I’ve been considering a road bike for a while to complement my mtb and cx bikes. I want to keep costs down as much as possible to see how I take to it (although so far am enjoying 50 mile road jaunts on the cx). Today I’ve been offered the following, all in really good nick from a friend of a friend of a friend…

.Planet X Superlight Team Alu – Black, size 57cm seat tube XL with black all carbon Planet X forks, Cane Creek headset + 11cm Bontrager Race X Lite stem £ 160
Barely used Easton EA 50 SL wheels Campag Freehub £ 90

Was thinking of building it up with a tiagra groupset off Merlin?

Any tips gratefully received

Sounds good. Is Tiagra 10 speed now? I’ve never used it but have been looking at new roadbikes myself lately and had suggested to me that 105 shifters were noticably better, so maybe go tiagra with 105 shifters?

I’ve been told that Planet X frames are pretty stiff (to the point of being quite harsh) although I have never ridden one myself. I’ve just bought one of these which is incredible value for money, and well suited to the ploughed fields roads round here.

How tall are you?

Also, I’d be tempted by a SRAM Rival groupset, try fudgecycles, they seem pretty cheap and you can select what options you want. Dont bother with cable outers, get a shimano front mech instead and a kmc chain. Should be around £420 or so.

Not bad at all, go for it. Bare in mind you’ll need to get a shimano freehub on the wheel though, about £40 new.

How tall are you?

6’2″ so should be okay size wise

..also I’ve got some sram rival arms (no rings or BB)you could have for a small amount if you went for sram instead.

Failing that, there is a little known brand called mircoSHIFT, doing groupsets for less than £200..eBay

Yeh possibly. I’m 6’2″ and found my Planet X SL XL (same geometry I think) a bit long in the top tube. With a layback seatpost I had to run it with a short stem. If I was buying again Id probably go for the large with a long stem, but you dont have a choice!

Paddy, what rival arms do you have? Length and BCD?

they are 170mm and 130BCD, just seen you’re 6’2″ though..

No worries, I was after some 175, 110’s. I have 172.5’s at the moment but fancy giving some 175’s a go (as if I’ll be able to tell the difference)

in fairness you probs will. I’m a similar size to you and used 170’s for ages…but I’ve now got 172.5 on the race bike and 175 on the winter bike, the former feels the same, but the 5mm is pretty noticable.

Not ridden a Planet X Superlight Team Alu. My understanding is they’re triple butted and pretty lightweight. Think it says on their website some of their sponsored riders prefer this frame to other offerings.
Not a bad deal for £160 (depending on condition also).
Also wheels offered are Campag – so if you go with those – SRAM / Shimano won’t be a possibility.

Bregante I’d prefer to buy a bike on C2W (if you can still)- and buy something you know you’ll want/ride and fit etc.