De Rosa R848

jmillen

Evening folks,

Unfortunately my Planet X RT-57 died this morning (the BB surround has come loose within the carbon frame).

LBS have offered me a good deal on a De Rosa R848 http://www.wiggle.co.uk/de-rosa-r848-105-2014/
I have some Fulcrum Racing 3's to go on it to replace the stock Shimano RS00's but other than that, was planning on leaving it as is for now. I'm not a big fan of the Tiagra chainset but I'll try and wait for it to wear out before replacing with something

Is this a good frame to spend some money upgrading components over time as/when required?

I'd be very grateful for anyones thoughts/comments

brant@on-one.co.uk

How old is the frame?

Can we help at all

--
brant
Planet X.

Camcycle1974

De Rosa are a bit misleading as they imply they are 100% Italian when in fact their lower range offering are open mold Chinese carbon with nice paint jobs. None the worse for that but a bit naughty to charge a big premium for some paint. have a look at the Ribble New Sportive Racing and spot some startling similarities!

nochekmate

brant@on-one.co.uk wrote:

How old is the frame?

Can we help at all

--
brant
Planet X.

Yes my thoughts exactly. Before splashing the cash on the De Rosa why doesn't the OP explore warranty issues with PX

TMR

The warranty advise is right. Get a replacement frame then sell it and buy something that doesn't look like it was designed by a two year old.

Yes, the Ribble Stealth uses the same (or very similar) mould to the De Rosa 838, but the De Rosa looks a million times nicer. Only you can say whether that is worth the extra cost.

Good luck.

P.S. I'd have the De Rosa any day of the week and twice on Sundays. Make sure you put Campag on it though.

Monty Dog

FWIW DeRosa R848/Ribble Stealth etc is is an open-mould design produced by XPA in China, who incidently also make frames for Planet-X. Certainly worth exploring the warranty issue with P-X - loose BB insert is usually due to poor quality manufacture.

Camcycle1974

The 838/848 are different frames made by XPace in Taiwan. Stealth (now 872) is the 838 (De Rosa didn't even bother to re-name it, X-Pace also name the frame 838) and the Sportive Ribble the same as the 848. Why a De Rosa all day long? Because you pay more? It's the same frame! Fake Italian heritage should not command a premium. People de-cry the likes of Starley for using open-mold but at least they are open about it.

jmillen

Thank you for the replies all.

The bike was purchased new in April 2011. I am the 2nd owner though, not the original and I don't have the original receipt. I'm guessing this rules me out, but I'll drop you a pm anyway Brant just incase.

I'm a bit dis-heartened to hear that the frame is coming from X-Pace. The idea behind going for a more expensive "Italian" frame is to pay for the quality so this sort of thing won't happen again! I'll have a chat with LBS about this I think. Will I have a similar issue with Willier frames?

Dodger747

The vast majority of frames are made by only a few companies.

The Inner Ring blog has a good list of who makes what. I believe only the top of the range Colnago and De Rosa are actually made in Italy these days. Although it wouldn't surprise me if they still source their carbon from Taiwan...

brant@on-one.co.uk

FWIW DeRosa R848/Ribble Stealth etc is is an open-mould design produced by XPA in China, who incidently also make frames for Planet-X.

We haven't used XPA for about three years.

darkhairedlord

brant@on-one.co.uk wrote:

FWIW DeRosa R848/Ribble Stealth etc is is an open-mould design produced by XPA in China, who incidently also make frames for Planet-X.

We haven't used XPA for about three years.

A shame other retailers don't come on here to dispel a few myths.

arran77

darkhairedlord wrote:

brant@on-one.co.uk wrote:

FWIW DeRosa R848/Ribble Stealth etc is is an open-mould design produced by XPA in China, who incidently also make frames for Planet-X.

We haven't used XPA for about three years.

A shame other retailers don't come on here to dispel a few myths.

Perhaps we could get Wiggle on here, oh hang on :P

Camcycle1974

jmillen wrote:

Thank you for the replies all.

The bike was purchased new in April 2011. I am the 2nd owner though, not the original and I don't have the original receipt. I'm guessing this rules me out, but I'll drop you a pm anyway Brant just incase.

I'm a bit dis-heartened to hear that the frame is coming from X-Pace. The idea behind going for a more expensive "Italian" frame is to pay for the quality so this sort of thing won't happen again! I'll have a chat with LBS about this I think. Will I have a similar issue with Willier frames?

Don't take it as a negative. Frames from the far east are perfectly good i.e Giant from Taiwan makes some of the best frames in the world along with a lot of frames for other companies. Not the product at fault but the manufacturers selling off the back of a pseudo Italian heritage. Not a problem for the consumer except for paying a premium which some are happy to do. A chacun son gout as they say in France. I might consider paying more for a handcrafted Italian frame from the likes of Legend but other than that think I'll stick to my Ribble!