Well, after much umming and arring, I've finally bought, built and ridden my first road bike for about 20 years! Given the current rush of posts on this topic recently, I just thought I'd share my first impressions.
I took advantage of the current Planet X Ultegra Carbon SL offer following a lack of LBS success and various discussions on this and other forums (lots of positive feedback for the PX, the majority of negative comments seemingly based on aesthetics or elitist snobbery). I can recommend the DIY build option - great way of learning the ins & outs of road components.
I haven't got any real comparisons but the bike seems very responsive and quick to accelerate, especially on climbs. The main thing lacking is my legs... maybe that triple ring would've been sensible :). The ironic thing is, because it's so much easier to get up to speed, you feel you "have" to go faster so end up working harder - if I don't get fit on this thing I never will!
The geometry isn't overly "racy" and it felt comfortable both on top of the bars and on the drops.
I am amazed at how stable it feels on fast descents though. And the brakes are superb (in the dry anyway).
The other surprising thing was how forgiving the ride was - I was expecting to be beaten up by the minor roads round here. Yes you feel everything under tyre but without the square edge harshness I was expecting. How much of that is the carbon frame I'm not sure but I'm impressed.
Admittedly this is after one 20 mile ride but so far so good. Not a replacement for the MTB but a fun and easily accessible alternative.
Thanks for all the comments/advice from here & other forums.
Two things I have rediscovered though are the joy of inhaling flies and my phobia for road drains 😯
I've got a P-X superlight (alu) bike.
love the ride and handling on that and, as you say, it seems difficult not to constantly push yourself which is a good thing.
Good aren't they.
Mines never let me down in anyway, and so comfortable. We did a mini sportive yesterday and felt so fresh that I went for a forty minute run afterwards.
(it was a mini one and I rode very slowly BTW)
And Ultegra is proper race level kit, it'll work all year round.
olgit - Yep, really happy with it. Looking forward to doing some longer rides and maybe the odd sportive :).
Thanks for the help/comments you've given especially on here - much appreciated 🙂
I was on a club run yesterday with a chap on the lynsky made titanium Planet X frame and it has to be said, in a sea of Orbea/Colnago/other carbon lovelyness it was the planet x that got the most praise. Helped that it had a nice set of tune wheels on it of course...
You'll be fine without a triple, just get some miles in and you'll forget about it. Road miles are much easier than offroad miles (well, they are to me)
You'll be fine without a triple, just get some miles in and you'll forget about it
Yeah - I'm not really worried about it at this stage. It's not like it would've given a much lower gear - just a bit of a shock to the system not having the ultra-low granny gear to fall back on for the long climbs.
It'll make me work a bit harder on the climbs anyway 🙂
Or make you avoid them Neil 😉
I'm trying to work out what to do as far as a road bike goes, I've got a Giant OCR team OCNE replica, but find the front end very low and it's just a little bit too twitchy for me coming from a downhill and BMX background, so I need something else to get me back upto fitness after my knee surgery, do i go xc hardtail, roadbike or single/fixed wheel?