Can we have another Planet X London Road thread?

I’ve done a search and it seems all the old discussion threads have been locked on this bike, I’m after a gravel bike to predominantly replace my ageing roadie but cope with a bit of rough, short cuts through the woods and shrug off potholes easier than a full on road bike. Are these good value at £749 currently? Has the seattubegate scandal been sorted for current bikes? Would I be better off putting a bit more money into it and getting something like the Orro Terra G 105 hydro stocked by my lbs instead?

Merry Christmas and cheers for reading!

For the money it’s great value but I personally would spend a little more and get hydraulics.

At the moment there may not be any other stock available so the London road may be your only choice.

The seat post was just a dodgy batch. It doesn’t affect this latest model.

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXLDNRDSA1/planet-x-london-road-sram-apex-1-disc-road-bike

Mechanical brakes, but I think they’re dual piston. Might be OK.

Thanks for the replies folks, does anyone have any experience of the Havit twin piston mechanical calipers currently fitted? Apparently they’re £150 each to buy which I’m somewhat sceptical about but it seems I need to be spending £1k plus to get into the realms of hydro discs, and then the challenge is finding the right size in stock. Just need to decide whether they’re worth the extra or not!

does anyone have any experience of the Havit twin piston mechanical calipers currently fitted?

These look like they’re the flatmount version of the Rever MCX1/MTN1.

Got a set a set of the MTN1s on one bike, and they’re pretty good.
Comparable to (or slightly better than) the TRP Spyres on my Genesis Vagabond.
I’d say you’ve no need to upgrade to hydro brakes any time soon, a decent, well set up mechanical disc brake is plenty strong enough for gravel and road riding.

I’d say you’ve no need to upgrade to hydro brakes any time soon, a decent, well set up mechanical disc brake is plenty strong enough for gravel and road riding.

I’ve had both mechanical and hydraulics. I don’t think theres a massive difference in braking power on a road bike as I’ve found the limitations are in the tyres. Rim brakes can make you skid.

What I did find is hydraulic brakes are fit and forget. With mechanical brakes I was always resetting them as one side had worn more than another and that used to warp discs.

Mechanical brakes are fine if you keep on top of them. They are also pretty bomb proof and the calipers don’t leak fluid and contaminate your pads.

Well I decided I would regret not putting up the extra for hydraulics in time, so the two other contenders were the Orro Terra G 105 hydro and the Boardman ADV8.9. Despite the Boardman being in stock at a nearby Halfords and a good chunk cheaper I just couldn’t get over the paint scheme, the black and dirty pearl paintjob was just too unattractive and grubby looking I thought, and with this being my most expensive bike purchase to date it absolutely had to be good looking!

The Orro on the other hand really appealed in the metallic copper colour so I’ve paid for it and am collecting it in the week once it’s had guards fitted.

I’ve got one of the original ‘seat post’ ones. Ran it for ages with a 31.6 Thomson but now have a shimmed carbon post in there. Been waiting for it to crack but five years or so and thousands of miles on…..

It was my only road bike used for commuting, weekend riding and a few races. Now its my gravel bike running it tubeless with 40mm WTB nanos.

Shimano mechanical brakes have been great but the position of the rear caliper and the cable routing means that water gets into the rear brake housing and crap settles under the BB. Eventually the rear brake sticks and won’t move or it freezes, as happened to me last week! Otherwise it’s a great bike. This probably happens with lots of bike with calipers positioned like that but closed system of Hydraulics means this wouldn’t happen so I’d stump up the extra. Which I’m planning to do soon….

Having had road/cx/gravel/whatever bikes with mechanical discs and hydro, I’d say hydro wins quite easily, more power, less effort, less rubbing.
I’ve used 5 or 6 different mechanical ones, obviously some are better than others of course.
But the hydros I’ve used (ultegra and grx600) blow them away in every way.
The bike you’ve chosen looks great btw.

Tried hydro and the fancy TRP cable ones, hydro so much better as martymac says.

Cheers guys, pleased to hear the extra few hundred quid will be worthwhile!

Another one that got a wizards sleeve special here, I managed to source a 31.8mm seatpost at the time and it’s been perfectly fine.

It’s a parts bin special, because the frame doesn’t really justify bling (but it’s done well for five years) I’ve been running it 1×9 since I got it, a couple of different wheelsets and recently got a set of hydraulic gevenalle (TRP Hylex with a thumby bolted on). It’s pretty good still I reckon I will be riding for a few more years yet, I’ve no plans to replace it.

But I’d never recommend it to someone else, those manufacturing issues back at the beginning and PX’s general handling and attitude mean I couldn’t in good conscience recommend the company again, however good the products might be. I’m fine risking my own money of course….

. But I’d never recommend it to someone else, those manufacturing issues back at the beginning and PX’s general handling and attitude mean I couldn’t in good conscience recommend the company again, however good the products might be. I’m fine risking my own money of course….

Your last paragraph looks to be a recurring theme 🤣 I’ve made plenty of small purchases of clothes, components and accessories from them and always been very pleased but never a whole bike. I might have considered the black and red carbon Free Ranger in my list but there was no way I could stomach handing over £1599 when it was on sale for less than £1200 only a few weeks ago.