I’ve been looking at road / gravel type bikes to

replace a Salsa Vaya. Price range £1k to 2k, basically enough to get full hydraulic group set.

I’m saddened that pretty much the most suitable and cheapest option is this:

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXFMSLRIV1/planet-x-full-monty-sl-sram-rival-1-hydraulic-disc-gravel-road-bike

Am I missing some horrible compromise in the spec or bizarre geometry? The nearest thing seems to be a Pinnacle Arkose but that’s 1350 for that group set. Other bikes at near as 2k have lower spec group sets.

Boardman cxr9 is £900? That’s broadly similar spec

That has Apex rather than Rival. I’d rather stick at the 105 / Rival sort of spec

I’m not suggesting you buy it, just pointing out that there is stuff around the same budget. You could get a nice cube at CR for £1200 with full 105.

the vitus energie is normally good value as well but they’ve no discount on at the moment.

Nothing wrong with the Planet X though, although I’ve never heard of the wheelset so could be lardy

edit: also check out the Sonder Camino

Checked out that wheelset 2.4kg!

Ooft cheers for spotting that. I’ve got some slightly nicer wheels I could swap over. The only wheel upgrade option on PX is some daft carbon things for £650 extra

that probably answers the OPs question. That’s a £70 wheelset, on which PX will still be making a margin. Its fine for hitting the pricepoint and getting on the trails, but if you want the other end of the Bonty “Cheap, Strong, Light” triangle budget for an upgrade and stick the OEM ones in the shed for emergencies.

It’s not full sram rival

SRAM S350 GXP Chainset (No BB) / 172.5mm / 42 Tooth

But for the money it’s pretty good

Space for mudguard and Rack mounts

Does it just have the space or does it actually have eyelets for them too or do you have to bodge then on?

I got the space chicken with £500 off a couple of months back.  Full sram force. Upgraded wheels to clement Ushuaia 1600g all for £1750 🙂

I’t’s a peach !!

I’ve got the original FM and it’s great. Geometry is good, handles well, comfortable, but the wheels were weighty, but they’ve since been upgraded

Stoner, what about the front forks?

The pictures show a bolt hole on the crown and mounting bolts on lowers

I would take a good look at the Sonder Camino.

Also there’s really nothing wrong with Apex 1x 11. It’s only really the brifters and rear mech you are getting anyway

I’d rather buy a bike off Alpkit all day long as I’ve had mixed PX experiences. Only thing putting me off the Camino was the frame seems a bit heavy. 2.0kg in medium vs a claimed 1.4kg for the PX. Granted the PX figure is probably for a 42cm unicycle variant.

Is the really a lot of difference in px and alpkit? Forget about customer service for a minute and just concentrate on the bikes (assuming quality control is the same, the seat posts fit, the brake mountings are aligned etc, I’ve not heard any complaints about the px bike, just good comments and it’s great value for what you get, both are)

Alpkit have been making bikes for a couple of years. Px have been making them for a lot longer.

Chances are brant was involved with both and they were made in the same factory.

(nothing like a good px posting to get the discussion going on a miserable Sunday morning 😂)

I don’t want to make this a PX bash fest but I’ve only ever had good experience of Alpkit and decidedly mixed with PX. So for me it does weigh on my decision.

Morning. I spotted the incoming traffic in a Ling-style and decided to see what was the problem here.

If you’ve got £1-£2k OP, why are you looking at £1k bikes?

Space Chicken is brilliant, as per Plus One recommendation here.

I’d say the Sonder frame is slightly tougher, and a bit more practical.

I thought about it Brant but I’m struggling to buy a bike called a space chicken.

Started out looking at a Whyte friston hence budget and then looking at what else there was along those lines.

Ive heard that if you buy a Planet X bike and it goes wrong brant will personally refund you

Ive heard that if you buy a Planet X bike and it goes wrong brant will personally refund you

Aye – but he waits for 9 years. Probably has a slush fund invested…

Also looking at similar options.

Spec is: Bike for commuting, winter road riding, trailering the wee man at the weekend.

I think I want Alu not carbon for this particular bike because I don’t fancy trailering or seat-ing a baby on a carbon bike. Not for his health and safety more from a potential to crack the frame. Tell me I shouldn’t worry?

Alu bike with guards and rack, light enough for winter road duties with a wheel and tyre upgrade. If I ever did want to do the bike packing thing then happy days.

Arkose, Friston, Gestalt, Full Monty SL, Ribble CGR… all in the running.

Kind of decided a wheel upgrade will happen with any option (maybe except the ribble?). I did ask PX about other options for the LR/Full Monty and it seems its stock or a £600 carbon upgrade, nothing in between.

I did see someone in the classifieds offering a nearly new set of wheels the other day, think they were DT Swiss, might look back and find them!

Welcome any ‘I’ve got XYZ and use it for blah and it’s great. Get one’ type comments.

There’s a 50cm Cube Nuroad Exc at Rutland, who have discount codes this weekend, making it £1089.

Freeborn have other size frames with 15% bike value in accessories for ~£1120 iirc.

Not as light as the Nuroad Pro, but it comes with dynamo lighting, mudguards and rear pannier.

Started out looking at a Whyte friston

I’ve been hammering mine over the Surrey Hills, S Downs and everything in-between since Jan.  An astonishingly agile machine that eats up the miles and encourages me to ride all but the steepest/rockiest of trails.

Check out my previous posts for more specifics.

https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/adventure-bikes/boardman-adv-8-9-mens-adventure-bike for £855 with BC discount looks decent.

spacemonkey – how do you find the Friston for the road? One of my concerns with it is that as great as it looks it might be a bit biased towards to offroad stuff. I’m getting a demo on one so I’ll get a feel for it anyway.

That Boardman linked above looks decent but unless I’m missing something it doesn’t seem to have any mudguard mounts on the fork. For me that sort of kills a bike for any sort of winter road stuff.

The Ribble CGR was on the list as well but it doesn’t seem to be available on their bike builder at the moment.

Seems like a cracking buy… such a shame they don’t do C2W anymore I’m struggling to find anything with this spec in an XL!

I was in my LBS (prologue in Harrogate) yesterday having a browse for something similar and was taken by the look of the focus paralane, 105, hydraulics, gaurds (possibly supplied according to one review), they had the alu version (at i think 30% off so about £1050?) not sure if they do web sales but im sure a quick look at their website/phone call will answer that or you may find one closer.

Oh that does look good, will give them a call 🙂

Oh that does look good

T’were actually quite pretty. Which is a nuisance as I’m trying to convince myself i don’t need another bike