fox forks, XT chainset, XT brakes etc. To buy a bike like that new you'd be looking at £3k + I've probably done the whole lot for about £1200.
