Hi all:

Took delivery of a london road frame last month and needed to wait a bit before my parts came in before I started building. My frame has the seatpost issue other people have reported. I suppose that could be solved with a beer/soda can. My bigger concern/question is the welds around the bottom bracket blew off into the edge of the shell face. Is this going to be a problem using an external bearing BB? The BB shell threads are also a little wonky, even after chasing them out and greasing, it was very difficult to get the BB to thread in.

Do you think the weld issue is bad enough to warrant a return?

I have e-mailed Planet X and they responded promptly and said I could ship it back and they would “take a look at it”–not sure whether that means I will get a refund or I will lose use of my frame for 2 months while they “look at it.”

Just looking for some opinions on what to do. Oh, I should mention that I live in the U.S. Shipping was $80 USD. I was really looking forward to building this up to use for cyclocross season.

Here are photos of the bottom bracket

Peronsally I would be fine with it. We’d not send out a frame like that as its a cosmetic flaw, but we’d have no issues in riding it. Put another way if that was one of my frames you’d only be getting £25 off or so for that flaw.

Thanks Ben:

I do not care too much about the cosmetics, as it is not that noticeable with the BB installed. So long as it is safe/wont ruin my BB bearing, I am ok. I really don’t want to fuss with the hassle of an international return if I do not have to.

DO you have any suggestion with what to do with the seattube being .2mm oversized? The frame is spec’d for a 31.6 seatpost. I purchased an FSA seatpost of that diameter, but it drops right in and wobbles around.

I cannot seem to find a shim to go from 31.6 to 31.8.

Why not use a 27.2 post and a shim instead?

After all the c**p with the London road frame quality I’d just send it back and buy something else

@slackboy:

Ideally, yes, but then I am out $100 for the headset and seatpost.

Demand they send you a 31.8mm seatpost! 😉

FYI build quality has been bobbins since day one…

I found a a 31.8mm seatpost on ebay, and the welding on mine is a bit variable, glad I only paid £150… Still working fine after a year though…,

31.6mm seatpost and a piece of metal from a drink can has secured the seatpost on my London Road.

This seatpost issue has been around for ages! Wasn’t it limited to silver frames at one point?

Has anyone recently bought a complete London Road? Do they have this issue, or are they saving the out-of-spec frames just for frame hunting bargain hunters?

Do the newly announced £799 Apex 1 HRD hydraulic complete bikes come with dodgy frames? http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXLDNAPEX1/planet-x-london-road-sram-apex-1-hydraulic-disc-road-bike

They are doing themselves no favours with antics like this, it has made me more reluctant to part with money for fatbike upgrades.

Its not like the seatpost is just “slipping” a little Look at the gap in these photos.

I saw the previous thread before I purchased and assumed (incorrectly) that this was an issue a few years ago on the original batch and that it had been fixed when the new colors came out.

Did you read this thread before buying

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/psa-planet-x-london-road-frmaeset-for-150

@wicki

Yes, but as I stated, that thread is a year old and involved the previous production run. I had not seen any similar complaints on the new run of blue frames, and assumed the issue had been rectified.

Nah, they probably just painted them a different colour.

In all seriousness was there nothing stateside that you could’ve bought?

Lots were like that to varying degrees.

Send it back and ask for a refund, or get a 27.2-31.8 shim and run a 27.2 post.

You could try and get a 31.8mm post, but there aren’t many good quality ones around and they tend to be quite heavy and stiff.

Do they have this issue, or are they saving the out-of-spec frames just for frame hunting bargain hunters?

I doubt they are opening them all up, measuring the seatposts, and dividing them up so crap ones go to bargain hunters. Sounds like a lot of effort. I suspect it’s just incompetence somewhere in the supply chain.

I got one when they were flogging them off really cheap a month ago, 31.6mm seat post fitted fine, maybe I was lucky. One side of the bottom bracket thread was a bit crap though and needed some work to tidy up. Built just using spare stuff lying about:

As an on one owner I can tell you on ones are cheap and a bit crap. That’s why they are cheap. If this is really bugging you send it back but having been desensitized to their crapness through ownership I’d just make a beer can shim and take a bit of wet and dry to the bb. Given their record with warranties and returns you’d suffer less stress on this path. Until the paint starts flaking off.

BB wouldn’t bother me so long as I could get the BB cups in without graunching and grinding…

The seat tube. It’s like a bloody clown’s pocket! If it’s supposed to be 31.6 I wouldn’t be happy, but like you say, you’ll be massively out of pocket with the postage (making the bargain frame not such a bargain).
Would be best to find a workable solution I would think….
27.2 seatpost with a shim would be my attempt, I think…

steve_b77 – Member

In all seriousness was there nothing stateside that you could’ve bought?

No other alum cross frame with disk brakes, 135 rear spacing, and wide tire clearance anywhere close to $280 USD ($199 + $80 shipping) over here.

I have a Pompino frame from On-One that I have been happy with.

They’re cheap for a reason. Decent QC costs money. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don’t. If it was mine I’d return it for a full refund. Obviously not straightforward for you to do though.

But they aren’t offering a refund and history dictates they probably won’t. I’d keep it rather than gamble on the cost of postage and possible refund

cyclistm – Member

But they aren’t offering a refund and history dictates they probably won’t. I’d keep it rather than gamble on the cost of postage and possible refund

I am going to send the pictures tonight and then verify whether they are agreeable to a full refund with shipping costs. I am not going to have it shipped back there to “inspect” and then have then turn around and say “its within tolerances,” and it will be another $80 to get your frame back

simondbarnes – Member

They’re cheap for a reason. Decent QC costs money. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don’t.

Well, paying less for a frame that doesn’t have the best paint job or a crummy warranty is one thing. Regardless of how they are priced, they should conform to the specs they list. It seems like they had a known problem and just kept making them out of spec anyway. They weren’t advertised as blemished items, returns, or overstock.

Regardless of how they are priced, they should conform to the specs they list

Oh I agree with that entirely but planetx don’t appear to give a toss about things like that sadly.

I’ve a full build Zesty green that I bought October 2015 and it has a slack seat tube – ended up using a beercan shim and thomson seat collar as the PX superlight one didn’t stand a chance even with a steel bolt.

Why?

How many threads does it need?

On One/Planet X in cheap crap shit shocker .

Come one people have we not leaned our lesson yet ?

Stop giving these cowboys your money .

On the bright side, I am learning all sorts of new British idioms, e.g.
“flogging them off”/”bobbins”

One here; the buyer get his credit card company involved. He’s advised not to use a shim (posted 1228pm 14th June)

If you decide to send it back (which would be my advice), be prepared for the long game! PX will do everything to get out of helping you. Don’t let them quote 30 days either, under UK consumer law it’s 6 months you have where they have to prove it’s not defective (the remaining 2.5 years the onus is on you).

As you can see in that thread ^^ I was spec’ing it as per their instructions and it was creaking like mad around the seatpost, mine looked like yours too. The problem is as soon as you’ve tightened a seat clamp around it the metal has to deform to stop it from slipping back down, then the only point stopping it from moving side to side is the clamped area as the bit below it is too big by a few mm.

If you are set on using it, I’d go down to a 27.2mm seatpost and shim it to 31.8mm, even though PX don’t recommend this….

Send it back, Bill them for the postage. Its not the bike you ordered.

I believe under consumer law return postage for faulty goods is the responsibility of the vendor.

Are some folk missing that the OP isn’t in the UK and that UK c”consumer law” does not, therefore, apply?

Interesting point. Does consumer protection apply where the business is or where the consumer is. I’d assume it’s the latter unless, of course, once outside the EU it returns to “whatever the **** the vendor wants to do”?

If you go on their website, the warranty and returns for overseas is pretty clear. Whether they back it up and in what time frame who knows. Regards the quality, what do you seriously expect for the price? Build it up best as you can and enjoy it for what its worth

scotroutes – Member
Are some folk missing that the OP isn’t in the UK and that UK c”consumer law” does not, therefore, apply?

I assumed, probably incorrectly, that local rules applied since we’re not China?

Regards the quality, what do you seriously expect for the price?

The seat tube to be the advertised size

I reckon they must have tried to make at least some of them 31.6 but for the cost, the tolerances might be a tad wild. if you look at the seat tube it appears in pictures to be a straightforward tube which means a 31.6 seat post ‘should’ fit, unless the manufacturing tolerances are shocking in which case not

OP, if you can be bothered, it might be interesting to measure the inside dia of the seat tube and outside dia at the top of the tube and then also measure the outside dia of the tube at the bottom where it meets the BB shell, it looks in the pictures to be a standard tube so these (outside)should be the same. If the tube is greater than 31.6 inside dia at the top – hence the seat post not fitting – and the outside dia matches top and bottom, then, the tube is the wrong size and is possibly why the weld is poor too. Hope that makes sense!

Thanks for the responses. I have been e-mailing with Planet X, and they have been promptly replying. However, based on the non-committal language they are using, it appears that they are not going to guarantee a refund or exchange until their warranty team inspects it, even after I sent pictures. Based on some of the comments here, I am concerned about getting a run-around and not having much recourse being in the U.S. Also, CX training is going to start in August, and I would like to have the bike built up by then.

I have not tightened the seatpost collar yet, so the seat tube is in original condition.

I will measure the tube tonight, but I don’t think the entire tube is oversized, as the seatpost collar fit fine.

Wife says I should just eat the cost of my undersized seatpost and buy a new one that fits rather than dicking around with a return/exchange.

I am thinking that may be the least stressful means of fixing this.