Planet X Experiences - Buying a new bike!

bendertherobot

Yep. Personally, although the lure of carbon is always great, the Trek looks great.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Has anyone noticed a correlation between paying for postage and getting the goods promptly because of spending less than £50 on parts, compared to "snail mail" when qualifying for free postage?

Each time I've used PX this year (3x), from ordering before 1400 on a day, it has taken five working days minimum for the order to reach me. Each time freebie post.

Maybe I'm getting too used to using my better half's Amazon Prime for next day delivery if I beat the order deadline.

But at least everything I've bought (totalling ~£300 in components/accessories) has been received according to spec, no ovalised oversize seat posts etc.

Boneidle24Seven

This is great. You guys have come up with a lot of options for me to check out. I'm camping in Wales this weekend so I may be slow on the response, but I will be checking these all out soon!

Keep 'em coming!

thefalseflat

I recently purchased an RT-80 from them and was impressed with their customer service (I had never used them before). I emailed them several times and had a response in the same day each time, and used their live chat system to answer a few queries before buying. They kept me updated by email on the progress of my bike build and I'm well impressed with it, being my first carbon road bike. Planet X make great bikes, I know a few riders who ride them and don't have a bad word to say about them.

pastryboy

Nothing but good experience with them from me - had about 5/6 orders including two bikes. Were very helpful when I told them about an order that hadn't arrived which turned out to be a courier who put the wrong house number on a missed delivery card.

jd843

I'm not keen on them. When I ordered my bike, I picked a Selcof stem to go on it. I'm guessing this was out of stock when they were building it, because it came with one of their own brand (cheaper) stems. It was the same length but the angle was different on it (6° instead of 10°), so it wasn't like it was exactly the same. I know it's only a stem, and I don't particularly mind that they did it as it doesn't really make a difference, but would it really have been hard for them to send me an email to let me know? Also, my fiance picked the bike up for me and said they were incredibly rude to him when he went there.

And one more thing — the chain broke on the bike after a month of use and when I got in touch when them about a replacement, they weren't apologetic in the slightest. They told me to "click the link below" to print off a collect+ label so I could return it, and they'd forgotten to paste the link into the email — useless. And when I returned the chain, they didn't even have any in stock, so I had to wait nearly a week for them to send the replacement. Surely they could have ordered them in when I said I'd be returning mine so that they'd be in stock by the time they got mine.

But yeah, I love the bike and it really was a bargain (pro carbon, £900). As long as you don't need any actual customer service from them then it's probably fine. And maybe check over your bike when you receive it/pick it up to make sure they've put the right stem/bars/saddle/wheels on it — you never know!

Sorry, that turned into quite a rant. I obviously had a lot of pent up frustration at them!

Matthewfalle

Bought far too much stuff from them and never, ever had a problem. Used to be only CRC and Merlin could beat them on delivery, but now that CRC are utterly rubbish only Merlin.

PX are actually really good for random stuff that you can't find elsewhere: massively discounted parts, cool cheap or frames, etc. Clothing is weird sizing (for me, at least) though.

mct88

When the RT-90 Sram force build fell into the incessant PX sale and I found out they took cycle scheme - I couldn't resist at the price.

Service was excellent on the live chat whilst I was tailoring the build, they were even better on the phone. Got some free and cheaper than should be upgrades.

There's usually discussion about frame quality, I'm happy on the fence here but I can vouch for their customer service.

daniel_b

Matthewfalle wrote:

Bought far too much stuff from them and never, ever had a problem. Used to be only CRC and Merlin could beat them on delivery, but now that CRC are utterly rubbish only Merlin.

PX are actually really good for random stuff that you can't find elsewhere: massively discounted parts, cool cheap or frames, etc. Clothing is weird sizing (for me, at least) though.

Agreed on the clothing, although having said that, a casual flanders polo fits me perfectly, but any of their cycling jerseys, or base layers are just weird.

Their 365 bib shorts are great training shorts, but bizarrely, and as per the reviews, the 3/4 bibs are huge at the end of the leg, and simply do not grip.

Matthewfalle

I have a couple of their short sleeved jerseys and they are a really weird fit - not exactly who or what they would fit as nice as as mainstream stuff, but hey, at those prices, perfect for winter training that's going to get trashed.

webboo

I have not bought any cycling equipment from Planet X. However when they bought out Pod climbing equipment I bought a bouldering mat I.e. a foam filled crash pad. Although these were a bit of a bargain, they had managed to put the foam in the wrong way round. So if you had landed on it you would have busted your ankles.

Matthewfalle

I wouldn't blame PX for something Pod had done - they just sell the stuff on, they don't make it.

I bought some Pod dry sacks off them and they have kept my pants dry.

webboo

As the foam was still wrapped in plastic in side the pad it would appear it had been assembled by someone who had no idea how a crash pad worked. Which I would suspect was someone at PX.

Matthewfalle

And everyone at Pod is a climber?

Not everyone who works at Burton is either Dolce or Gabbana you know. And Stephen Seagull may appear in films but he's hardly an actor.

Thinking about it though - as it was still in the packaging, could it have just been there for transit for the consumer - is you- to put in as you desire?

webboo

Matthewfalle wrote:

I have a couple of their short sleeved jerseys and they are a really weird fit - not exactly who or what they would fit as nice as as mainstream stuff, but hey, at those prices, perfect for winter training that's going to get trashed.

Maybe they were assembled by the machinist who made your jerseys who sounds like they would be better being a stunt double for Stephen Seagull than making cycling clothing.
I am a bit puzzled why winter training clothing gets trashed or do you crash a lot.

Matthewfalle

It generally gets trashed because it gets wet/covered in mud or sand or other sludge on the way to work, slung in a locker, gets put back on wet and generally mistreated quite badly because it's cheap and I don't care about it.

Nice summer kit that costs more than a tenner for a top gets treated better and therefore lasts longer.

Judging on the state of him in last night's blockbuster movie, Stephen Seagull needs more than stunt double nowadays.....

vorn

I bought some Shimano wheels from them a few months ago. They arrived next day, however the bag containing the skewers and 10sp spacers had been opened. The spacers had been removed so I couldn't fit them to my bike. As I needed to use the bike straight away I had to get a lbs to provide the spacers. Planet X sent out some spacers after 5 days.

Not good enough really, when you consider a member of staff must have opened the bag to remove the spacers for another bike or wheelset, then just hasn't bothered replacing them.

I also found that the person on the phone refused to apologise for their mistake or offer any sort of compensation, such as the cost of my lbs supplying the spacer which I think was about £3.

dannbodge

I haven't bought a bike from Px but I buy lots of my clothing and accessories from them.
Never had an issue, even on returning a couple of jerseys that had stitching undoing after 1 ride.

ravey1981

Bought tonnes of stuff from them over the years.... currently own 4 bikes from the PX stable, all self build though. Never had any issues whatsoever and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to a friend... In fact I do so very often.

rolf_f

vorn wrote:

I bought some Shimano wheels from them a few months ago. They arrived next day, however the bag containing the skewers and 10sp spacers had been opened. The spacers had been removed so I couldn't fit them to my bike. As I needed to use the bike straight away I had to get a lbs to provide the spacers. Planet X sent out some spacers after 5 days.

A bit of forward thinking saves a lot of problems. Ordering wheels that you appear to need the day after you order them seems a little optimistic.

How much more than three pounds was the discount you got off retail (or relative to other shops) by buying the wheels from PX?

Awesome post rate by the way!

vorn

Rolf F wrote:

vorn wrote:

I bought some Shimano wheels from them a few months ago. They arrived next day, however the bag containing the skewers and 10sp spacers had been opened. The spacers had been removed so I couldn't fit them to my bike. As I needed to use the bike straight away I had to get a lbs to provide the spacers. Planet X sent out some spacers after 5 days.

A bit of forward thinking saves a lot of problems. Ordering wheels that you appear to need the day after you order them seems a little optimistic.

How much more than three pounds was the discount you got off retail (or relative to other shops) by buying the wheels from PX?

Awesome post rate by the way!

As it happens I had damaged my wheels which is why I needed new ones in a hurry.

I saved a tenner by not using wiggle, which I wished at the time I hadn't bothered as wiggle are always faultless.

I'm not sure why ordering wheels with next day delivery is being optimistic if I plan to use them 48 hours later? Or should I have expected Planet X to have taken bits out of the box?

You are right, I don't post much, but as the thread asked for Planet X experiences I thought I'd share mine.

Awesome attitude to other forum users by the way.

markhewitt1978

I bought an RT-58 frameset from them, ok it's a cheap frameset just to use on the turbo. But when I came to fit the bottom bracket cups they wouldn't go in. Not having done that sort of thing before I assumed user error, but no amount of googling would solve the problem. Had to take it to the LBS who said the BB was not properly threaded at all so they had to tap in new threads.

I don't expect massive amounts from a cheap framset but I would have thought they would have done better with their quality control.

fenix

I'd also take the LBS view with a pinch of salt - they would say that wouldn't they ?

PX wouldnt be making the bikes themselves so it would be their supplier to blame for the poor QC - and I'm sure that factory supplies many many brands.

rolf_f

vorn wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

vorn wrote:

I bought some Shimano wheels from them a few months ago. They arrived next day, however the bag containing the skewers and 10sp spacers had been opened. The spacers had been removed so I couldn't fit them to my bike. As I needed to use the bike straight away I had to get a lbs to provide the spacers. Planet X sent out some spacers after 5 days.

A bit of forward thinking saves a lot of problems. Ordering wheels that you appear to need the day after you order them seems a little optimistic.

How much more than three pounds was the discount you got off retail (or relative to other shops) by buying the wheels from PX?

Awesome post rate by the way!

As it happens I had damaged my wheels which is why I needed new ones in a hurry.

I saved a tenner by not using wiggle, which I wished at the time I hadn't bothered as wiggle are always faultless.

I'm not sure why ordering wheels with next day delivery is being optimistic if I plan to use them 48 hours later? Or should I have expected Planet X to have taken bits out of the box?

You are right, I don't post much, but as the thread asked for Planet X experiences I thought I'd share mine.

Awesome attitude to other forum users by the way.

I'm suggesting that your life might be a bit less stressed if you plan ahead - I would have thought that was a pretty helpful suggestion. I've bent two wheels on one pothole before but it didn't mean I needed to worry about postal deliveries before getting back on the bike. All I'm saying is that PX don't seem to have done you too badly.

1) They provided you with a bargain
2) It took them only one day to send it
3) They provided a replacement reasonably promptly but not ideally so.

On the down side, what they provided was flawed - which sometimes happens (even with Wiggle). But that's no reason for you to expect PX to cover your extra expenses. Look on it as a disorganisation tax. You got your wheels and you were still £7 up on the Wiggle deal.

Best way to deal with the damaged wheel problem is to have a spare pair in stock (along with all the other spares you might need). In the long run it is cheaper (because you probably get a better deal than buying in a hurry) and you don't have to get stressed about things not arriving on time - there's always something that can go wrong eg the delivery driver damaging them. Alternatively, don't have spares but do expect to potentially miss a ride. Alternatively, buy your replacement product at your LBS. Your LBS would have probably preferred to have supplied the wheels rather than just the spacers.

PS I can't know that you'd specified next day deliver unless you say so in the first place! Nor can I know that 'straight away' means after an additional 48 hours. Not that it changes anything.......

dinyull

Haha, do you buy 2 new bikes at the same time so you have a spare in stock?

Or have a second car or house if anything goes wrong? Just to be prepared like.

fenix

Obviously we all have second bikes just in case - and third, and fourth... Its all common sense as I tell my wife.

dinyull

Well obviously, but that means 4 apparently if the seatube dia. crank length etc etc etc etc etc is different.

What a load of old b*ll*cks hahaha.

step83

Bout an RT-80 frameset recently, listed as R grade, only marks were hidden under the bottle cages. No problems pretty much all the orders I've made in the past have been faultless as well. Bit of a pain to get on the phone sometimes but its liveable.

cougie

Dinyull wrote:

Well obviously, but that means 4 apparently if the seatube dia. crank length etc etc etc etc etc is different.

What a load of old b*ll*cks hahaha.

Not really. If your summer bike is broken - ride the winter bike. If that breaks then it's the fixed wheel etc etc....

Sometimes you can swap things over but it does depend.

rolf_f

Dinyull wrote:

Haha, do you buy 2 new bikes at the same time so you have a spare in stock?

Or have a second car or house if anything goes wrong? Just to be prepared like.

Is this meant to add anything to the debate? Presumably you don't even carry a spare inner tube on a ride because that would be like having a spare house.

I commute every day so if my bike got wrecked in a crash or something broke, I do know what I'd do the next day (ride my touring bike, put a spare pair of wheels on etc). Recently I did have a shifter break on the way home from work. I replaced it in the evening with a spare and that seems a lot less hassle than a rushed order for a replacement and two or three days commutes without functional rear gears. So far too lazy to send old shifter off for repairs but it will happen! I know that the parts will be used one day and I buy them when they are cheap so I save money and am never stressed if something breaks.