Gravel bike - Lauf or Planet X/Holdsworth

blueslim
blueslim Posts: 5
in Cyclocross
Evening all,

I'm in the market for a gravel bike that will scratch my itch to ride during the winter, act as a commuter in the summer (30 miles there and back) through london and towpaths and be workable for a few days bikepacking in the summer. Quite the wishlist...

Obviously availability atm is the driving factor but ive narrowed it down to the following:

Lauf Anywhere Weekend Warrior - £2280 with delivery or;

(Planet X?) HOLDSWORTH MYSTIQUE SRAM FORCE 1 GRAVEL BIKE - £1799.

They are pretty similar in terms of specs but just the small difference of £500. Only thing is, i can find no reviews of the Holdsworth/Planet x, and if it looks too good to be true it usually is.

Does anyone have any experience either way and help me out from either:

Wasting £500 or buying cheap and buying twice.

Thanks

Comments

  • diamonddog
    diamonddog Posts: 3,426
    edited February 2021
    Save yourself £500, Planet X bikes are good vfm and my road bike is still going strong after many years. I doubt you would notice the difference when riding it and for me Sram gearing is a big plus.
  • N0bodyOfTheGoat
    N0bodyOfTheGoat Posts: 6,061
    I've liked the look of the Mystique frame for the last 12+ months.
    ================
    2020 Voodoo Marasa
    2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
    2016 Voodoo Wazoo
  • singleton
    singleton Posts: 2,523
    I'm not very familiar with the Lauf, but looking at the weekend warrior spec, it has SRAM Rival which is perfectly good, but one level down on the Holdsworth.

    The Holdsworth has Force for the price you showed - for a direct comparison you should compare the Rival spec bike which is £1599 - giving you a £680 saving.

    I own a planet-X free ranger which I run in 2 specs:

    Winter road bike
    Full mudguards
    700c wheels with 32mm slick GravelKing tyres
    11-32 rear cassette

    Summer off-road spec
    No mudguards
    650b (27.5") MTB wheels with 2.2" IKON Maxxis tyres
    11-42 cassette

    You could use the money saved for a second set of wheels / rotors / cassette / discs and the swap then only take a couple of minutes.
  • blueslim
    blueslim Posts: 5
    Cheers all for the responses. I think its just a legacy of bike snobbery that still exists around Planet X. I'm now looking at the Tempest (Planet X) Titan (Titanium) for £2300.

    I've ridden a titanium bike before and it was a dream plus so much more durable.

    Decisions! Decisions!
  • davep1
    davep1 Posts: 837
    The Kinesis AT reviewed on the main site today looks really good for your wish list. Possibly more off road biased than you need?
  • blueslim
    blueslim Posts: 5
    Thanks Dave but that's woefully underspeced when you compare it with the Tempest Titan.

    The Kinesis is the same price as the Titan but without a titanium frame and SRAM force.
  • prcody
    prcody Posts: 67
    The only advice I can give is make sure there is plenty of clearance on the seat stays and forks if youre taking it out into muddy conditions. One chap I know who raced a PlanetX CX bike said the only issue with it was the rear seat stay had very little clearance and used to accumulate mud easily in bad conditions. Other than that he rated it as a CX bike.

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