Planet X Tempest – Any reason not to?

I’m been in the market for a gravel bike for a while and decided to stretch to go titanium. Caminos are not going to be in stock for a long time, the Tempest looks to be great value. I’ve got a Planet X road bike and always been happy with it.

Even at full price, the Tempest seems good value. I would replace the seat post which seems to be a bit of a lump but otherwise leave as is. I can’t see a reason to go for the Goldrush over Tempest, I wouldn’t make use of the sliding dropouts on the Goldrush.

I’ve seen a couple of posts about rear brake alignment issues, is this widespread?

Any reason not to crack on and order?

I like mine. It was a v3 so lots of space for wide tyres. From stock, I changed Seatpost and saddle and then rode Lon Las Cymru on it. It was fab loaded up with bike bags.

Ridden it lots locally maybe 50% road/50% off road. It’s definitely more capable/more fun to ride than my old CX bike, I did stick a 46T cassette on it (was 11 speed when I had mine) and the mech was fine with that.

This year, changed bars to wider/flared Richey VentureMax and swapped stock wheels for wider WTB rims and 42mm Gravelkings. It’s a bit heavier but now I prefer it.

King Alfreds Way next year – third time lucky.

No issues with brake alignment. In fact no issues at all in 2 1/2 years of ownership.

No great anecdotes but I like mine too. Fun to ride. Capable of long days out. Nice.

A colleague used to park his behind my desk in the office, it was a beautiful thing.

He really liked it for commuting and graveling.

My pal bought one after having a go on my (alloy) Full Monty.

I rode his Tempest, then bought a Freeranger.

Having both now ridden all three, we both consider that the Freeranger is better for rougher riding than the Tempest – the Tempest feels more a gravel bike for lanes, which TBH since he lives in the south suits him.

But it was definitely less suited than the Freeranger on a couple of events we did in The Lakes over the summer.

No reason I can think of….. Love mine, several bikepacking trips under my belt and also used as a nice winter road bike (bought new wheels for road use though – the stock ones were a bit slow). Only thing I’ve changed is the seatpost and saddle (one for weight, the other for comfort)

I got mine about 2 1/2 years ago. Changed seat post and saddle. Has been used for commuting, trips on lanes, tow paths and light off road stuff. Has behaved very well, the stock wheels and tyres are a bit heavy but considering it was 1400 when I got it I can’t complain.

The only trouble I’ve had is replacing cables on the SRAM shifters which are a terrible design.

I’m very happy I got it.

I can’t see a reason to go for the Goldrush over Tempest, I wouldn’t make use of the sliding dropouts on the Goldrush.

The dropouts are a pointless waste of time on the Goldrush, agreed…

But there isn’t a single situation where I’d rather be riding a Tempest with its shorter, steeper geometry and much lower stack height. I have set and forgot the adjustable dropouts on my Goldrush and will never move them. Great bike, I love it!

Like mine enough to have it as my only bike. Mainly road and gravel but not averse to trails with the right tyres.

The Goldrush is £300 more for what seems to be identical spec. What do you get for the £300 other than more relaxed geometry and sliding dropouts?

Nightmare customer service from Planet X on a frame last year. Suffice to say I will no longer spend a single penny with them.

If I was in the market for a titanium bike I would certainly be looking elsewhere at somewhere with a better reputation.

Check out some of the reviews on websites like Trusted Reviews and you will see so much correlation between the negative feedback.

Alarm bells.

@bandicoot – i’m quite surprised about your experience with Planet X, you must have been unlucky for some reason. Ive found them superb to deal with on several occasions.

Anyway, i’ve got their Free Ranger and love it! Don’t know much about the Tempest, but it looks great! Do it!!

Check out some of the reviews on websites like Trusted Reviews

3,040 reviews on Trust Pilot. 74% Excellent. 14% poor but lots of these are gloves not turning up etc. Pretty sure that is no worse than a lot of other mail order companies. It very slightly better than Alpkit who are loved by most.

A quiet day at work has sent me down a rabbit hole of ti.

Is the geometry on the Camino Ti the same as the Goldrush? I know they come out of the same factory. I’m trying to work out two things:

1. Is the Camino frame the same as the Goldrush but without the sliding dropouts?
2. Is the Goldrush worth £300 more than the Tempest or the Camino £500 more than the Tempest?

Nightmare customer service from Planet X on a frame last year. Suffice to say I will no longer spend a single penny with them..

FTFY

It’ll be fine if its ok, but personally I wouldn’t expect them to honour any warranty or make and sort of satisfactory resolution to issues. A lot of people have no issues I will concede, but there are few too many people been burnt by them. I’ll never buy PX/OnOne again.

Lol ok. Hope it goes well for you.

It’ll be fine if its ok, but personally I wouldn’t expect them to honour any warranty or make and sort of satisfactory resolution to issues.

I’ve been buying from them for over a decade; 3 bikes and 2 frames plus many, many other purchases – never had an issue and when I crashed my 456Ti they sent the frame back to the States at their own expense to get a new chainstay & hanger installed. Will happily buy again.

I was expecting the Planet X customer services debate to come up! Now that has been done , any thoughts on….

1. Is the Camino frame the same as the Goldrush but without the sliding dropouts?
2. Is the Goldrush worth £300 more than the Tempest or the Camino £500 more than the Tempest?

I’ve been put off Ti frames after someone posted about the more affordable ones being plain gauge and therefore same weight as aluminum ones

I’ve been put off Ti frames after someone posted about the more affordable ones being plain gauge and therefore same weight as aluminum ones

I’m pretty sure this is true, I have a Tempest and it’s heavier than my daughter’s London Road. Different bikes, but similar builds.

I’ve been put off Ti frames after someone posted about the more affordable ones being plain gauge and therefore same weight as aluminum ones

Ti is rarely, if ever, lighter than alloy when used as a frame material, like for like. Butting the (main) tubes makes a very small difference to the overall weight of a bike, you might lose 150-200g possibly by butting the main tubes on the bike which is of course a nice way to lose a bit of weight without sacrificing strength, but hardly a game changer!

NOBODY in the history of buying bicycles ever has bought a Ti frame over and above a significantly cheaper alloy one, because they thought it was lighter, nor have they not bought one because it was actually heavier than an equivalent alloy one! 🤭 People buy Ti for altogether different reasons completely…

An alternative customer service experience…had a v3 tempest and loved it, but discovered after fitting hope brakes an alignment issue. Px exchanged the frame with no hassle, and included a seatpost and collar due to the changed spec. New frame is flawless.

Love my Tempest but use mine for road riding only and it keeps up with some fancy pants Bianchi’s etc.

Another Goldrush user here, tried both drop out positions, sticking to shorter one, no reason to go back so agree they’re pointless. But the bike is brilliant, I’d pay extra for that geometry, it just romps along. I’ve done stuff I used to do on the hard tail quite happily,
loved the badger divide on it even down the Corrieyairack pass in the dark and rain after 12h riding it made me giggle with confidence to go faster. Really a great bike. Workmate has the Tempest, it feels more like a road bike or cx bike (like my old Orro terra). So worth the £300 extra I my mind

Pretty certain the tempest is double butted. I love mine, but use it as a roadbike. I have now converted it to a grx chainset and mechs on a 34 rear cassette and with a change of wheels it is the only bike I use. With carbon wheels bars,post and a decent saddle it is about the same weight as the pro carbon I am gazing at which annoyingly increased in price by £100 on Xmas eve.

Any reason not to?

lack of a 3rd set of bottle mounts def’ a reason not to for me

Tempest v4 here

Very happy with the bike, currently set up for commuting (carbon wheels with 28mm tyres)

I also have a set of Hope 20fives fitted with some Schwalbe Ultrabite tyres with rotors and a cassette for off road use

Handles QECP blue route and the forbidden trails at QECP better than my old Boardman ADV9.0 gravel bike

I looked at the Freeranger (horrible colour schemes and i have had enough carbon bikes over the years so fancied trying Ti) also looked at the Goldrush but prefered the look of the Tempest (Goldrush’s adjustable droputs and the chainstay plate puts me off)

If your not fussed about which one you buy then the only real thing to consider is the warranties

Goldrush is lifetime (not read the small print so could have clauses) Tempest is 2 years, so an extra £300 for a lifetime warranty could be worth it if you like the Goldrush looks

I bought a tempest frame 2 years ago, built it up with flat bars, triplechainset and good wheels. I love it, on the road, bike packing, gravel sportives and a blast on red mbt trails. thoroughly recommend. rarely use the mbt now!