Planet X Bikes

essex-commuter · December 2016

I'm in the market for a new commuter...again. I've seen a Planet X bike that really fits the bill (1x11 and hydraulics) but I've read a lot of negative comments lately about Planet X quality and customer service.

Any experiences to share about buying complete bikes from Planet X (mail order) recently that you'd like to share?

TIA.

cougie · December 2016

I've three px bikes and never had a problem.

tangled_metal · December 2016

Only got one PX bike and it's working very well so far as my commuter bike and TBH only bike. Service was.good both in the original purchase and subsequent purchase.

cooldad · December 2016

Things are a bit slow at the moment, but my random orders for cheap socks and stuff have all arrived.

fat daddy · December 2016

Just before xmas ... and just after xmas with the returns the customer service will be slow, more mistakes will be made, deliveries will be later.

out of a particular season everything I have ordered has turned up the next day and the quality perfect .... but then I only buy clothing and components, don't think I would trust a bike that may or may not come prefilled with expanding foam ?

smokey_bacon · December 2016

Used them about 2 years ago for a bike. The service and delivery was good and the bike was great. Would recommend.

The Rookie · December 2016

I have a PX London road frame I built up as a commuter
1/ All the seat tubes are oversize, 31.6mm they are not, as I was using a 27.2 post anyway I just bought a 31.8shim, its still a touch loose (31.9 may be the optimum) but torques up OK, those using 31.6 posts report a lot of creaks. I returned the first frame for this issue and they promised a better one, it was no different.
2/ On frame 2 the upper headset cup was way oversize, the bearing was loose and never going to be stable, frame number 2 also went back.
3/ Frame number three being used still using that 31.8mm shim (noting that Planet-X told me definately not to do this, but as it just slips in.....sod 'em!), the upper headset is just OK as it slips in (the lower needs a fair old press so a bit inconsistent).

The rear calliper mounts are very close to the disc by design and you can't use all hubs (Novatech made for example) or the disc fouls the mounting - even with hubs that clear it won't be long before you scrape the paint off, it wasn't just me that has had this issue, others have posted on here about it as well - and the seat tube sizing is a very common issue.
That's all the bad stuff, on the good side the returns were handled promptly, in a friendly manner and were painless.

In use the bike is a joy to ride, lightweight and responsive (within the parameters of the frame type, its clearly no flyweight road racer) but still forgiving enough to use 28mm tyres on moderately rough country roads without giving me a beating. For info I run mine as a flat barred hybrid, 1x9 gearing and it comes in at just over 8.5Kg before I add rack and guards.

My concern if buying a full bike would be all the little niggles they may have masked and you don't know about until sometime down the road, so I'd be giving it a good checkover and if you are 'handy with a spanner' a partial strip down as well.

jspash · December 2016

I've commuted(silly-like)/raced(badly)/crashed(spectacularly) a PX RT-57 for the past 3 years and haven't had a single complaint. Paid £1200 for full Ultegra with some crappy Shimano RS81 carbon clown-car wheels. The kind that go up and down and up and down. I quickly replaced them with my trusty Fulcrums and never looked back. I ride it year round, service it regularly, and it's never let me down.

However... it took about 6 weeks to be built/delivered. Other than that, I would definitely buy another bike from them. Got my eye on the Ti disc road.

I can't comment on the quality of the expanding frame foam

hopkinb · December 2016

I've had a pickenflick for a year. It turned up promptly and was well set up. I've since commuted 8500km on it in all weathers. It turned out that the stock rims were made of cheese, well the rear one anyway, which split. I am not the world's most regular bike maintainer, but, touch wood, the bike has never let me down. With the new wheels I bought, I love riding the thing.

jds_1981 · December 2016

I've bought a few things from them. Generally okay but when I've bought frames from them I've had issues. Xls was missing any finishing kit - stickers and a few things it should have shipped with.
An on one 456 had a few small chips and apparently no protection when painted so the thread for the bottom bracket was covered.

In addition, they've got a back log at the moment. I placed an order at about 7am on sat morning and have just been told they should get to it in a day or two....
Very annoying as the web site said 2 day shipping so I expected it Tuesday or Wednesday, not Friday with a bit of luck

y33stu · December 2016

I bought the same london road 1x11 a couple of months ago. Very pleased with the bike, and the the service. One thing to note, the rear hub started creaking after 400 miles. Turns out the rear hub was shot, bearings were loose etc..

I contacted PX and they arranged for a courier to collect both wheels under warranty (at their cost), and after less than 24 hours of them being back at PX, they sent out a completely new pair of wheels, which then arrived within 48 hours. Very impressive. (one tiny complaint is that the new wheels came without rim tape, which I'll have to buy but no hardship there)

All considered, impressed by PX.

Planet X Bikes

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