1000km in

Back in May I bought myself a new road bike. A nice and cheap Planet-X Pro Carbon. On paper it was great value. A carbon frame + Shimano 105 12spd groupset for only £1350 (£1499 with a 10% off code, actually £1699 now) tucked away in a hidden corner of their website. But how has it been really?

I’ve clocked 1000km on it and I’m actually really pleased with it now but it’s taken a bit of time and effort and a dose of patience to get there, so let me explain.

Upgrades

So the first thing I did when I got the bike were change a couple of key bits on it. Firstly I sold the stock Fulcrum wheels. Nothing wrong with them except I had a pair of (much lighter!) Scribe Inception 50-D carbon deep section wheels to throw on it so I had no need and sold them unused to get the best price.

Secondly I replaced the stock compact chainrings (50/34T) for 46/30T. I won’t bore you with why again, just read my 46 is the new 50 blogs which will explain. They have been a surprise find.

Thirdly, I swapped out the stock saddle which was horrible. I managed to source probably the last Serfas Vistoso on the planet. It’s the most comfortable saddle I’ve ever ridden but they’ve been discontinued now for a few years so tracking them down is hard. I got lucky this time and found the last one in a random shop online.

The Ride

I think the bike rides really well. It’s not super light, probably 8-9kg fully loaded. My Scribe wheels definitely make a big difference in terms of speed and handling. I’ve regularly clocked PR’s on Strava and my average speed has gone up a chunk too. It’s not harsh, it’s quite a comfortable bike probably born out of it’s endurance-based geometry. It’s definitely not a race bike either but I didn’t want a harsh race bike so I’m pleased with it and I can ride it for a number of hours without issue.

I also like the 105 12 speed groupset. I honestly didn’t think the extra gear would make a difference but for me it does. It seems to fill a gap in a sweetspot on the cassette. The disc brakes are really powerful and quiet and the lever hoods feel nice to hold akin to GRX, another fave of mine. It did require a bit more finesse setting up the gears though. Initially I had a bit of chain chatter on the 4th or 5th sprocket as the gear cable stretched and it took a bit more care to adjust it out but once it’s dialled in, the gear changes are sweet.

The Issues

There have been issues with it from the start, which at times has almost seen me lose my rag and just send it back to Planet-X in a rage but I’ve perservered and now it’s all good. The biggest problem has been annoying noises under load when pedalling. I’ve never ridden a bike that has clicked and creaked like this one. Obviously I started taking things apart to try and diagnose where the problem was and found the bike was assembled and PDI’d fine, but fuck me it was dry. I don’t think they used any assembly grease anywhere.

So I reassembled headset, removed and replaced the bottom bracket – no good. I retapped the BB thread and replaced the bottom bracket for a Shimano BBR-60 (it came with Token BB) and that didn’t help. All the time the noises were coming from around the BB somewhere. I replaced my pedals, tried different wheels, replaced the saddle, seatpost and clamp and removed and refitted the front mech. Eventually I got it to a place where it was quiet riding in the saddle but would click when I got out of it and to make diagnosis a bit harder, it took a while to ‘warm’ up so it wouldn’t do it at home. Trying to stress the bike stationary didn’t help either. I just couldn’t pin point it.

In the end I decided to just remove, regrease and refit everything clamped or screwed onto the frame. That did fix it and the only additional things I did were remove and refit the rear disc brake adapter, the seat tube bottle cage bolts and refitted the BB cups again but not as tight. Since then it’s been whisper quiet, so faith restored.

The only other niggle is a gob of black paint on the frame arch above the rear wheel which makes the wheel look like it’s out of alignment because it narrows the gap to the tyre on the left but for what I paid I don’t mind that.

So what would I give the bike? Well for the build 2/5. Piss poor lack of grease and the BB tap removed a load of shit from the threads too. For the ride probably a 4/5. It’s comfy, I like the position, I can ride it without issue for long rides and at times it’s fast but it’s not a racer.

And one final thing to say are that the Stone Chainrings I fitted have been superb but I’ll write a separate review about them in due course.