specialized tarmac online

avalanche

hi anyone know where i can buy a specialized tarmac online? my local bike shop is looking for nearly 600 more than uk prices.

how does anyone rate this bike compared with say the new boardman or planet x? is the spesh very overpriced?

cunavalos

dont know much about the bike cos i have never ridden one but my lbs offer the tarmac and i cant recommend the two lads in the shop highly enough
http://www.worldwidecycles.com/pc-209-2-specialized-tarmac-elite.aspx
they promise to beat any uk price

TinyExplosions

Planet X comes in pink... it's all you need to know

ba

i have a 2007 spesh tarmac, very happy with it. its great for racing. as i havent ridden a planet-x, i wouldnt know. but specialized (unlike PX) are dedicated to producing top quality road racing machines. true, they tend to be overpriced, but if you find one cheaper online, sure go for it. planet-x use out of date, ancient giant or trek moulds. lots of folk are fine with that, but they're philosphy towards frame manufacturing is crap imo.

as for boardman, why boardman?

Aquos76

How come so many people on here speak so highly of planet x, I was thinking of buying one lately and anyone I spoke to told me to stay away from planet x as they were a typical of "you get what you pay for" frame. One guy told me that he was involved in a triathlon club that bought 15 planet x bikes just after the SSIA scheme ended, within 12 months of getting them most of the bikes had either been sold or traded in.

I looked at getting the specialized tarmac a couple of weeks back but I felt that the spec, didnt represent good value, the tarmac comp which comes with 105 was €1750, I went for a dolan hercules frame with full ultegra and it cost me less than that. I would still be happy on the specialized though as I have an allez as my second bike which also has ultegra on it.

blorg

@ba- that is rubbish about Planet X. I don't own one but I have test ridden one and it is a damn nice ride, very stiff.

The moulds are not old Trek or Giant. Trek never produced a compact geometry frame before the Madone FFS!

The Tarmac to my mind is a nice looking frame but if anything it is getting on a bit now, it was introduced in 2004.

@Aquos76- people on here probably speak highly of Planet X because they are damn good value bikes.

Aquos76

blorg wrote: »

@Aquos76- people on here probably speak highly of Planet X because they are damn good value bikes.

I am certainly not knocking the planet x at all, I have never rode one so I cant comment, I was merely only posing the question as I had heard so many bad reports of them off of boards, that all.

I know how popular they are here. I must admit, I did come very close to buying a planet x from a reseller up north. He had the SL pro carbon with FULL 105 on it for £1000. I know that the SL Pro carbon with Ultegra is £1199 but it does not come with the full Ultegra groupset

ba

blorg wrote: »

@ba- that is rubbish about Planet X. I don't own one but I have test ridden one and it is a damn nice ride, very stiff.

The moulds are not old Trek or Giant. Trek never produced a compact geometry frame before the Madone FFS!

The Tarmac to my mind is a nice looking frame but if anything it is getting on a bit now, it was introduced in 2004.

@Aquos76- people on here probably speak highly of Planet X because they are damn good value bikes.

blorg, so they may not be old trek or giant frames or whatever but theyre old moulds from somewhere. just rebranded with some text and a stripe here or there. still, this design philosophy is balls. people need to get over this value for money thing and realize that something is off when these guys from the north of england can produce carbon bikes 'tuned for performance' for next to nothing.

yeah the tarmac has existed since 04, but every year it is refined and improved. planet x frames havent changed in donkeys FFS!

avalanche

thanks for the feedback?...opened a can of worms it seems with the planetx debate......:o , look decent to me but have decided im not going to join the club, thanks for the worldwidecycles link, had come across the link before, seem like decent, knowledgeable fellas, anyone buy from them??

TinyExplosions

ba wrote: »

blorg, so they may not be old trek or giant frames or whatever but theyre old moulds from somewhere. just rebranded with some text and a stripe here or there. still, this design philosophy is balls. people need to get over this value for money thing and realize that something is off when these guys from the north of england can produce carbon bikes 'tuned for performance' for next to nothing.

yeah the tarmac has existed since 04, but every year it is refined and improved. planet x frames havent changed in donkeys FFS!

I'm not so sure I agree... Planet X sell their frames cheap because they order a few hundred frames at a time and sell them direct to the customer. An average bike in a shop may have passed through 3 or 4 pairs of hands (each taking a 30-40% mark up) before it reaches the customer. The original manufacturing cost of bikes costing two or three times that of our bikes will be no different.

Also, I find it interesting that you say the tarmac has been 'refined and improved', well maybe the Planet X's have been tweaked too, and if not, maybe they don't need it... At the end of the day, they are, whether you like it or not, great frames at a great price, and certainly good enough for me.

Note, I'm not knocking the Specialized at all, I just think there's a large markup for the 'S' logo that you don't get with a Planet X. It may be a better frame, but I don't think they're multiple thousands of euros better

blorg

@ba- I'd suggest you try a PX and see if you still hold the same opinion... I know one poster on this board who "upgraded" from a pre-Madone OCLV Trek and thinks the PX is a hell of a lot better. I have a carbon Trek in my past myself and personally I think the ride on the PX is probably better (it has been a while.) What is wrong with the PX frames specifically?

xz

stopped for coffee in Laragh on Saturday on a club spin, and there were 4 PX bikes up there including my own, one was a TT, the other 3 the pro carbon compact, I am in Bray Wheelers, there was member of Wicklow TRI club with the TT version , don't know who owned the other 2 but there were members of Sorrento and Dundrum there also.
I find the ride really responsive, and stiff, and it really is light, my climbing has improved with this bike, but it's the other side I am more impressed with.......descending

avalanche

whats happening with all the PLANET X????? ........anyone own a trek or specialised out there?

specialised tarmac costs 1450 online in worldwidecycles., my local bike store is 2050 , unbelievable that shops manage to stay in business which such rip offs, bought a set of xtr spd for my mountain bike a while back 55euro online 120euro in the shop,, theyre asking to go out of business...

scottreynolds

avalanche wrote: »

whats happening with all the PLANET X????? ........anyone own a trek or specialised out there?

specialised tarmac costs 1450 online in worldwidecycles., my local bike store is 2050 , unbelievable that shops manage to stay in business which such rip offs, bought a set of xtr spd for my mountain bike a while back 55euro online 120euro in the shop,, theyre asking to go out of business...

Its only been in the past 1 month (only looking at pricing) that the spec. distributor has dropped there price. If your lbs bought the bike before then they are kinda snookered. But the good news is that the dists are listening.

However I agree that the pricing differences are mad -- alot has been said here and the sad fact is that even though we would love to support the LBS we can't afford he price differences. So the LBS loses and eventually when they shut down we'll lose. Bikes shops will just become service centres here.

blorg

Worldwide Cycles are a local bike shop (in Clonmel) who seem to have the right idea.

@avalanche- where did you get XTR pedals for 55 euro, that is crazy cheap.

avalanche

got the xtrs on chainreaction about 6 months back, have just checked though and they have gone up to double must have been an offer, i take back the stab at the shops, still the bike one stands..
canyon do them for 74 though * before post http://www.canyon.com/_en/accessories/articles.html?ac=Z05_01

the shops round my way <madrid> are a complete rip off so have to buy everything on line,

Aquos76

blorg wrote: »

Worldwide Cycles are a local bike shop (in Clonmel) who seem to have the right idea.

They sure are as are Spokes in Waterford who are also listening to people and are doing their best to match online prices. There must be other retailers around the country who are now waking up to the realization that if they don't they wont be around for too much longer.

avalanche

as an offshoot, how would anybody rate this bike against the full carbon efforts?

http://www.canyon.com/rennraeder/specs.html?b=818