New Planet X titanium range:

alan_sherman

Anyone seen them in the flesh in the PX showroom or anywhere?
I have an Enigma Esprit (a Mark Reilly design), I love titanium, I don't have much money now - but the Tempest or Hurricane look interesting, I'd be interested to hear any more info. My use would be road, light tour, gravel paths (Richmond park paths, Thames Path, NCN) some bridleway perhaps.


Things I like:
Titanium!
External, downtube routed gear cable routing with adjusters
Rear brake mounted inside the chainstay
BSA bottom bracket
Mudguard and rack bosses
Downtube routed brake hose
Clearance for 32mm tyres and guards.
Tapered steer fork (for compatability.)
Sensible shaped frame (no dropped seatstays, ultra-compact frame size, crazy head tube length)
Butted tubing, not straight guage.
Shimano gears and Ultegra hydro brakes
No paint or decals (looking at you genesis croix de fer Ti!)
headtube badge (not a sticker)
A lot less than a Croix der fer Ti, or Tripster ATR, or Gran Fondo Ti, or Enigma Esprit disc.......


Things I don't like:
Not clear on the difference between the two models. There is the fork, wheels and tyres. Also the geometries are slighly different, audax has a slacker head angle, but less trail on the fork. Gravel has a slightly steeper seat tube. Stack and reach are almost identical, audax has 2mm more BB drop. Tempest has longer chainstays so less chance of heel strike and more space for tyres? Woudl need a test ride really to see which is best
Frame sizing / fit - their showroom is a long way from me.
Not flat mount discs (future compatibility?)
No triple option on Shimano hydro
No hole on the front of the forks? (The gravel fork is supposed to be the same as the London Road?)
That I have no money for a new bike.


Anyone actually seen these machines?

ddraver

Oooh, I do say...

They re very new so I don't think many of them will have seen them. However the On-One Pickenflick is widely regarded as an awesome bike. It's probably my on my dream list...

rickeverett

They do look nice. Planet X seem to have a couple in gems recently. The new Aero bike is getting rave reviews and looks awesome in the flesh.

jimnm

I have just bought the Ti spitfire with shimano ultegra drive train. It's being built on 3/8 next month. The medium weighs 7.9kg
I have opted for the small frame so it should be slightly lighter. I opted for a few upgrades, tyres, seat post and bar tape.

I have a Genesis Equalibrium 10 which is 6 years old now . This weighs 10kg, nice bike though.
725 chromoly frame tiagra and sora DT

y33stu

I'm also looking at these. I'm torn between the Hurricane and Spitfire with Ultegra. Have never been a fan of disk brakes, but I guess the bike would be future proof if I went for disks. I understand the hydraulic brakes are a lot better than the BB7's I had on a previous CX bike.

Plus as it's planet x - you can be sure they'll be discounting these quite a bit at some point - I'd like to make my mind up ready for when they offer these at 20% off!

bendertherobot

y33stu wrote:

I'm also looking at these. I'm torn between the Hurricane and Spitfire with Ultegra. Have never been a fan of disk brakes, but I guess the bike would be future proof if I went for disks. I understand the hydraulic brakes are a lot better than the BB7's I had on a previous CX bike.

Plus as it's planet x - you can be sure they'll be discounting these quite a bit at some point - I'd like to make my mind up ready for when they offer these at 20% off!

A lot better is an understatement. The Ultegra (RS685 anyway) are fantastic. These might get a price drop but I doubt it will happen very quickly (if at all). The Pickenflick is rarely discounted.

tomisitt

I think it's a bit cheeky of Planet X to offer a Ti bike called the Spitfire when Spin have had one in their range for years.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I was amazed that flat bar Pickenflick lasted so long in the "ready to ride" section, £1k and swap out those BB7 brakes for something hydraulic, very happy days!

hopkinb

I have a pickenflick with SRAM Rival 22 HRD, which I bought using a cycle to work voucher when they were doing 20% off all cross bikes. The only thing I don't like about it is that I have to use clip on mudguards, but the raceblade XLs are great. I use it daily with road tyres for commuting & longer rides. I kept the knobblies it came with, and have used it on towpaths, gravel paths etc. I did see the new range, and think they look great. I had no problems dealing with Planet X, and the staff were helpful with sizing etc.

Matthewfalle

tomisitt wrote:

I think it's a bit cheeky of Planet X to offer a Ti bike called the Spitfire when Spin have had one in their range for years.

I think it's a bit cheeky of Spin to offer a Ti bike called Spitfire when some blokes built a load of aeroplanes and called them that 70 odd years ago.

Back on track though - potential to be some bargain frame only purchases as well to use up all the bits in the big spares box .......

iron-clover

Matthewfalle wrote:

I think it's a bit cheeky of Spin to offer a Ti bike called Spitfire when some blokes built a load of aeroplanes and called them that 70 odd years ago.

Back on track though - potential to be some bargain frame only purchases as well to use up all the bits in the big spares box .......

You could make one heck of an "n+1" with one of those frames... :P

tomisitt

I think it's a bit cheeky of Spin to offer a Ti bike called Spitfire when some blokes built a load of aeroplanes and called them that 70 odd years ago.

It's not uncommon for unrelated products to bear the same name (Triumph/Supermarine/Shepherd Neame "Spitfire", Porsche/Sea-Doo/Scott "Speedster", etc), but I reckon Planet X are risking a "passing off" action by producing a Ti bike called a Spitfire. If Vauxhall brought out a 4x4 called an Evoque I suspect there would be trouble. Maybe Spin are viewing it as the sincerest form of flattery. Agree that a frame-only purchase might be good value.

jimnm

Well it's only a name which doesn't mean a great deal! The construction and materials and components used matters.

Matthewfalle

tomisitt wrote:

I think it's a bit cheeky of Spin to offer a Ti bike called Spitfire when some blokes built a load of aeroplanes and called them that 70 odd years ago.

It's not uncommon for unrelated products to bear the same name (Triumph/Supermarine/Shepherd Neame "Spitfire", Porsche/Sea-Doo/Scott "Speedster", etc), but I reckon Planet X are risking a "passing off" action by producing a Ti bike called a Spitfire. If Vauxhall brought out a 4x4 called an Evoque I suspect there would be trouble. Maybe Spin are viewing it as the sincerest form of flattery. Agree that a frame-only purchase might be good value.

Totes negatron reference passing off - a layman wouldn't be deceived, so it's a non starter.

Maybe PX are seeing Spin calling their bicycle as the sincerest form of flattery ..............