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TECH NEWS
Planet X Pro Carbon Rival FinelinePlanet X launch Pro Carbon in sub-£1,000 SRAM Rival build
Planet X have a new Pro Carbon Rival Fineline edition road bike for 2013 that comes in just below the £1,000 mark.
The Pro Carbon bike isn’t new, but this version is. It comes built up with a SRAM Rival groupset and Shimano RS10 clinchers for £999.99. The Pro Carbon is marketed as Planet X’s do-it-all carbon road bike.
We’re not big ones for publishing press releases here at road.cc… But we’ll make an exception in this case because Planet X’s press release is pretty funny. Make of it what you will:
There is only one story dominating the cycling world this week and that is the startling revelation that a former British Cycling champion and six-time winner of the world’s hardest bike race, the Tour of the Peak, has after years of suspicions and accusations finally confessed to moping.
Mark Lovatt first shot to prominence in the early 90s and quickly established himself as one of the top riders of his generation, if not all time. His exploits are legendary and yet he and his Yorkshire teammates Wayne Randle and twice British Champion John Tanner, were known to insiders as the "miserable northerners" who dominated cycling in the UK for many years.
However, the plot thickens when it emerges that both team management and sponsors were also involved in what can only be described as one of the saddest episodes in sporting history, a team and collective who failed to enjoy their cycling victories and moped [as in the verb 'to mope' rather than anything to do with Lambrettas - Ed] their way through their decade at the top.
Lovatt himself still works at long time sponsor Planet X, and is still renowned for his deadpan sense of humour and dry wit. Even after his retirement from cycling he continues to mope.
Hope is emerging finally emerging however when Lovatt, after years of sarcasm and wry comments, was finally caught smiling this morning.
See the bike that Mark helped us design and build, the awesome £999 Pro Carbon Rival Fineline edition, here.
For more info go to www.planet-x-bikes.com.
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
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13 comments
It's not about the bike.
With Planet X you get what you pay for and that's it. There are no hidden extras as with the bigger boys. You pay £300 for a carbon frame what do people expect a £3K frame reduced?
I love my super pro carbon so much that I've rebuilt it despite being told it was too small. Made a few changes and now thinking "Shall I strip the other frame of the Dura Ace goodies for the Pro Carbon?"
I've been seriously looking at Planet X as an upgrade. The reason they can produce a carbon bike at this price is because they're strictly an online retailer, same as Canyon, who are also extremely cheap for the spec they produce.
You're not having to pay the extra few hundred pounds the shop pile on to make their money.
The huge majority of reviews I've seen for Planet X have been really good.
My point still stands I reckon. They're not sold by a lbs, to my knowledge. Though admittedly that's pretty limited. So you're still not having to pay them the extra. It says something to that effect on their website.
I would never go for cheap carbon, would always prefer to go high end alloy at this end of the market personally.
If the biggest brands in the world that have bulk buying power can't produce a carbon road bike for £1000, it does tell you that something isn't going to be up to par with this bike.
I had a friend who recently brought a Planet X whippet MTB frame because he wanted to go "Lighter" than his Trek carbon frame. On paper it was about 300g lighter however when the shop actually built it up it was 100g heavier and didn't ride as well as it did before. The shop had weighed the frame and it was heavier that his Trek frameset.
Just becuase something is "cheap" doesn't always make it a good buy your always much better to get to your LBS talk to a specialist and take some bikes out to try instead.
Thanks for explaining the perfect tense of "mope" there.
Will this be standard process for all homonyms from now on?
SIR David Brailsford did work at Planet X before British Cycling, and my Planet X is great.
ALIHISGREAT explain yourself.
Blimey that's good value. Bit extra on some summer wheels and you're away.
The cheaper Planet X bikes are good on paper.. and that's where they stop being good...
What's wrong with them? Genuine question, as I was looking to upgrade to some
thing like this this year..
The pro carbon can, under really hard sprinting be a bit 'squirmy'. There are no real innovations in the frame, it's just 'a carbon frame'. They are built to a price which means cuts in the spec, so when they say Sram Rival, it won't be full Sram Rival...
That said, I love mine :), it climbs like a goat on steroids, is at home in crit races, TTs and silly long enduro rides, I've spent 9 fast hours in the saddle and finished without aches and pains.
As above, get some half decent wheels for summer and you'll love it.
I read somewhere recently that Dave Brailsford used to work for Planet X.