Could you race with the Planet X Pro Carbon Shimano Ultegra?

Smithlar282
Posts: 7
Is it a fast enough bike to be raced with?
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Depends who's powering it.WyndyMilla Massive Attack | Rourke 953 | Condor Italia 531 Pro | Boardman CX Pro | DT Swiss RR440 Tubeless Wheels
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Helpful...0
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You could race with anything, as above, its all in the legs.
Personally I wouldn't race a brand new carbon bike if I was just getting into racing. I wouldn't want to crash it.0 -
Smithlar282 wrote:Helpful...
He's right. Crit racing isn't about the bike, it's all about the rider. It's really only when you get into TT's that the bike has any real impact, and even then you're talking seconds.English Cycles V3 | Cervelo P5 | Cervelo T4 | Trek Domane Koppenberg0 -
Smithlar282 wrote:Helpful...0
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Smithlar282 wrote:Is it a fast enough bike to be raced with?
The question is - are you fast enough to race? If you are, then so is the bike.0 -
Last year I raced on this:
The aluminium Allez with 9-speed 105 and cheap RS80 wheels was plenty fast enough. I don't think my results this year would be any different if I'd kept it. Any bike will be fast enough to race if it's mechanically sound so the answer to your question is YES. That bike is fast enough to be raced with.0 -
Smithlar282 wrote:Helpful...
Yet totally accurate.
A bike is an innanimate object and has no speed at all.
Buy a bike and use it.
Next!Yellow is the new Black.0 -
the kid who won the Under 16 British Crit Champs this year was riding a second hand Planet X, beating bikes probably worth 5 times the price of his. Thing is it's never the bike that wins it's the rider using a combination of head and legs… the bike is secondary. As others have said, if you're fast enough, so is the bikeEnough bikes to open a bike shop but always room for one more...0
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you can race on any bike... yes really.x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Commuting / Winter rides - Jamis Renegade Expert
Pootling / Offroad - All-City Macho Man Disc
Fast rides Cannondale SuperSix Ultegra0 -
There are young kids in my club who race on £300 Halfords bikes. You can race on pretty much any bike, but what place you finish will largely depend on the legs powering it.WyndyMilla Massive Attack | Rourke 953 | Condor Italia 531 Pro | Boardman CX Pro | DT Swiss RR440 Tubeless Wheels
Find me on Strava0 -
Me on a Vis Vires £10000 - Froome on Hybrid £400 winner by a long, long way Froome
It's the legs and lungs that win races.0 -
So long as the bike works and is safe - then you can race on it.
What racing are you doing ? If its bunch racing then I'd suggest you join a club and learn to ride in a pack before racing.0 -
At Hillingdon, there was a guy riding a steel framed bike with down tube shifters. He regularly trounced blokes on carbon bikes with carbon wheels.http://www.georgesfoundation.org
http://100hillsforgeorge.blogspot.com/
http://www.12on12in12.blogspot.co.uk/0 -
mroli wrote:At Hillingdon, there was a guy riding a steel framed bike with down tube shifters. He regularly trounced blokes on carbon bikes with carbon wheels.
that's because he had the better bikeleft the forum March 20230 -
I couldn't be bothered to contribute to a similar thread, where one chap reckoned his (very nice) new BMC allowed him to go up Box Hill 1 minute quicker than on his (not as nice) old BMC (though as a reason to justify his purchase, it's right up there!), but +1 to the above.
Conditions, fitness and weight are what counts when you want to go faster. Your bike has a tiny part in the overall story.0 -
And by 'weight', I mean rider weight!0
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Bondurant wrote:I couldn't be bothered to contribute to a similar thread, where one chap reckoned his (very nice) new BMC allowed him to go up Box Hill 1 minute quicker than on his (not as nice) old BMC (though as a reason to justify his purchase, it's right up there!), but +1 to the above.
Conditions, fitness and weight are what counts when you want to go faster. Your bike has a tiny part in the overall story.
He could have been right in that the 1 minute was down to the "better" bike, but if that is the case I might suggest its due to a combination of factors e.g. stiffer more efficient frame AND wheelset, better position on the bike due to geometry differences, closer ratio gears so easier to get a more optimum gear going uphill etc.
I am in the camp that believes a "better bike" can make you tangibly faster, but I don't believe just a change in frame materials wil achieve it. Its a combination of many factors, each giving a small advantage that when combined, produces a more significant advantage.
It is afterall, actually, all about the bikeWyndyMilla Massive Attack | Rourke 953 | Condor Italia 531 Pro | Boardman CX Pro | DT Swiss RR440 Tubeless Wheels
Find me on Strava0 -
A better bike does not buy you a c.15% better time up Box Hill, unless you were going from a 15KG full susser on knobbly tyres to a 7KG road bike perhaps.
Fitness and wind direction do make the difference though. Fitness is obvious. Wind direction less obvious perhaps, but a club mate of mine has a detailed spreadsheet going back a few years with his times and corresponding conditions up Box. He could more or less tell me that a max effort one day would get him in the region of X time, and on another, less favourable day, would be up to a minute slower for similar watts.
I like nice bikes myself, but I'm not 15% faster on what I have now vs. my old PX. Nor that much slower on my TK3 , which is a fair amount heavier and has mudguards.0 -
Bondurant wrote:club mate of mine has a detailed spreadsheet going back a few years with his times and corresponding conditions up Box.
OCD!! :shock:left the forum March 20230 -
Yep! We have a number of guys like that. Mostly TTers!0