Planet X London Road
Comments
-
Tangled Metal wrote:Where do you get helicopter tape from?
I've bought mine from Biketart in the past, not cheap but does the job. I've got Fibrax spiral cable protectors on both my LRs and heli-tape along the chainstay.I've added a signature to prove it is still possible.0 -
Helicopter tape due in today. On the bike tonight, problem solved.0
-
What a massive thread!
I'm trying to decide between a Cannondale CAADX and a London Road. I live in North Wales and would have to buy one sight unseen. A bit risky.
Pluses for the London Road.
Hydraulic Brakes for £999 *
I like the Blue.
Fits very wide tires, mud guards and a rack.
Overall a good part spec.
Minuses for the London Road:
I can't go try one.
Not a fan of the welds.
12% charge on CyclePlus.
Pluses for the CAADX
A CAADX in 54cm fits me perfectly.
£100 off on all versions in-store at Evans -- Tiagra is £799, 105 is £899.
Minuses for the CAADX:
The brakes have had some poor reviews.
Tigra and Sora levers are a bit sloppy.
The Tigra decals are a little loud. Black with white (Sora and 105) is boring.
The bikes are about the same price. BUT I know I won't be happy with the Tigra or Sora levers. I'd probably end up swapping in Shimano or SRAM hydraulics at some point making the CAADX much more expensive.
Anyone here ridden both? Convince me why I should get a London Road instead of the CAADX
(or tell me why I should get the Cannondale :twisted: )
*We have a road tandem with Magura HS-66 hydraulic brakes. I've been a convert ever since, but until recently there wasn't much of an option besides paying insane prices for used Magura brakes on eBay.0 -
London Road is a great bike if you riding suits it.
I have one, commute 30 miles a day and 60 - 70 hilly miles on a weekend .
To be honest , in hindsight I would have gone for the Giant defy 1 disc.
The LR is fine until you go uphill in a group on a Sunday then things get pretty awful , this is a commuting bike to be honest and a very good one at that , to me it does not by any means sit in the so called "do it all category".
Summing up . winter , mudguards , commuting , tough good spec put it on your list.
Uphill , speed ,summer road riding . look elswhere.
regards
ILG0 -
ilovegrace wrote:London Road is a great bike if you riding suits it.
I have a classic Bianchi lugged steel road bike. I put thousands of miles on it in the past but haven't ridden it in years. TBH it just isn't fun anymore.
I'm looking for a commuter bike that will also spend the weekends on dirt and gravel roads here in North Wales. My commute is only 5 miles each way with a couple of moderate hills. Right now I'm riding '96 Trek 930, a mountain bike with a solid fork. I've got a set of 1 1/2" road tyres on it.
It is fine for what I do, but I'd like something with drop handlebars and 700C wheels and slightly faster. The Trek is unstable above 28mph. Always has been from new.
I would guess either the CAADX or the London Road is what I'm looking for, I'm just trying to decide.0 -
Is the caadx Cannondale's cx bike? If it is then I've ridden it. For me I found I kept catching my toe on the front wheel when turning at slow speed. I tried it in two sizes but never took to it. Felt a bit twitchy at times to me but was ok to ride. Not for a long time I think, just a feeling I had so could be wrong.
I bought the lr online without Inspection and was anxious about the risk. It turned out ok but after a year I think it's not right bike for me. Still it's been good and I like it.
If you get it then make sure you use helicopter tape on potential wear points. Mine has long cables that has rubbed against the carbon forks. Before I noticed it the cables have rubbed off the outer paint and inner primer later too. Black, carbon fibre is now showing. The paint is not the best. I have chips on the top tube and the carbon is showing in.several places. Watch out for rubbing of the carbon forks on certain types of bike racks.0 -
Tangled Metal wrote:Is the caadx Cannondale's cx bike? If it is then I've ridden it.
They have two lines: Superx are traditional CX race bikes. CAADX is slightly relaxed - The chain stays are 200mm longer, the head tube is 500mm longer and the bottom bracket is 1.4cm lower. You sit a little more upright and the bike is a bit more stable. CAADX can take a rear rack and mud guards and Superx can not.
That puts it somewhere between a touring bike and a race bike.0 -
I love the lr and I find climbing OK with it. The only very big downfall is planet x customer services is shocking. I have had a nightmare with them. I'm not convinced i got new brake pads with mine. They wore out in a couple of weeks. The headset was almost dry after a few weeks too. So either poor or not enough grease on it. Everything needed torqued and the hanger was bent out of the box. Unfortunately it had to back for other problems too. Customer services will argue like mad not to take it back.Cube Attain SL Disc
Giant CRS 2.00 -
Andrew*Debbie wrote:ilovegrace wrote:London Road is a great bike if you riding suits it.
I'm looking for a commuter bike that will also spend the weekends on dirt and gravel roads here in North Wales. My commute is only 5 miles each way with a couple of moderate hills.
For that type of riding the London Road would be ideal. I bought one last October but rode it almost exclusively on the road. Never felt it was particulary slow - but in fairness I did do a couple of swaps on the basic spec that contributed to the improved ride quality on the road. I fitted my handbuilt Archtype/ Hope Pro2 Evo wheels to replace the stock Fulcrum ones and also swapped out the Avid BB7's (I ordered the mechanical disc version) for a set of TRP Spyres that I had from an earlier Equilibrium Disc build. I also fitted some Michelin Pro4 Endurance 28c tyres.
Just to muddy the waters a bit I also recently read a review (Cycling Plus mag. I think) where the Bopardman CX Team scored well.
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/r ... GwodL6UA_Q0 -
I tried that Cannondale bike. Went for the lr instead. I took the chance and glad I did, the lr is not a bad bike in the end. It's the same weight as my ancient steel road bike but it isn't as nice a ride though. My ancient road bike just needs more work than it was worth doing. Not got experience to fix myself. I think.a light feeling ride lr isn't but it's a good workhorse IMHO.
The Cannondale was a bit lighter feel I think it just didn't suit me. It's all a personal choice.0 -
Some of the comments here suggest that the biggest risk with buying online is being unlucky with the build standard, plus one or two niggles on the frame quality. From my own experience, the set up out of the box was absolutely fine, no problems or readjustment of gears/brakes required. I've seen the cable rub that others have mentioned but I think that's a minor point. And as mentioned elsewhere, I don't think the threads for rack/guards are the best, but equally I've not had any problem once everything's been installed.
Ride-wise, I'm very happy with the LR after 1,500 miles of commuting, loaded touring and faster training rides on wet roads. Certainly compared to my steel race bike it feels more sluggish up hills but it's marginal. Feels fast enough, and very solid on the flat and downhill. I think the VFM in terms of spec quality is very good and definitely a plus in its favour. I've just got the mechanical disc brakes, but very happy with the SRAM Rival 11 group. The only straight swap I made was upgrading the Hutchinson tyres for Marathon Supreme. (Plus a Fizik Arione saddle for comfort.)
For the riding I do, as mentioned above, I would buy again.0 -
It's been good for me too. Over the a year commuting on it with only 1 problem (a puncture). It came out of the box ready to ride. Even the seat was in the perfect position/ height for me. Rotated the bars, put my pedals on and it was good to go.
The gears turned out to need adjusting, I could only get the rear derailleur to shift between the biggest 3 or 4 cogs. Easy fix.
It's also been good to allow me to work out my ideal bike. I've had a good steel road bike which was great for shorter day rides. Then I got a hybrid with front suspension (to enable off road riding too). This got replaced with my London Road, which was good on and off road. Plus it suits my wish to try touring. Although I intend to get something better suited to touring one day. In some ways I wish it was more touring focused. I'd like front forks capable of taking front rack.0 -
Help needed, looking at finally ordering as the frameset is on offer @ %50 off.
What size should I be looking at - I'm 5"11 in a 30" inside leg - cheers.0 -
Dinyull wrote:Help needed, looking at finally ordering as the frameset is on offer @ %50 off.
What size should I be looking at - I'm 5"11 in a 30" inside leg - cheers.
Hmmm... could be either M or L depending on your preferences. I'm 5'10", 30" inside leg. The M fits me perfectly with a 110mm stem, and the 3cm of spacer that the full build came with gives me about 2" saddle-to-bar drop. Unless you want a particularly aggressive position, maybe the Large would be best for you?
0 -
Cheers for that. I had missed the size guide at the bottom of the page, looks like I'm in between M and L - hmm.0
-
I forgot to mention, there's a bit of toe overlap (especially with mudguards fitted), which could possibly steer you towards the Large. You can see there's plenty of seat post to play with, so you just need to work out what is best for reach.0
-
Dinyull wrote:Help needed, looking at finally ordering as the frameset is on offer @ %50 off.
What size should I be looking at - I'm 5"11 in a 30" inside leg - cheers.
I am 5' 11" with a slightly longer inside leg at 31" and rode a Large with a 90mm stem (flipped) and 25mm spacers on top of the headset bearing cap.
I think you could make either size work for you with a tweak of the stem length and saddle height0 -
I'd take your shoe size into account as well with regards to toe over lap. I'm a bit over 5'11" with a 32" inside leg and have a large. I also have size EU47 feet and get a little toe overlap with mudguards. I think I caught my foot on it once while making a sharp turn at very low speed and it hasn't been a problem ever since. I reckon a medium frame would give me more significant toe overlap though.0
-
Cheers
Used a bike fit website (competitive bike) and was advised to go with top tube length of 54, so opted for the Medium. The geometry is very similar to my current bike too and pretty happy with that.0 -
Graeme_S wrote:I'd take your shoe size into account as well with regards to toe over lap. I'm a bit over 5'11" with a 32" inside leg and have a large. I also have size EU47 feet and get a little toe overlap with mudguards. I think I caught my foot on it once while making a sharp turn at very low speed and it hasn't been a problem ever since. I reckon a medium frame would give me more significant toe overlap though.
Ah....maybe I should have a word with Planet X in the morning and change to the L as I'm 5"11 and 32" inside leg (not 30" as stated earlier).0 -
I'm 5'11" on a medium with 130 stem and 32" legs. 90mm steerer from frame to topcap and 170 mm seatpost to saddleclamp.I've added a signature to prove it is still possible.0
-
I've never sat on a Medium frame of any Planet X bike, my Pro Carbon is a Large as well. It may well be that I could get a perfectly good set up on a Medium and I've just never tried, so I wouldn't necessarily base your choices entirely on meDinyull wrote:Graeme_S wrote:I'd take your shoe size into account as well with regards to toe over lap. I'm a bit over 5'11" with a 32" inside leg and have a large. I also have size EU47 feet and get a little toe overlap with mudguards. I think I caught my foot on it once while making a sharp turn at very low speed and it hasn't been a problem ever since. I reckon a medium frame would give me more significant toe overlap though.
Ah....maybe I should have a word with Planet X in the morning and change to the L as I'm 5"11 and 32" inside leg (not 30" as stated earlier). 0 -
Whereabouts are you based Dinyull? Could you maybe find someone local with a large or medium LR that you could throw your leg over to check?0
-
Too late, haha. Frame has already been delivered.
It'll be fine, my current bike geometry is very similar to M LR. Now need to keep an eye out for bargain wheelset.0 -
Frame arrived last night and I'm so glad I ordered the Zest Lime - it looks almost a luminous yellow in all pics I've seen but is much greener in the flesh. Lovely.
Sorry to be a pain but I have a few questions for peeps who've built up the frame themselves:
1) The fork has black plastic clibs for housing the disc brake cables, but there weren't any clips attached to the underside of the downtube. Did your frame come with these, should I speak to PX or is does somewhere sell them?
2) What cables and outers did you use for disc brakes?
3) I was going to order a headset today, and foolishly assumed Planet X would have the information on their website. It is printed on the fork, but that's at home and I'm sat at work. Can anyone remember what size headset is required?
Cheers0 -
Dinyull wrote:
1) The fork has black plastic clibs for housing the disc brake cables, but there weren't any clips attached to the underside of the downtube. Did your frame come with these, should I speak to PX or is does somewhere sell them?
2) What cables and outers did you use for disc brakes?
3) I was going to order a headset today, and foolishly assumed Planet X would have the information on their website. It is printed on the fork, but that's at home and I'm sat at work. Can anyone remember what size headset is required?
Cheers
Question 1 Sorry have now moved my LR on to my grandson so can't check directly but I think from memory there were mounting clips under the downtube to secure the rear brake outer. I'd call PX and check if your frame is missing the clips.
Question 2 I may be wrong but I think if you just order a set of SRAM brake cable outers that should be fine. People go on about using compressionless outers but I think standard outers will be fine.
Question 3 If you look on the PX page that lists the frameset you will see a group of components at the bottom of the page that are compatible with the frame
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/FRPXLONROD ... d-frameset
so the headset you need is this
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/HSFSOC40AC ... ed-headset
There are probably other options out there that are cheaper but I can't locate any ATM0 -
Cheers for that.
I did see the headset on PX, think I've found one cheaper elsewhere ta.
I should add, the cables will be for mechanical discs, if that makes any difference.0 -
Dinyull wrote:Cheers for that.
I did see the headset on PX, think I've found one cheaper elsewhere ta.
I should add, the cables will be for mechanical discs, if that makes any difference.
Yes I was assuming mechanical discs as for hydraulics you would need the special ones to hold the fluid.
Just an observation on the cable securing clips. I'm assuming that the frame does have the cable guides welded in place on the downtube as per the pic on the PX website - 3 guides on the underside of the downtube
On another build I just used some fine cable ties to secure the brake cable in to the guide. Worked fine - so you actually don't need the fancy clips but if you have them on the front brake mounts then they should have been supplied for the rear brake also.0 -
Yes, the cables guides are there.
Actually on the pic you've linked you can see the black plastic clips attached to the fork, but they aren't shown on the downtube....
I'll see what planet x say though.0 -
Cheaper headset...whereabouts?Dinyull wrote:Cheers for that.
I did see the headset on PX, think I've found one cheaper elsewhere ta.
I should add, the cables will be for mechanical discs, if that makes any difference.
Thanks0
