Airfix kit from Planet X

[Chris Hobson]

Here are some pics of my new bike that I bought from Planet X a couple of weeks ago. The top picture was taken just after its maiden voyage of about fourteen miles. The bottom picture is of myself with the pile of bits and the checklist, making sure it is all there. I put it together in the gym rather than the garage as it has heating, music and better lighting. For some reason the bike comes with everything to build it except rim tapes and outer cables. It took me about a day to put it all together. Part of the stem on the front fork has to be marked out and then sawn off. Doing this is a little hair raising as you know that it will be expensive if you mess it up. Erring on the side of caution I cut it about 5mm too long. Having to then cut off a tiny sliver without then getting it too short was fun. Other than that, building it was fairly straightforward. The wheel skewers came with a little label attached which warned me to make sure that they were tightened correctly otherwise my wheel might come off and I might die, which I suppose is useful information.

First impressions on riding the bike were quite good. The bike does actually feel lighter than the Specialised Allez. The steering feels a bit over sensitive but I'll probably get used to that. The Shimano Ultegra gear shifters are much lighter to operate that the Soros ones that are fitted to the Allez. Looking down I noticed that I haven't put the handlebars on quite straight so that is a little job that needs doing. There is also some very small adjustments needed on the front shifter. I have fitted a cycle computer to it and had to fit the pickup to the back wheel as the magnet can't be fixed to the front wheel because of the straight laced spokes and the fork is very narrow so that there is no room for the reed switch. The computer is a Bell one from Asda, these are dead cheap and really simple to fit and use. It now needs a pair of bottle cages, a pump and a small saddle bag for a puncture outfit.

I was considering selling the Allez but have decided to put some wider rims and mudguards on it and turn it into a hybrid so I can use it for commuting.

 

[Ditto]

Cool! 🙂

 

[Matt Cycle]

Nice bike. 🙂 Have you got trainers on on the top pic? I found clipless pedals make such a difference. I'm not an expert on bike maintenance but the old adage of measure twice, cut once is very relevant when it concerns carbon fork steerers. I know someone who bought a Planet X carbon frameset for £400 and cut the fork steerer tube too short 😱. It was an end of the line model - he spoke to Planet X but they couldn't sell or didn't have the forks. He then tried to sell the bodged item on ebay and had to buy another one. 🙄

 

[Chris Hobson]

" Have you got trainers on on the top pic?"

They look like trainers but they are actually Shimano cycling shoes. The design is a slight compromise in that the soles are not in the full pedal pushing position like normal cycling shoes. However, the cleats are recessed so that you can walk and run in them* which is ideal for transitions in triathlons. I also use clipless pedals that are double sided and work either way up. Triathletes normally leave their cycling shoes attached to their pedals and run to the mount line in bare feet. They then jump on the bike, pedal away with their feet on top of the shoes, and then insert feet into shoes and strap them in once they are under way. To dismount, they take their feet out of the shoes as they approach the dismount line and then run in bare feet to their space in the transition area. With these shoes you come out of the water, stick on shoes, run to the mount line, clip in and you are away. At the end of the bike ride, unclip, run to your space, cycling shoes off, running shoes on and away. The reversible pedals are great for my commute where I have to deal with traffic as I can click in and out of them very easily. With the non reversible ones I would always have to look down to turn them over and click in, with the reversible ones I can usually feel my way into them without having to look down.

*When I say that you can run in them, I don't mean that you can use them as running shoes, you can run in them but not go for a run in them, if you see what I mean.

 

[Matt Cycle]

Ah, I couldn't quite see from the photo. Yes, I've seen the triathletes do that - always looks a little precarious with their feet on top of the shoes and going at a fair old speed whilst trying to get their feet in. 😱

I use double sided pedals as well (Shimano M520's) - so called MTB pedals and shoes with the recessed cleats but lots of people on road bikes do. Definitely easier to clip in and out of and you don't waddle like a duck (not as much anyway) when walking into the cafe. However, having said all that if I ever upgrade I'll probably go for road pedals and shoes.

 

[Chris Hobson]

In my initial review of the bike I forgot to mention that the seat is pretty awful. Rock hard and very uncomfortable. The seat on the Allez caused no problems on the 56 mile ride that I did on the Gauntlet, so I will try to find one similar to that one. Why is it so difficult to get this right? If it is a budget issue, why not put the seat in with the rim tapes and outer cables and leave me to buy my own, rather than make me pay for one that I can't use?

 

[Chris Hobson]

Wife liz has, so far, been competing in triathlons with a very entry level road bike, a Victoria Pendleton model that she got from Halfords. It was the last one in the shop and there was an online Dutch Auction going on. she jumped in when she thought that it couldn't possibly get any cheaper and bought it. It is a quite well equipped bike but, even when compared to the Specialised Allez, pretty heavy. Having being pretty impressed with the lightness of my Planet X bike and my ability to put it together she has been looking for bargains on the internet. So we have now been in receipt of a carbon fibre frame that was left over from an upgrade of a £3,000 road bike. I have to say that it is absolutely superb. I now have the challenge of transferring all of the components from the Pendleton bike onto the new frame.

 

[Northerner]

Wife liz has, so far, been competing in triathlons with a very entry level road bike, a Victoria Pendleton model that she got from Halfords. It was the last one in the shop and there was an online Dutch Auction going on. she jumped in when she thought that it couldn't possibly get any cheaper and bought it. It is a quite well equipped bike but, even when compared to the Specialised Allez, pretty heavy. Having being pretty impressed with the lightness of my Planet X bike and my ability to put it together she has been looking for bargains on the internet. So we have now been in receipt of a carbon fibre frame that was left over from an upgrade of a £3,000 road bike. I have to say that it is absolutely superb. I now have the challenge of transferring all of the components from the Pendleton bike onto the new frame.

Good luck Chris! 🙂

 

[Chris Hobson]

Update. I have now transferred all of the components from the Pendleton bike onto the Ruby carbon fibre frame. I had a few hitches, I always start these things knowing that a few problems are inevitable. First, the vendor had presumably lost one of the little top hats that are used where the cables are threaded into the frame for the internal cabling. they had thoughtfully supplied a replacement but it was just a tad too fat to go into the socket in the frame. After unsuccessfully attempting to buy one that was the correct size, I carefully mounted it in my pillar drill and filed it down to fit. Second I had to buy a new front shifter as the existing one was the type that clamps onto the frame tube and I needed one that mounts onto a frame mounted lug. Shimano don't do a lug mounted shifter in the Claris range so I had to upgrade slightly to Sora. I had a Sora rear shifter left over after modifying the Allez so I cleaned it up and upgraded the rear shifter to match. The third problem was that the distance between the bottom bracket and the rear wheel spindle was about half an inch longer on this frame so that the chain was about an inch too short. After buying a new chain I have now set up the gears and the bike is ready to ride. We will have to wait until the weekend and hope that the weather is ok. The fourth problem, a minor one, the pendleton bike had a blue and white frame and had white handlebar tapes which looked good on that frame but looked rather out of place on the black ruby frame, so I changed the tapes for black ones. Now that it is finished, the bike totally looks the business. Although it is last year's model and consequently now selling slightly cheaper, the Specialised Ruby is a £3,000 bike. This one is obviously slightly let down by the cheaper components but you would have to look pretty closely to notice and we can upgrade later if we feel the need.

 

[Chris Hobson]

It looks like this:

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/31888...WTwkmllkYJwy-rsQc4Ap8dJF5aafwU10OwaAgi_8P8HAQ

Oh dear, note the tumbling price was all that work for nothing?

 

[Chris Hobson]

After quite a bit of tinkering I've pretty much got the Planet X bike set up the way that I want it. I've been for a thirty mile bike ride today and felt as though I'm not quite bike fit yet as I started to wilt a little around mile twenty four. I did eventually perk up a bit and made it home OK. It then came as some surprise that my GPS watch has awarded me a little cup for doing my fastest ever 50K ride. I started using a Tom Tom watch about three years ago so in reality this means fastest since then. This suggests to me that having a more up-market bike does actually make a difference, although my running form has been very good lately so maybe I'm just fitter than I think I am.

 

[Chris Hobson]

The PX has now done its first competition, the sprint triathlon at Allerthorpe. Both the bike and myself performed well setting a new PB for the bike leg.

 

[Chris Hobson]

I mentioned earlier that I found the saddle that came with the PX uncomfortable. As I'm not using the Allez at present, I took the saddle off it and fitted it to the PX. I have since procured another saddle which is quite similar to the Specialized one but I haven't got around to fitting it to the bike yet. Recently, I have been cycling to the gym, going for a swim and then cycling to work. The other day as I was collecting the PX from the bike rack I noticed a Cervelo road bike parked next to it. Very posh, electronic gear shifters. I also noticed that it was fitted with a Specialized saddle. So presumably the owner had, just like me, upgraded from a Specialized bike and transferred the saddle to his new bike.

 

[Chris Hobson]

I've now fitted some better quality tyres to the PX. These are Schwalbe Durano DD tyres, the DD stands for Double Defence which is the best level of puncture resistance I could get. They can be inflated to 10 bar or 145psi although the limit on my rims is only 120psi so I can't go as high as that. At 100psi they feel rock hard and you can feel every bump in our crappy roads, low rolling resistance is of course the upside of having them that high.