Right. I ordered a standard build BB7 London Road from Planet X a while ago. Picked it up today and took it for it’s first ride, just a quick 15 miler over to the edge of the peaks. Thought people may be interested in knowing what I thought about it.
Probably useful to give a bit of background. I bought this to use instead of my 29er Inbred which I use for communing into Sheffield twice a week at 15 miles each way. Main reason was n+1 and also the inbred was getting worn out and I wasn’t actually doing any MTBing.
So this is my first drop bar road/gravel/cx whatever they’re called at the moment type bike. I ordered an XL in zesty lime as I’m 6′ 5″.
The Ride – with the standard Vittoria tyres the ride on this is great. Running them at 70psi and it “floats” over pretty much anything. I was running Schwalbe marathon + on the inbred as a point of comparison. On the ride this afternoon it was way faster than the inbred. Not a surprise really as it weighs just over 10kg but it felt like moving from a land rover to a hot hatch. I imagine a proper road bike would feel like a Ferrari. I took in a few gravel paths and the odd kerb, being all on trend and that, and it seemed fine.
The biggest thing for me was getting used to the drop bars. But I think I’ll get there eventually.
The Fit – I went for a planet x carbon seatpost as an upgrade. I’m currently running this at pretty much full extension. For me the bars are too low. I need to look at getting a stem with some more rise. Oh and the standard planet x saddle doesn’t agree with my behind. Other than a bit of tweaking it’s pretty good.
I was running flat pedals and I have size 11 feet. I also tend to ride heels in. Only 2 or 3 times did I notice that my left foot caught the end of the chainstay but as soon as I straightened my foot up I stopped doing it. I know a few people have commented about the dropout sticking out but I don’t honestly think it will be a big issue. I did have some toe overlap with the front wheel, but again I think that’s par for the course.
The Kit – So my build had BB7s and SRAM Force 22 gears. The brakes initially wailed like a banshee. They seemed to quieten down by the end of the ride. I’d class them as satisfactory currently, no where near as good as the deore discs on the inbred. I was thinking of going the full SRAM hydro route on the bike but just couldn’t justify it for a commuting bike. Plus comming from a Shimano background I didn’t want to tie myself in to SRAM in case I didnt’ like it.
Which takes me nicely onto the gears. Overall I’m really impressed. The changes are crisp and fast. The only issue I have is that there are no gear indicators. Call me a newbie but I like them on the MTB as I can double check where I am on the rear cassette. The other thing I need to get used to is the double tap. 99% of the time it’s great. However if you’re in the lowest cog at the back and try to change down, you’re not met with any sort of resistance, instead it changes you up a gear, not great. This along with the lack of gear indicators caused me a bit of teeth grinding.
Oh also being spinner rather than a grinder on some of the stepper hills (Curbar gap, Winnats pass etc.) I can see the lack of really low range gearing being a problem for me. As it stands I’m used to spinning up them in the granny.
Overall – As my first drop bar bike I think it’s great. I need to sort out the ride position and contact points a bit but I think that’s normal for any new bike. I also need to get used to the gears. But overall I’m massively impressed with the ride quality and the speed of the thing.
If anyone has any specific questions let me know and I’ll do my best to answer them. Ride details here if anyone cares https://www.strava.com/activities/308941195
image by nichola.davidson[/url], on Flickr
[/url]IMAG0192 by Cheryl[/url], on Flickr[/img]