Planet X pro carbon

infinity&beyond

Hi, I recently posted a thread "Getting the right advice on buying the right road bike" or something like that. After much to-ing and fro-ing, my choice pointed clearly to the Planet X £999 offer, carbon frame, full ultegra groupset. Planet X is primarily an on-line company, which was less than ideal for me as I need someone to hold my hand on bike sizing. However, there is a Planet X distributor/dealer in Carrickfergus (just north of Belfast), Madigan Cycles. I promised I'd post back here to let everyone know how I got on.

Firstly I emailed the shop about making an appointment for a fitting for myself and a friend (it's a bit of a drive up, so wanted to make sure he was there and free to help). Ronnie (the owner) emailed me back promptly (he was actually on holiday abroad at the time!) and we arranged fitting for 29th September (today).

If you are used to the upmarket bike shops in Dublin (Cyclogical etc), the range of gear isn't as good and it's definitely more "family" orientated (kids bikes, bells and horns). Of course this didn't matter to me as I knew what bike I wanted.

Anyway, all I wanted to say was that Ronnie was terrific. We spent around 4 and a half hours in the shop, getting fitted and lots of advice. He let me take the bike out for a spin, no probs. My mate bought a Planet X online about 6 months ago.....who like me didn't really know his correct measurements. Ronnie set up his bike for him, included in the price of the fitting basically! How sound is that!!

I bought. The only thing I changed were the wheels......mavic ksyrium sl instead of the reynolds alta (which have given my mate some issues). So all in £1450 or c.E2100. Note the advertised £999 offer doesn't include carriage of something like £25 and if you need customising it costs another £70. Still great value I think.

So the bottom line is, for anyone who would like a bargain in the Planet X pro carbon full ultegra, but would like the safety of buying in a shop, Madigan Cycles is the way to go.

P.S. Did that challenge of going up some Wicklow hill without getting out of the saddle ever go ahead??

Membrane

infinity&beyond wrote:

P.S. Did that challenge of going up some Wicklow hill without getting out of the saddle ever go ahead??

So far no-one has taken up the challenge.

infinity&beyond

so just lots of chest thumping then

E@gle.

Membrane wrote:

So far no-one has taken up the challenge.

i would take up the challenge but too much hassel to go the whole way to wicklow

Membrane

infinity&beyond wrote:

so just lots of chest thumping then

Nope, it is very possible that no-one has taken up the challenge for reasons other than thinking that they wouldn't win.

Congrats on your new bike btw, which qualifies as a super bike in my book, if it is equipped with a 39x25 and if you are fit then you'd qualify for the challenge Come on, you know you want to

Membrane

E@gle. wrote:

i would take up the challenge but too much hassel to go the whole way to wicklow

Getting married, racing season over, too far away. Excuses, excuses, the reality is that all you fit cyclist on your expensive racing yokes are a bunch of pansies, too chicken to take on a non fit 46yo bloke on a E215 Halfords bike

I don't blame ye, you'd never live down the embarrassment of loosing, your club mates would never stop reminding you of it

infinity&beyond

Membrane wrote:

Congrats on your new bike btw, which qualifies as a super bike in my book, if it is equipped with a 39x25 and if you are fit then you'd qualify for the challenge Come on, you know you want to

Thanks Membrane. I'll be picking up the bike in 2 weeks - really looking forward to it. But no I won't be taking up the challenge as I know I'm not strong enough.

Anyway I think it's a bit of a pointless challenge. Presumably a bike should be set up to get the maximum performance over the course of your ride. You could add easier gears to a road bike, but then you'd be losing out on higher gears you're more likely to be using a lot more of. So if that means getting out of the saddle for a couple of hundred metres over a 3-4 hour ride, then that's ok in my book. The question is whether you could beat me on 100k or so on your Halford's bike. And I'll willing to bet I'd win that one!

Membrane

infinity&beyond wrote:

Anyway I think it's a bit of a pointless challenge. Presumably a bike should be set up to get the maximum performance over the course of your ride. You could add easier gears to a road bike, but then you'd be losing out on higher gears you're more likely to be using a lot more of.

The challenge is meant to demonstrate the efficiency of the right gear for the terrain trumps the combined benefits of a high spec bike and a fit rider. I only run out of top end gears on steep descends, and even there I descend faster than most because there is a lot more to descending than being able to peddle.

So if that means getting out of the saddle for a couple of hundred metres over a 3-4 hour ride, then that's ok in my book.

No argument from me there.

The question is whether you could beat me on 100k or so on your Halford's bike. And I'll willing to bet I'd win that one!

That's a different challenge in which fitness and other factors play a major role, and one I would loose no doubt.

The point was to argue that all other things being equal, a rider who regularly tackles stiff climbs is quicker with gearing that goes lower than a standard double manages.

Quigs Snr

Membrane, I still think your statement only applies to relatively less well trained athletes. Lower gears cannot close a huge fitness gap. On a 1km hill or whatever distance it is, I might be able to maintain for example 18kph over a 9% gradient in a 39/23. If you are as unfit as you say you are and rolling a low gear you will do well to roll 15-16kph at a very high cadence. It will all ultimately come down to leg strength and fitness. Sure a lower gear might allow you to beat someone fitter than you (in the same way I used a compact in the alps last year to pass out quite a few powerful cyclists despite the p*ss taking that went on before the race about my little gears !), but not someone a lot fitter than you racing week in, week out and who loves the hills.

If you are still on for it in the spring when I will be up your part of the country for a few races, I will show you what I mean !

Infinity, let us know how that Planet X goes when you get it, post a review will you ?

Membrane

Quigs Snr wrote:

Membrane, I still think your statement only applies to relatively less well trained athletes. Lower gears cannot close a huge fitness gap. On a 1km hill or whatever distance it is, I might be able to maintain for example 18kph over a 9% gradient in a 39/23. If you are as unfit as you say you are and rolling a low gear you will do well to roll 15-16kph at a very high cadence. It will all ultimately come down to leg strength and fitness. Sure a lower gear might allow you to beat someone fitter than you (in the same way I used a compact in the alps last year to pass out quite a few powerful cyclists despite the p*ss taking that went on before the race about my little gears !), but not someone a lot fitter than you racing week in, week out and who loves the hills.

The climb in the challenge I posed is only about 200m long, so fitness doesn't really come into it, it is more like a sprint. It takes strength and a cardiovascular ability that can cope with a sprint. Strength and fitness are 2 very distinct qualities. A fit rider will likely be stronger than me, but not much. I am not fit, but I have plenty of strength, albeit only for a relatively short while. On a typical ride my legs go after about 50K. A fit rider will start to do significantly better than me after about 40K (on equal equipment).

Afaik the better efficiency of spinning vs grinding is universally accepted. I don't think that it is possible to spin up the hill in question even when standing on the pedals with a 39x25. When you can't reach a spinning cadence when standing, it is physically impossible to do that when remaining seated. The maximum downforce anyone can exert on pedals is by standing, there's no way to better that when remaining seated irrespective of how strong someone is.

There was a post on this forum a while ago by someone who asked about the hill in question, he said that he found it very difficult on a road triple. I don't recall if he stood, but I presume he did. If someone standing on a road triple finds that hill only just doable, then frankly I cannot imagine someone on a 39x25 doing well whilst remaining seated, no matter how strong they are.

Membrane

Membrane wrote:

There was a post on this forum a while ago by someone who asked about the hill in question, he said that he found it very difficult on a road triple.

Oops, memory failure, it was on the W200 message board: http://www.wicklow200.ie/discus/messages/362/397.html?1180097342

kincsem

Its good to hear that Madigans of Carrickfergus is a good bike shop with good and friendly service. That is rare on this island. Thanks for sharing your good experience with us.

Do we need a poll on the bike shops in Ireland e.g.

Cycleways yes
Cycleways no
Cycelogical yes
Cycelogical no

and so on.

King Kelly

Is that the same Planet X bike featured in Cycling Weekly two weeks ago? Looked great in a deep blue. Sounds great value.

blorg

If you are talking about the hill on the Wicklow 200 route after the Powerscourt waterfall, I cycle that way regularly and can get up that seated no problem on my triple. There is worse closer to Dublin, Stepaside Lane for example which runs from Stepaside up to Ballyedmonduff Road (road to Johnny Foxes.) These are all short hills and I don't doubt that a fit rider with a double could power up them (not sure what the seated rule is there for.)

Membrane

blorg wrote:

If you are talking about the hill on the Wicklow 200 route after the Powerscourt waterfall

It is not part of the W200 2006/7 route, but it does pass by it:

infinity&beyond

King Kelly wrote:

Is that the same Planet X bike featured in Cycling Weekly two weeks ago? Looked great in a deep blue. Sounds great value.

I didn't see the Cycling Weekly review. Anyone have a link to it?.

Anyway, check out the bike on the Planet X website. It comes in 3 colours - black, blue and white.

Actually I was mighty tempted to to go for the white....I reckon it looks really cool. But Ronnie from Madigan's pointed out a the lacquer on a white carbon bike would very soon chip (stones, chain coming off etc), so I went for plain old black.

E@gle.

got any pics of the bke

infinity&beyond

E@gle. wrote:

got any pics of the bke

Nothing yet as am only picking it up next Saturday. Will post a pic then.
(can't wait!!)

makospeed

I&B great bike, heres mine, 6 months old..enjoy

Quigs Snr

Nice bike Makospeed, I see it has the planetx stem, post etc... Glad to see someone agrees with me on the planet X's, I recommended it to the original poster based on my experience with them whilst buying a set of carbon tubulars from them and from seeing a few of the planet X's around the place at various races...

Nice set of Pro Carbon 50's on yours now would set it off nicely !

infinity&beyond

So at last the Planet X came in! Check it out.

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/85291/46136.JPG

I picked it up on Saturday, took it for a spin on Sunday....up Sally Gap from Glencree side. I almost killed my poor legs!!! When I eventually made it up I checked the crankset --- standard double!! I had asked for the compact 50/34. I got on to Madigan cycles (who sold me the bike), who admitted it was his fault, will post down the correct crankset to save me taking another journey up to Carrickfergus.

Anyway the bike rides beautifully, but I totally admit that I struggled to get the full out of the bike on those ratios. How do you guys do it??? Admiration!

E@gle.

sweet ride, how much she set you back in the end

copacetic

nice bike dude.
think you might be in trouble on the cranks through, won't you need a new shifter and a new front mech if you change to compact at the front? The current ones won't handle the smaller ring up front? Not on expert on this but I do know that you can buy a compact specific front mech and it is recommended..

Unless he put on the correct shifter and mech and just got the chainrings wrong? but if that was it you would be having trouble shifting at the moment.

Membrane

copacetic wrote: »

won't you need a new shifter and a new front mech if you change to compact at the front? The current ones won't handle the smaller ring up front? Not on expert on this but I do know that you can buy a compact specific front mech and it is recommended..

Ultegra shifter and front derailer are the same for standard and compact doubles. Triples use a different shifter and front derailer.

infinity&beyond

E@gle. wrote: »

sweet ride, how much she set you back in the end

E2,000. So that was E1,500 for the standard bike, E500 for the wheels upgrade.

Membrane wrote: »

Ultegra shifter and front derailer are the same for standard and compact doubles. Triples use a different shifter and front derailer.

Thanks Membrane for clearing that one up. Actually it never even crossed my mind that they mightn't be compatible.

ba

the image is a bit fuzzy, what wheels ya got on the bike? mavic ksyrium elite? black aero blade spokes = nice.
cant quite tell, and i didnt wanna search through the old thread. ta.

Raam

Quigs Snr wrote: »

If you are still on for it in the spring when I will be up your part of the country for a few races, I will show you what I mean

if this ever happens, let me know cos I'd like to watch!

Membrane

King Raam wrote: »

if this ever happens, let me know cos I'd like to watch!

Just to make my conditions for participating clear: spectators are not allowed to bring tomatoes or rotten eggs. If it happens it will be a gentlemen's challenge, the winner will at most be allowed a muted chuckle. Nana na nana chanting and finger pointing must be kept internal

I might not be around beyond November, so challengers should come forward before then.

infinity&beyond

ba wrote: »

the image is a bit fuzzy, what wheels ya got on the bike? mavic ksyrium elite? black aero blade spokes = nice.
cant quite tell, and i didnt wanna search through the old thread. ta.

they're ksyrium sl's, black aero blade spokes.
i know, all this equipment is probably wasted on me!

Quigs Snr

You will grow into it Infinity. My bikes are far too good for me. But I am catching up slowly but surely !

Raam

infinity&beyond wrote: »

they're ksyrium sl's, black aero blade spokes.

them's the wheels I just bought but haven't been able to test yet. How are they working out for you?

ba

i ask cos i have had Mavic Ksyrium Elites fitted to my new bike (07 Tarmac Expert Specialized). i believe one should upgrade to SL when possible, but i just dont have the money really. i'm going for the silver ones tho'.

el tel

Is there a specific thread relating to the challenge of going up that hill in Wicklow? I reckon i might give it a lash this weekend if anyone is around for the craic? I haven't even sat on my bike for 5 months but I'm up for it - it's only 200m long. In any case, it would be a good excuse to meet up for a laugh.

Membrane

el tel wrote: »

Is there a specific thread relating to the challenge of going up that hill in Wicklow?

No, it was mentioned in various threads.

I reckon i might give it a lash this weekend if anyone is around for the craic? I haven't even sat on my bike for 5 months but I'm up for it - it's only 200m long. In any case, it would be a good excuse to meet up for a laugh.

The challenge I posed involves me (not fit) on a cheap bike with low gearing (22x28) against a highly fit rider on a high end bike with a standard double (39x25).

el tel

Membrane wrote: »

No, it was mentioned in various threads.



The challenge I posed involves me (not fit) on a cheap bike with low gearing (22x28) against a highly fit rider on a high end bike with a standard double (39x25).

So is it a race, with the fit rider unable to get out of the saddle or merely a test to see if it is possible for a fit rider using a standard double to climb the hill without getting out of the saddle?

Membrane

el tel wrote: »

So is it a race, with the fit rider unable to get out of the saddle or merely a test to see if it is possible for a fit rider using a standard double to climb the hill without getting out of the saddle?

I've summed it up in a seperate post: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=54235873#post54235873

infinity&beyond

King Raam wrote: »

them's the wheels I just bought but haven't been able to test yet. How are they working out for you?

I only had time to get out for a two hour spin last weekend. I'll be going for a longer ride this weekend, so I'll let you know.

As a relative novice in these things, what makes one wheel better than another? I know weight will have a bearing, but I figured strength and the ability to last the test of time (less need for regular truing, broken spokes etc) were what made the difference.

Should I "feel" the difference on the road? Downhill / flat more than up?

Thanks

E@gle.

ba wrote: »

i ask cos i have had Mavic Ksyrium Elites fitted to my new bike (07 Tarmac Expert Specialized). i believe one should upgrade to SL when possible, but i just dont have the money really. i'm going for the silver ones tho'.

I plan to upgrade to SL's for next Summer, great sturdy wheels and look good also