Any reason not to buy a Planet X Tempest?

Anyone remember me? Used to hang out here a lot maybe 10 years ago….

Anyway, before I hit buy on a Planet X Tempest, is there any reason not to? Yes, I know their customer service sometimes isn’t the best, but I can’t find anything I like more for the price. And I have a major Ti fetish…. Thinking the Force 1x is the way to go.

And anyone with inside info? Are they about to do a special offer on them?

Cheers.

There is a four page thread from a couple of months ago. I’d link but I can never get the search function to work

Brant has promised to spend the money on ice cream for his children, so you’ll be contributing to childhood obesity.

PSA – PX Tempest Rival 1 for £1299

i have one. does what its supposed to do. nice balance, very versatile. cheap. i like it !

Is it bad to say that I’d have one if the branding was neutral/white labelled

It’s a fab bike for the price. Just finished 5 days riding the Welsh C2C on it. Also ridden it on the local roads here and some easy Singletrack. It’s a great bike for all of those things. Apart from swapping the stem and sticking some different tyres on, it’s a really decent build.

Mine’s Rival and it’s so much nicer than the Rival on my old CX bike. The Hydro’s are fab as well.

Here’s mine in Snowdonia

Click buy now!

It’s a great bike, with the exception of a slight creak from the bottom bracket, mine has been faultless and has been used 2-3 times per week since I bought it a couple of months ago.

The ti frame feels great, comfy yet very fast.

Thanks all, that’s really helpful. I’ve emailed Brant with a few tweaks I want, but it looks like I’ll go for it. It’ll be the 4th Ti bike in my stable (which includes an indestructible EBB Tinbred!)

Thanks PQ – I’ll have a look at that tommorow, or pass it over to someone who has a clue.

CHeers!

Hi Pete, you’ve never still got that Tinbred !?!?

I’ve been riding mine with 27.5″ wheels and 2.1 mtb tyres on recently. It’s great fun until I forget it’s not a mountain bike, and go over the bars! It’s pretty quick with 25c tyres as well. Very versatile bike.

Hello PQ – I remember you!

I’ve also got an old Tinbred. Still going strong and looks surprisingly tidy. Odd that they painted them but that paint is really tough!

I’d love a Tempest.

Not a reason not to buy (and possibly not helpful), but in the cheapish Ti gravel category there’s also the Ribble CGR Ti. The Tempest is way cheaper in the sale; but at current prices the CGR starts at only £150 more I think, so may be worth a look if you’re between sizes. I’m pretty pleased with mine.
Ribble isn’t as helpful as Brant when it comes to queries, requests etc mind.

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-cgr-ti-sram-apex/

CGR Ti with SRAM APEX for £2099.99?

or

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXTEMV3RIV1700BW/planet-x-tempest-rival1
Tempest with SRAM Rival 1 for £1599.99

You’re aware of the difference between Apex and Rival?

I mean, our FORCE bike is £300 cheaper than their APEX one.
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXTEMV3FOR1700/planet-x-tempest-force1

Running a big ‘manly’ chainring limits your tyre width. While narrow tyres spin up faster, but you loose some of the gearing because of the small profile.

A Fargo can only run a 36 chainring, but can run a 29 x 2.6 in the rear, which actually gives you a wider gear range. With a 38mm and a SRAM 10x cluster you can get the same range.
Even with light tyres, will it’s ease of pedalling get you spinning up your steepest slope, when your tired, into the wind and after an off? A 42-42 wouldn’t for me, but it depends what you ride up, how fit you are, how heavy your ‘rig is’ and wether you take it ‘off piste’. Tyre size for truely mixed riding, I’d say 2.1 Thunder Burts give a better (more comfortable) afternoon’s biking. 2.2 Ikons if you wan’t sketch free marble gravel descending…but then you’re slower on the road.

A higher front end is more comfortable for most week end warriors, middle aged who buy these bikes, unless your a fit supple roadie and enables a suspension fork to be swapped in. While gravel isn’t gnar, the higher speeds put more force through the forks. I seem to run through 50mm of travel after an afternoon of non spectaucular gravel grinding and I’m back at the car and taking a look…a carbon fork (connected to an Evo 456 carbon and carbon barsc& seatpost) is nearly as good though when I’ve compared and contrasted with my other bike over the same ground.

I’m also not sure that the 71-73 derived roadie head angles are much help when you putting out the miles on road or gravel. There’s not much fast turning action going on there. I’m sure slacker head angles make more sense for everyone (except twisty singletrack) from Froome down.

On the face of it, narrow higher pressure tyres, short forks, large chainrings, long steat tubes, narrow bars is how we used to do it 20-30 years ago…and I enjoyed it then.

It’s an especially great deal, and a great bike though. The American hipster brands would charge at least double for it and Titanium is especially lovely. Carbon can be made lighter for the same strength or stronger for the same weight. It’s also capable of very sophisticated layup’s for springiness and stiffness in the bottom bracket. Its harder but not impossible with metal tube profiles and size. Neither does carbon rust.

I think these bike are best for roadies who cut road sections with offroad forrays. For mountain bikers who link offroad sections with road sections, a drop bar 29’er is more suited and useable & flexible year round…though a narrow tyre can cut through mud.

Brant – how about a new Fargo beater (on price). Call it the Tyke: def:Yorkshire dialect, mischevious, cheeky and course…

I mean, our FORCE bike is £300 cheaper than their APEX one.

Ah balls, I was seeing the Ribble price ex VAT, which are quite competitive! 😉

I wasn’t saying it’s necessarily a better bike, and definitely more expensive, just that if one wants a Ti gravel bike for less than Bokeh/ Reilly/ Laverack money, there is another option.
But the correct price difference obviously negates the point somewhat…

Neither does carbon rust

And neither does Titanium.

It’s a bloody great bike. Rides fast and stable both on and off road. The spec is good The frame is finished very nicely with sandblasted logos, and little things like the Selcof bars (maybe not the lightest) are a lovely comfy shape with a nice flat (Aero?) profile on the top. For the money it’s really quite special.

Best selling bike for the last three weeks – when it was briefly ousted when we were doing £499 London Roads.

That high bar big wheel thing milfordvet talks about does sound like fun, but would sell in pretty small numbers. I’m still sad that I can only get a Reverb AXS dropper post as an actual off the shelf workable solution for remote drop on drop bars.

We’ve got some LD stems coming too btw which will dropbar-ize mountainbikes just lovely too.

I realise alot of roadies want a more aero heads down posture. You’ve got to sell what people want, regardless to a degree. If you’ve gor flexibility, a good back and powerfull legs, its the faster posture.

I’m 5’11” and 46 with a dicky back. My Specialized Roubaix (58) and a Pipedream Moxie (longer) both have a 630 stack height in my size. Most ‘modern’ 140ish 29ers will have a 630 ish stack. They’re popular not just for wheel sizing to rider but because the bars are higher and less weighted. All day bikes are better with weight off the hands and your back less arced over.

I’cant find the figure for Jones, but with the fork arangement and standard spacers it must be same ballpark. Salsa sell every Fargo they make at a premium, because to get a comfortable fatter tyre drop bar 29er front end, you have to pay them, and only them. So I could argue that 630 stack height for normal bloke size, is pretty standard for a ‘soft’ mamil roadbike, cutting edge enduro and premium adventure bike from Jones and Salsa. The Tempest is better than most recycled cross bikes, being halfway there but it’s still a lowly 588 on a 57 frame. Two inches lower…and my finger hovers away from buy now despite its titanium loveliness. I go back to Bike24 and see Salsa want £2700 just for a frame and forked Titanium Fargo. The Tempest is a steel for sure.

Like high head angles, low front ends, nobody values as you get older, stiffer…but richer. I realise a high rise stem and angle the hoods up, gets you about there, but then you loose a comfortable drops position if the bar shape isn’t designed for that angle. Just sayin, I think the market is bigger. Maybe thats not a market Planet X has its fingers tapped into of late, becoming more road orientated after you left. I’m looking forward to your new bikes by the way now your back.

Very long head tubes look dorky, so you have to spread accross fork length and head tube and spacers to get it visually balanced. The carbon layup disguises the very long head tube on a roubaix. While your at it give it long chainstays for stability and to help get a bigger tyre in. I cant see how a properly designed gravel grinder needs to be ‘tyre restricted’ at both ends? Is it not all self imposed Brant? A throwback to big chainrings, crossbikes and narrow Q factor? I am a fan by he way, just asking the horses mouth.

Long fork?

Not a look I’m loving.

Your condemming us to narrow tyres and a stack of spacers for aesthetics?

A Vaya gets to 630 with only a 1cm longer fork (+ a 1cm lower headset, 0.5cm more bb drop and a 3cm on the headtube).

I think it can be massaged aesthetically. No worries. Different bikes for different folks. Tempest is a lovely thing.

Hi @Scruff, yep, still got the tinny. There’s no tech in a fully rigid singlespeed, so until it breaks, I’ll keep riding it. Right now it doesn’t work because the brakes have died, but I’ve got some very old pre mono hopes knocking around somewhere, I’ll get round to swapping them soon.

More useful stuff on this thread, cheers. I am a roadie so a roadie type position suits me. I want a gravel bike because where I live in SW France there’s loads of great non-technical off road to be done, and I don’t like doing it on a mountain bike. I’m also close to the Pyrenees where there’s even more of that stuff to be going at. I’ve got a CX bike too, but the tyres are too skinny, the brakes are awful and it’s always in tourer/training bike mode.

@Brant, have you had my email? No reply yet, although I’m not in a big hurry.

Just been out on mine again. Mix of bad roads, fire tracks, proper dirt and a few decent bits of tarmac. Couple of steep loose climbs as well. It just trucks on. I am running a 46 on the back tho. Probably switch back to the stock tyres as the G-One’s are fast on the road but not so good off it.

Sounds ideal for what you want it for.