a new low for On-One/Planet X? or just par for the course

I have had many great bikes from On-One. Pompinos, an Inbred, and a Scandal. Good design, not flash, perform really well and no competition anywhere near their price.

I have too – lot’s of On-Ones – but they aren’t the same company now.

They aren’t a brand I would consider any more.

One of the guys in my office is a newish triathlete, he looked at one of their TT bikes v. recently but…

a) had no **** clue if it was VFM or not, or what the price would be in 5mins/tomorrow/ever

b) Has been put off buying by all the talk of planet X being on its last legs.

Now, if more and more people do b) then perception will soon become reality.

Tempted by that fixie thing…. holdsworth.. Must resist.

I assume I’m that ‘forum deflection guy’.

Lester, did you get in touch with CS about your missed deal? I checked but didn’t see any interaction, maybe I missed it.

I did like the BikeBiz article today, seems like they really have a bee in their bonnet about us. Heaven offend that anyone in the UK should be able to snap up a genuine bike bargain via a retail outlet that isn’t a local bike shop or one of the large multiples.

Using an auction house, how very dare we….

Forfend mate, forfend – and you’re obviously incapable of reading either, given your knee-jerk reaction to this and other threads.

On my 3rd On One frame just bought a Maccatuskil & like my Scandal & Lurcher previous it’s bloody great & it actually looks good too 🙂
My mate is a good friend of Dave & says exactly the opposite of them going bust but also didn’t they sell to venture company or investor few yes back ?

sq225917 – Member
I assume I’m that ‘forum deflection guy’.
Lester, did you get in touch with CS about your missed deal? I checked but didn’t see any interaction, maybe I missed it.
I did like the BikeBiz article today, seems like they really have a bee in their bonnet about us. Heaven offend that anyone in the UK should be able to snap up a genuine bike bargain via a retail outlet that isn’t a local bike shop or one of the large multiples.
Using an auction house, how very dare we….

No one’s answered my query yet?

ssbnreso – Member
Was looking to buy a 650b codeine with fox forks was £750 with ENDOFWORLD code, wanted sea foam colour rather than stealth. Emailed, no reply; live chat, cut off; telephone, rang off.
Now code no longer valid and price back up to £999.99. Buy frame and forks separate £987.00!

Forfend mate, forfend

Heaven forbid, surely?

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heaven_forfend

I have spent a fortune with On One over the years (& have been very happy with my purchases).
I now feel that their “free delivery” is completely farcical compared to ALL of their major competitors, but probably more concerning is their apparent lack of anything to actually sell in a whole load of categories.
Try clicking on “components” and selecting various sub-categories…………. where there used to be literally scores of items listed, there is now often one or two items, or quite often nowt at all !!!!
A company on the decline ??
It would be a terrible shame to see them go t!ts up, but that looks to be the way they are heading, in my opinion.

but probably more concerning is their apparent lack of anything to actually sell in a whole load of categories.
Try clicking on “components” and selecting various sub-categories…………. where there used to be literally scores of items listed, there is now often one or two items, or quite often nowt at all !!!!

I think that most of that was leftover OEM components and overstock that they bought as a lot from the bike mfr or distributor. But SRAM, Shimano, and others have tightened their supply chains to prevent this in order to prop up prices. So I don’t think that there is much out there for On-One to purchase…

Can’t say I understand all the hate for planetx . I ve used them a few times now and have got some really decent stuff for a very good price.Bought some bits this week in the sale,very cheap,nice quality,arrived the next day.Whats not to like?

I don’t understand the hate either..

some humourless folk about

That sale is mind-blowing. It’s like something that Milo Minderbender would come up with in Catch-22. Be warned, if you participate you’ll probably find yourself selling the merchandise back to them for less than you paid for it..

Either that or Dave is really Victoria Cohen-Mitchell in disguise and the sale is some elaborate scenario for Only Connect..

Or they’ve recently taken possession of a really good consignment of Nepalese Templeball..

Their problem has been a seemingly random commitment to quality control and a poor attitude to customer service. I’ve bought off them a few times and for the most part it has been trouble free but on the two occasions that it hasn’t (including them taking money for an expensive wheel that wasn’t in stock) its been a bit of a nightmare. And the websites are rubbish. The lack of information about products is amateurish compared to what you get from their competitors (including the Germans who are doing it in their second language).

IIRC they were owned by VCs but Dave bought the business back because he didn’t like the direction in which they were taking it. Oh the irony..

sq225917 – Member
I assume I’m that ‘forum deflection guy’.

Yes, you went quiet on the London Road thread.

Seriously used to like the brand… but I’ll just leave this here:

“Heaven offend that anyone in the UK should be able to snap up a genuine bike bargain via a retail outlet that isn’t a local bike shop or one of the large multiples.”

No one minds that. We all love good prices and innovative products and internet purchases. Which is what. PX/OO used to be.

However you’ve now added shonky built frames, crap QC, confusing website and ranges, customer service that sways between bad and peddling downright lies, bewildering and suspect prices which change every 6 seconds and make DFS pricing look like a pound shop, weird offloading of stock and now snide Internet forum defence strategies.

We know what we’re talking about, there’s a lot of clever people on here with vast experiences of the business and retail worlds. What you’re doing is weird and is drawing conclusions which don’t look good at all.

As has said before, get back to offering a clear range with good simple pricing, up the QC and CS game dramatically, and it’ll be great.

newrobdob – Member
…We know what we’re talking about, there’s a lot of clever people on here with vast experiences of the business and retail worlds. What you’re doing is weird and is drawing conclusions which don’t look good at all.

As has said before, get back to offering a clear range with good simple pricing, up the QC and CS game dramatically, and it’ll be great.

There certainly is a wider depth of expertise on this forum than most. Recent pricing certainly has been all over the place, and a bit off putting.

But one thing I remember from my days in business, when in doubt, get it out.

The opportunity cost of dead stock makes it worth getting it out the door, often even if you scrap it.

Floor space cost is dead money ticking away every day, so if what’s sitting on it isn’t contributing, get rid of it.

So a weird sale can be read either way. 🙂

@ sq225917

thanks for the replies, the stuff id like is still in my basket, im deliberating my build and will decide monday, as there may be a couple of other things i would like.

i have no hate for on-one/ planet x but its so messy, my basket has £300.00 in it, but still says £15 yodel delivery. for me the most annoying thing is the price fluctuations, meaning you can never plan a project budget that will take longer than 2 weeks as prices go up and down so much.i bought a frame without a shock, really liked it so thought id buy another just in case, it went up £250 the next day and still is at the higher price.
ive been watching the prices of firelines since you first got them in, they started at £799 and i bought one, got 10% off, recently they went down to £600, but for the 25% off sale you put them up to £987 with an rrp of £999. they have never been £999 !!! you guys are just mugging us off, we know a little bit about bikes and we are not fools, we rarely buy from you unless we desperately need it or its at a value price, and then we wait until it is, or go somewhere else, well thats what i do.

As has said before, get back to offering a clear range with good simple pricing, up the QC and CS game dramatically, and it’ll be great.

This basically…

[unsolicited Advice]

Once the stock dump/Random Christmas discounts/redundancy rounds bonanza is over reconsider your general style of operating and the product lines.

Less is more perhaps cut back on frame models and build options, cut back on the number of brands you offer, perhaps offer fewer accessories and random items that must simply be taking up warehouse space… Your Clothing line is ok but again getting a bit ‘busy’ withstands and options…

Maybe bring back the ‘rolling chassis’ frame/fork/wheels/stem/bar/seat post and you might get a few of the “self builders” back as customers…

Knock the stupid sales and offers on the head. I have held off buying OO/PX stuff lately, knowing that the prices fluctuate hugely and I don’t really want to spend £50 more on a frame that’s going to dive in price next week… Apply a price, stick to it for the rest of the year, offer sensible reductions maybe once a year?

Basically sell less stuff, but the stuff you continue with needs to be more consistent both in price and quality…

[/unsolicited Advice]

Don’t hold your breath on the stable pricing wish. Having an owner who is now seemingly controlling marketing and has admitted to being a contrarian and exhibits chronic ADHD doesn’t bode well. Time was that he would travel around picking up container loads of frames, components etc from failing businesses at the right price and sell them through the website to an adoring fan network. His pronouncement that having the TdF finish a mile down the road from the business was just a distraction and the Rouleur interview were the beginning of a slippery slope akin to the Gerald Ratner debacle. Hiring several key people from CRC and GoOutdoors then either firing them or making their jobs impossible didn’t help the business reputation. Brant has been out of the business over 2 years and still people ask his opinion on stuff, such is the cult of personality. Whenever anyone comes here defending or explaining stuff, they get shot down, incidentally SQetc is not to boss unless Dave has nicked his STW login. I think the saying ” how do you make a small fortune in the bicycle industry? Start with a big one” is coming true in a rather public way.

lol @nathb, nice pic mate.

Lester, there’s a good chance (bad) that the pricing of anything you currently have in the basket will change on Monday as we swap to a different ‘mathematical’ deal. The basket cookie is usually set to 24 hours, so it’ll probably empty itself anyway.

@Nathb, that’s a proper wizards sleeve. I’m ashamed.

Higher or Lower?

Have bought quite a lot of stuff from them over the years. Never missed a beat. Had a warranty issue with a set of road shoes that they sorted, no questions asked. I also seem to remember ordering some gloves, and when they arrived they were too small. They sent me a larger size before I’d even had chance to return the smaller ones.

It’s sad reading all of these threads slating them. Are they really that bad? Or is it just a vocal minority?

Like you, I’d previously ordered (frames/lights etc) and had no problems and then I had an epic fall-out when I found they were consistently lying to me. I was pretty much slated on here at the time but the whisper has slowly grown into a shout. I’ve no doubt there are lots of customers who never have any problems but you only have to read through the posts on here to see how they treat customers.

It’s only you that’s seriously passed off with them though isn’t it Colin… All the rest of it is just general mithering and unrealistic expectation

No, it’s not just Scotroutes.

It’s not that my frame fell apart, it’s that I got a series of different, contradictory lies about it. I’ve worked in customer service, so I respect a good lie, but they couldn’t even be bothered to do that. Totally transparent bullshit then as soon as they were called out they’d just switch to the next bullshit. That’s at least 3 different sorts of crap at the same time. I ran into similar stuff when i bought it, the london road guys have faced the same, and the titus el guapo issues, it’s how they roll.

I don’t think so (and FWIW I’ve continued to recommend them on occasion).

The London Road fiasco brought a few more out. Stuff like the amateur website is, well, frustrating and I guess maybe reflects a poor image of the company.

The pricing thing, equally frustrating but, as a buyer, do you want to spend on something that could be sold for half price next week? Maybe not a big deal if you’re only buying a cheap frame but folk still expect some sort of resale value that hasn’t been undercut by the manufacturer.

Maybe it just doesn’t matter and OO/PX have identified a market of customers that don’t give a shit. That’s fine but it won’t stop folk on here complaining.

have they changed hands in recent years then?

used to be a trusted ‘local’ type establishment with great bargains and good cheap bikes

used to be a trusted ‘local’ type establishment with great bargains and good cheap bikes

Yeh, exactly my thoughts. BITD if you wanted a road or mountain bike that was reasonably priced and performed well, you’d get a Planet X Pro Carbon or an On One Inbred. My first carbon road bike was a Planet X.

Now they seem to have a website cluttered with hundreds of brands and models of bikes that all look identical. THey need to streamline.

Bought things years ago

Inbred

Bought more

Scandal

Bought some components

Things were not as expected – customer service !

Last thing bought were inner tubes

Tubes delivered pre-punctured

Tried CS

Burn in hell would be my current perspective

Planet X annual accounts to 31 March 2016

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06535324/filing-history

hundreds of brands and models of bikes that all look identical. THey need to streamline.

A brand at P-X is a set of stickers. A model is a frame with a particular random collection of warehouse floor sweepings bolted to it.

It’s marketing backwards; make a bike out of the parts you have and make a price up. It’s not necessarily what people want to buy.

That wizards sleeve LR seat tube was mine, glad to see it living on in people’s minds.

Those bashing the detractors are missing the point. We critics didn’t look around for an industry pantomime villain and settle on PX. Most if not all of us were happy customers, even fans, from BITD when they catered for the British enthusiast-on-a-budget market; steel, LT HTs, single speeds, they had most UK niches covered with value for money products. Their CS and QC have declined as their ranges have expanded, and Dave L’s ambition and magpie-like approach to warehouses of bankrupt stock means they now sell a bewildering range of, well, tat.

Throw in the ridiculous pricing approach and, as your teacher used to say, we’re not angry just disappointed.

Basically going to repeat what’s already been said.
I have an 29r inbred and a 45650b. Very pleased with both. Brother has a parkwood.

Used to buy the odd part but they don’t tend to stock anything I want anymore and their range of kit is strange.

Bought a few bits more recently but was disappointed, sent me the wrong bits but in their defence rectified in a call.
Most recent purchase was a very cheap SRAM X9 rear wheel with stans rim. Has massive flat spots in it, I should have called their customer service but I thought a true by my lbs would sort it (it hasn’t).

I don’t hate them, but I used to really like them and I don’t anymore. I’d still buy a cheap frame from them but their London Road has scared me off a bit. And their constant changing pricing doesn’t help, I procrastinate with bigger purchases and you just never know which way the pricing will go.

A bishbash bosh is £610 now with 38% off the RRP (Rarely Real Price??)

Any Bletchley park types out there know if it will be cheaper or pricier tomorrow?

Bish Bash Bosh frame a while ago in the last Fibby sale was something like £337!

A bishbash bosh is £610 now with 38% off the RRP (Rarely Real Price??)
Any Bletchley park types out there know if it will be cheaper or pricier tomorrow?

Bish Bash Bosh frame a while ago in the last Fibby sale was something like £337!

See below – but for £337 I’d have swollowed my principles bought one and resprayed it.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/an-on-one-bishbashbosh-but-without-the-bishbashbosh-and-not-on-one

Is it my mind playing tricks on me, or wasn’t the Fib sale supposed to be extended until midnight midnight?

Just looked on site and now Lazy Caterers Sale has started! 8 has dropped to 7, but all others I’ve looked at have increased eg. 13 to 16, 144 to 172 etc.

Not sure whether to buy or wait for the next sale now, perhaps the Please Buy Our Stock Or We Will Go Into Liquidation Sale. This whole pricing situation is getting beyond silly now.

This whole pricing situation is getting beyond silly now.

I quite like the randomness of this. At least they’ve been up front about what’s coming.
Thanks for your summary of how the prices have changed.

They have made it so that everyone just thinks the price will be cheaper at some random point in the future though.

The self build bike I had my eye on has gone up £20. At least it’s helped me make my mind up as to whether to buy it or not.