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I'm in the market for a cross bike. I sold my old one earlier this year, now I want a cheapish one for the less than 10 races I'll do this winter. In the worst case, I can use my rigid MTB if I cant get a CX bike.
PX have, what looks to me, a real bargain at the moment. £500.
What do you think?
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXXLAAPEX1MECH/planet-x-xla-apex1
A colleague has just taken delivery of one. It's a steal in my opinion. Rear disc rotor clearance is very tight (1-2mm ) and it's new owner has already caught the chainstay when fitting the rear wheel properly but other than that I couldn't fault it.
Looks like a good deal but how much extra would you need to pay for one with hydro brakes? They seem like an expensive upgrade to do later.
Looks like a good deal but how much extra would you need to pay for one with hydro brakes? They seem like an expensive upgrade to do later.
Depends really, personally I didn't like BB7's and haven't tried BB5's. But the TRP Spyres on my Vagabond feel just as good as the SRAM hydro brakes on my CX bike**, and TBH so do the V's* on my commuter/Gravel Charge Plug. They do do the XLA-SL hydro's for £799, which is probably tempting. But TBH you really would notice a set of £200 wheels, £60 of tubeless tyres a lot more than you would hydraulic disks, and spend the change on £40 of strong Belgian ale for the full CX experience.
*in the dry, they're as hopeless as everyone remembers in the wet.
**I'd say I actually prefer them if I had actually had to pay new prices rather than them coming on a s/h bike. Worth noting that they Spyres OEM pads were awful, and Uberbike Race Matrix are great, but they don't make them in SRAM road pad design so they're the SRAM OEM pads, so not an entirely fair comparison. Ditto the Vs have nice pads in them (TRP I think).
I've been looking at the London road and think I prefer the cable brakes to hydro anyway only thing I'd do is upgrade from bb5 to bb7 tbh
Definitely upgrade to bb7 brakes on purchase - there's an option at £15 an end.
BB5 pads are different and have a tiny contact patch, limiting their capabilities. Also harder to get aftermarket pads for than bb7s
Their wheels aren't tubeless compatible, so a bit of a hidden flaw IMO. Would rather spend a few hundred more and get an ideal spec.