Planet X Pro Carbon Build

arlowood

Built several bikes over the past few years but mainly steel, disc and non-disk and alloy non-disc. Thought I'd have a go at a carbon build to see how I got on and also as a replacement for my PX London Road which will be converted to a flat bar version for my grandson (watch this space in a week or so).

Just done a quick ride this morning to check that the gears and set up were OK. Wrapped the bars and finished off a few fiddly bits this afternoon.



Please no flaming for the flipped stem and bar position - I'm an old codger and find that set up suits my lack of flexibility

The technical bits:-

Frame:- Planet X Pro Carbon (L)
Groupset:- Shimano 105 5800 (50/34 chainset: 11-32 cassette)
Chain:- KMC X11-93
Bars:- Bontrager VR-C
Bar Tape:- Lizard Skins + Bontrager Isogel pads
Stem:- Deda Zero 1 90mm
Seatpost:- Thomson Elite In-line
Saddle:- Fizik Arione
Pedals:- Look Keo Classic
Bottle Cages:- Giant Proway
Wheels:- H Plus Son Archetype rims: Miche Primato hubs 28F/32R (courtesy of Malcolm at Cycleclinic)
Tyres:- Michelin Pro4 Endurance (700x28c)

Was hoping to get away with the 28c tyres as I really like them on the London Road. Initial impressions are that they are fine tho the clearance is a little tight in the rear triangle. Since I don't deliberately ride in the wet or when the roads have a lot of crap on them, I might be OK.

Looking forward to having a longer ride over the weekend

ugo.santalucia

A few thoughts:
because the steerer is not pointing straight forward, the bars look even weird-er than they really are. Suggest to take a photo with the bike perfectly straight... as you are there, you might want to place the wheels logos at the bottom. I find bikes look better if you picture them from a slightly higher position than vice versa.

I think you would get the same result by twisting the bars slightly down and placing the STIs slightly up on the bars and it would look less wrong

bompington

Blimey, there doesn't appear to be much clearance between my PX's frame and its 23mm pro4s

bazbadger

Fitting 28mm to a Pro SL is asking for trouble.

Get a stone on the tyre and you'll gouge out a piece of seat stay / seat tube / chain-stay.

24mm is the max for this bike.

arlowood

Eventually got round to following Ugo's advice and re-jigged the shifter positions and the bar angle.





Probably looks less "weird" than initially - just got to try a longish ride to check out the comfort factor. With the previous set-up I was experiencing some numbness/ pins-and-needles in my fingers after about 30mins riding. Not sure if that was due to the bar positioning or the switch back to Shimano shifter hoods. On my previous SRAM equipped Planet X London Road I never had any issues with numbness

ugo.santalucia

arlowood wrote:

Eventually got round to following Ugo's advice and re-jigged the shifter positions and the bar angle.





Probably looks less "weird" than initially - just got to try a longish ride to check out the comfort factor. With the previous set-up I was experiencing some numbness/ pins-and-needles in my fingers after about 30mins riding. Not sure if that was due to the bar positioning or the switch back to Shimano shifter hoods. On my previous SRAM equipped Planet X London Road I never had any issues with numbness

Much better, you can probably rotate the bars a few degrees upwards, to bring you back to your initial setup. I would say if the bottm of the drops follows the line of the top tube, you probably get the best of both worlds.

Numb hands suggests you put more weight on your hands that previously, which is consistent with a lower front end position