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

Smithlar282
Smithlar282 Posts: 7
edited August 2013 in Road buying advice
Is it a fast enough bike to be raced with?

Comments

  • drlodge
    drlodge Posts: 4,826
    Depends who's powering it.
    WyndyMilla Massive Attack | Rourke 953 | Condor Italia 531 Pro | Boardman CX Pro | DT Swiss RR440 Tubeless Wheels
    Find me on Strava
  • Helpful...
  • pitchshifter
    pitchshifter Posts: 1,476
    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.
  • Grill
    Grill Posts: 5,610
    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 Koppenberg
  • Camcycle1974
    Camcycle1974 Posts: 1,356
    Helpful...
    what do you want? An answer? Yes, it could be used for racing and has been. Point being made is the rider is more important than the bike. Up to you whether you choose to take it on board.
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    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.
  • Last year I raced on this:

    allezallez.jpg

    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.
  • smidsy
    smidsy Posts: 5,273
    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.
  • nomadicbry
    nomadicbry Posts: 223
    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 bike
    Enough bikes to open a bike shop but always room for one more...
  • gabriel959
    gabriel959 Posts: 4,227
    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 Ultegra
  • drlodge
    drlodge Posts: 4,826
    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 Strava
  • diamonddog
    diamonddog Posts: 3,426
    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.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    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.
  • mroli
    mroli Posts: 3,622
    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.
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,337
    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 bike
    left the forum March 2023
  • bondurant
    bondurant Posts: 858
    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.
  • bondurant
    bondurant Posts: 858
    And by 'weight', I mean rider weight!
  • drlodge
    drlodge Posts: 4,826
    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 bike :wink:
    WyndyMilla Massive Attack | Rourke 953 | Condor Italia 531 Pro | Boardman CX Pro | DT Swiss RR440 Tubeless Wheels
    Find me on Strava
  • bondurant
    bondurant Posts: 858
    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.
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,337
    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 2023
  • bondurant
    bondurant Posts: 858
    Yep! We have a number of guys like that. Mostly TTers!