Planet-X 'London Road' frameset?

top_bhoy · March 2016

Does anyone use the Planet-X 'London Road' frameset as a flat bar commuter; if so, any opinions of the frameset?

I'd like to replace my current hybrid commuter and this frameset looks like a future build project. The replacement needs to be able to accommodate disc brakes, clearance for 32C tyres, take mudguards and have pannier rack mounts and this appears to tick all those boxes.

Cheers

The Rookie · March 2016

I presume you mean the 'London Road'?

I've been eyeing up the same frame/bike, had a look at it at the cycleshow last year as well, it's a well made frame, fairly light, lots of room for tyres and guards, my only concern is that it is primarily a drop bar frame set and on drops you have a shorter top tube as the hand hold positions on drops are a long way in front of the stem so you may need to go up a size or play with other components to get the cockpit length the right length for flats, it does come with an inline seatpost so a setback would probably be enough.

top_bhoy · March 2016

The Rookie wrote:

I presume you mean the 'London Road'?

I've been eyeing up the same frame/bike, had a look at it at the cycleshow last year as well, it's a well made frame, fairly light, lots of room for tyres and guards, my only concern is that it is primarily a drop bar frame set and on drops you have a shorter top tube as the hand hold positions on drops are a long way in front of the stem so you may need to go up a size or play with other components to get the cockpit length the right length for flats, it does come with an inline seatpost so a setback would probably be enough.

Yes, London Road.

Thanks for that feedback. It does look like a decent frameset and the built bikes look good value also albeit they are only available on the Planet-x website with drop bars and road groupsets. Consequently, I have emailed Planet-x to ask if the frame can take a groupset such as the Shimano SLX, 10spd double, disc brake groupset. I think it should and hopefully it can.

Note: Edited title after 'The Rookie' post.

andy9964 · March 2016

They used to sell them as a flat bar bike, not sure what the groupset/shifter options were though

The Rookie · March 2016

They still sell a flat bar option.

The frame will take an MTB groupset, yes. But other than brakes I'd be using road personally as the stuff tends to be lighter.

ayjaycee · March 2016

I'm not sure from reading this whether or not you planned to transfer the parts from your current hybrid to the PX but if it's the former, note that the wheels might not fit. If I remember correctly, hybrid wheels tend to have slightly wider axles than road wheels. Apologies if that's wrong and, if it is, somebody should quickly correct me but I thought it worth saying, just in case.........

top_bhoy · March 2016

ayjaycee wrote:

I'm not sure from reading this whether or not you planned to transfer the parts from your current hybrid to the PX but if it's the former, note that the wheels might not fit. If I remember correctly, hybrid wheels tend to have slightly wider axles than road wheels. Apologies if that's wrong and, if it is, somebody should quickly correct me but I thought it worth saying, just in case.........

Thanks for the info, that's one for the memory bank when it comes to considering wheels. The idea is to buy the parts from new as they come on sale. I'm happy to get by with the current hybrid for the moment so there isn't any mad panic. The frameset will likely be the first purchase so the BB, wheels, seatpost etc can all be correctly sized matched.

The Rookie · March 2016

ayjaycee wrote:

If I remember correctly, hybrid wheels tend to have slightly wider axles than road wheels.

Road wheels (rim braked) are mostly 130mm OLD, Disc baked hubs are mostly 135mm OLD (yes there are some 130mm, but its rare, I'm pretty sure the LR is 135mm as it was specced at one time with the same wheels that On-One put on 29er MTB's).

inkz · April 2016

I've got a London Road with drop bars and a Rival 1 group set with hydraulic discs. I love the bike.

I was commuting on a Specialized Roubaix, but I wanted a road bike that could fit a rack and guards, and I also wanted disc brakes; due to riding in all weathers down a steep hill that could get interesting at times. There aren't many bikes that fit that spec, so it was between this and the Genesis Croix der Fer. When Planet X had a 20% off voucher on Christmas day I grabbed the London Road on the cycle to work scheme

I've fitted it with 45mm SKS Longboards, a jobsworth disc rack and Ortleib City Roller panniers. It's currently running the 37mm tyres it came with, but I will get thinner ones when I come to replace them. Having the extra capacity to carry stuff to work over the Carradice I was using previously is great, and having proper mudguards that don't rattle around is amazing.

The bike is light enough for what it is. I love the simplicity of the Rival 1 on my commute, and the stopping power of the discs even in the wet. The Roubaix was annoying me with the rattly crud roadracers and lack of carrying capacity, so it's now had all of the components replaced with new and is just used for my leisure rides

It's not the most exciting bike to ride (that's my Mercian Super Vigorelli :P), but it's great as an every day commuter, and was one of the very few bikes I found that fitted my very specific requirements.

ayjaycee · April 2016

InkZ (or anybody else with a London Road), Would it be too much trouble to ask you to give both axles a quick measure on your London Road? See the exchange above regarding any difference between road and hybrid disk wheels.

I am now interested because, if they are 135mm, it opens the possibility that I might be able to acquire a cheap LR frameset and transfer all the kit from my hybrid onto it and, hopefully save a a few Kgs. It was just something that occurred to me reading the above posts because nowadays my hybrid only gets used for summer runs to the pub with the Mrs and I am reluctant to use it for much else as I always feel that the (very heavy) suspension forks and overall weight of the thing are soaking up a lot of the energy going through the pedals. Oh, and my other bikes are a lot more fun as well!

bendertherobot · April 2016

It's 135mm, standard disc wheel setup.

ayjaycee · April 2016

Bender, Thanks for the input - I didn't realise that a hard core roadie like you lurked in the Commuter area but thanks for the info which perhaps opens up one or two possibilities for me. As I said, I was thinking about the practicalities of transferring the components from my Specialized Crosstrail Comp Disc to a London Road frameset and, hopefully, saving a few Kgs (at nearly 14Kgs, the Crosstrail is not far off twice the weight of my Synapse!) whilst giving me a load carrying bike. Being able to use the same wheels starts to make economic sense of such a project (the LR framset can be had for £150 at the moment) but I'm still not sure what other pratfalls there might be. That said, I guess that this is a subject for a post elsewhere on BR, Perhaps in the 'Road Bike Workshop'

Planet-X 'London Road' frameset?

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