i’m acting as bike geek for my brother in law who has a serious triathlon bug, and also has a proper job so has £800 – £1000 to spend on a road bike for training on and then tri racing.
i thought straight away ‘Planet X’. Pro carbon slots in nicely to price range. anything else good value i should consider?

there is of course the trying it out and fitting issue, he lives in geneva.

I guestimated all the build myself.

The only duff part was the saddle

what do you mean hora?

I’ve got the pro carbon, you won’t get better for the money.

Drop the Ponza saddle, get the ti railed team3d, you might have to speak to a real human to get that on your order. Add the PX mini tri bars as well.

I also have the pro carbon. I did a lot of searching and couldnt find anything else as good value.

However, Ribble bikes did come close

I did a bit of research on the build measurements. Tbh even upto 1200-1300 still nothing close. It also looks less cheap than ribble.

Ribble bike builder gives you more options for customisation, but TBH a quick email to Brant would probs sort that out anyway. Both The Pro Carbon and the RT57/58 represent pretty unbeatable value.

what do you mean hora?

Ah, the eternal question 🙂

I love my pro carbon (in white with silver graphics) and get on well with the saddle. IMHO saddles are such a personal thing that it is unlikely for one saddle to be suitable for everybody

IMHO saddles are such a personal thing that

this, obviously. Ive got Ponza Power on my winter bike, commuted 150+ miles a week on it and done all-day rides.

Nothing comes close to the Pro Carbon for value for money, and I’ve not heard anything negative about the frame. You’d pay hundreds more, and be getting an older model, to get close with a “branded” bike, and none of the other direct suppliers (Ribble, Canyon etc) can beat it either AFAIK.

thanks all. i’ve recommended it to him.
any feedback on sizing? are the guidelines fairly good?
not sure how tall he is.

Dolan l’Etape maybe? If he has a serious tri bug though he’ll probably be wanting something more purposeful to race on pretty soon (I.e. proper TT bike.)

As for sizing, most can be made to fit provided the frame size is roughly right (change stem, bars, etc.)

Jamiesilo, the sizing guides are good for what they are, there’s no substitute for swinging a leg over the bike in question.

Find out how tall he is, if he’s smack in the middle of a model size, all well and good. If he’s inbetween sizes, and if he has long legs go for the larger size, if he’s inbetween and has short legs go for the smaller size and add 10mm to the stem length.

As long as he’s not some midget torso’d, giant legged orangutang armed freak, like I am, he’ll be fine.

Simon

aye, that’s what i’ve told him