After the White Roads discussion thread and the realisation that a Whyte T-130 wasn’t arguably the best bike for the job. I sat and thought as i don’t want a full on race roadie bike as i don’t like the handling of them with super skinny tyres.

I thought about the Giant Anyroad, but it’s a weird shape and doesn’t take particularly large tyres.

I got a mail as many of us do from PlanetX/On-one. I’m less against them than some, having had great service from my Parkwood, including a replacement rear wheel under warranty.

Sod it…. bought that… will be interesting to give it a whirl, even if it mostly ends up as the turbo bike. I’ll need to get another cassette for the turbo wheel though. I’m pretty sure my Maxxis wheel will work with the 11 speed cassette but need to work out which if any spacer i need to get it done. It will likely spend a chunk of it’s life on the turbo being Zwift raced, but also autumn when the trails are horribly muddy i do enjoy getting out on the B roads locally with cold crisp air and a lack of knee deep clay.

Looks smart I think. I am thinking of getting a Boardman adv 8.9 but this looks competitive. I would be looking at the hydraulic disc version

I like the look of them, if they had a Shimano hydraulic disc build I reckon I’d click buy.

I decided it was a daft idea and cancelled it anyway

Must admit i’m sitting looking at these again… I cancelled this one above after thinking “Who really needs it…”

the answer to that potentially is …. Me..

Did an event yesterday which was pretty good fun, road based, not too long, but a nice jaunt. At times though, being on the 29er, i think i’d have gone better on a road bike.

I guess the question is, how much better ? I averaged 27km/h for the ride, which on a 29er on 2.35’s i can’t be unhappy with, but would the extra 3kg lighter bike and potentially faster tyres along with the better geometry/aero make 1% difference? 5% ? 10% ?  Answer is, i don’t know.

Of course we can sit here and think “does it matter…” but in some ways, yeah, it does.

I also enjoy some winter riding on cold and frosty days, but not on 25c GP4000s, but on something more CX based.. Hmmmm maybe…

I have commuted (24miles)

On my steel road bike with 28c tyres and my steel gravel bike 40c lightly knobbled.

I could barely scrape 12mph fron the gravel where i could get 18mph from the road bike. I checked everything after. No brake rubbing nothing i could find to be causing that much of a difference.

Clearly one was a goid day and one was a bad but the tyre must have made a big difference.

So on a 29er… Compared to a slick tyred bike of any type…. Buy buy buy.

N+1 n+1 n+1

It might not be much faster, then again it may be, but it would be much funner.

Weeksy – I went for the Boardman in the end. I use it for everything – commuting, longer rides and zwift (must be the only rider on zwift with full mudguards on in the lounge!). It has come with Schwalbe G-One Speed’s. These tyres are great they aren’t as slippery as normal road tyres but do cushion blows, allow you to ride tracks etc with little compromise to rolling speed. They are 38c and you can run them fairly low.

As joshvegas says n+1

See my thread yesterday Weeksy.  Just bought a hydro Bergamont Grandurance for my winter / gravel jaunts.   First ride last night on a mixture of surfaces just felt like freedom compated to having to choose a bike every time.  Also a more upright comfy postion.

Discounted at Westcott cycles, owned and warrantied by Scott.

I saw yours matey…. but i certainly doubt that’s coming in at the same budget as the P/X at £700.

Buy a non-disc CX bike on Ebay? They go for peanuts

Prefer disc personally.. .I’m rubbish enough on drops without worrying about lack of brakes too 🙂

We can sit here and debate that of course, but i’d like discs.

I guess the biggest issue in a way is that if i do this, the Parkwood becomes instantly obselete and won’t see the light of day again…

I looked at these a while back but was put off by the single ring up front. Probably fine off-road but I think I’d miss the gears on the road.

Where is the £700 offer on these? I like the look of them.

I saw yours matey…. but i certainly doubt that’s coming in at the same budget as the P/X at £700

It was £955.  I decided I’d happily pay the difference for some Shimano hydros and a – 5 year – warranty/support from Scott rather than PX.

Hooli – that’s why I picked the Bergamont – there seems to be few bikes around with 50/34 upfront these days…

<moved>

I nearly had the pink full Monty(used for photo shoot) it was £999 with rival hydro. I went on to buy it and a £500 off sale thing popped up so I got a space chicken and loving it 🙂

Where is the £700 offer on these? I like the look of them.

The red version isn’t about now mate…

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXFMAPEX1MECH/planet-x-full-monty-sram-apex-1-mechanical-disc-gravel-bike

It’s white with hints of blue…

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBFBPXXLAAPEXMECH/planet-x-xla-sram-apex-1-mechanical-disc-cross-bike

this blue one is pretty though 🙂

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263942461298?ViewItem=&item=263942461298

What size do you rekon this one is guys ? Medium ?

Tricky to know as P/X show it as being a 51, not a 52…

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/FRPXLONROD/planet-x-london-road-frameset

London Road SL frameset (plus a few others) have been put in an Easter weekend promo, £199 for the above.

Never built a bike up before, but that price doesn’t half make it tempting.

Now on my second non SL, std large LR, both built frame up. First Silver for £150 then added a Black off a mate for £60 (he bought an XL which he still uses daily). I built it Shimano hydro, Prime disc wheels, WTB Resolute 42s, Alpkit spitfire bars. Love it. Daily commuter plus I’ve bikepacked Scotland (road on Hyper 38s), done a TNR, Ride London (4:40) all sorts.