slug56
Senior Member
- Location
- Bradford, United Kingdom
In 2013 I went cycle touring around France for a month on my Boardman Road Comp (standard aluminium road bike), complete with a pannier rack and my trusty BOB Yak trailer. It was fantastic and the only mechanical I suffered was a snapped SRAM Apex gear shifter.
Lucky me, I'm returning this summer for a month, but I'm reluctant to take the Boardman again. I still use it as my commuter / winter bike, but we've done 17,000 miles together and it's getting a little tired. The headset constantly works itself loose, the mudguard mount threads are stripped and not forgetting that I crashed it into a wall with enough speed to earn myself 7 plates in my face. Oops.
So I'm in the market for a fresh new bike to take with me, but who knew finding one was so difficult? In the number of hours I've spent trawling the internet, I probably could have built my own from scratch! Just a note: I hate the idea of these bikes advertised as touring bikes. You know, steel frames, triple cranksets, weigh about 20 kg. I'm seeking a road bike / adventure / gravel bike with drop handlebars with a compact crankset and probably a 32T sprocket on the back that can handle the demands of long-distance touring.
It was looking to be the Planet X London Road, an aluminium adventure bike with all the mounts/bosses and SRAM Rival 11 for £800 or the hydraulic groupset for £1,000. It was almost a done deal, but then I stumbled across the...
... On One Bish Bash Bosh. What a stupid name. This is another Planet X brand and comes with all the mounts, the hydraulic Rival groupset again, through axles and (wait for it) it's made of carbon. My first thoughts were to avoid like the plague. Touring on a carbon bike, I must be mad. I think the fragility of carbon is overhyped a little bit though. Sure, I'd be hesitant about it, but I think having a trailer would offload most of the additional strain, which would be attached to the rear axle anyway and not the frame. £1,500.
Then, the Tomac Montezuma came along. I think it's identical to the On One listed above - literally. Planet X also acquired the Tomac brand and it looks like it's come out of the same mould. The only, only difference I can see is that it doesn't have pannier bosses on the seat stays like the On One. It costs £1,800, so why am I even considering it? Planet X are doing a 40% off code until the end of March, bringing the price down to under £1,100.
I've heard some bad things about Planet X's customer service and their carbon frames. I had a friend have his N2A frame crack. But the bad stories propagate better than the good ones. I'm still sure a purpose-built "adventure" carbon road bike would cope with the strains of touring; however, I do keep looking around everywhere for something away from the Planet X brand, but I get no where.
I'd prefer the frame to have all of the mounts to avoid the workarounds (I have a seat collar on my Boardman with pannier bosses drilled into it). I prefer SRAM to Shimano. I'd appreciate disc brakes and I'd put big rotors on there. Preference of hydraulic to mechanical. I like the idea of through axles, especially as I'm going to be weighted down and I can't see extra rigidity being a bad thing.
So... I'm not asking for a lot, am I?
Lucky me, I'm returning this summer for a month, but I'm reluctant to take the Boardman again. I still use it as my commuter / winter bike, but we've done 17,000 miles together and it's getting a little tired. The headset constantly works itself loose, the mudguard mount threads are stripped and not forgetting that I crashed it into a wall with enough speed to earn myself 7 plates in my face. Oops.
So I'm in the market for a fresh new bike to take with me, but who knew finding one was so difficult? In the number of hours I've spent trawling the internet, I probably could have built my own from scratch! Just a note: I hate the idea of these bikes advertised as touring bikes. You know, steel frames, triple cranksets, weigh about 20 kg. I'm seeking a road bike / adventure / gravel bike with drop handlebars with a compact crankset and probably a 32T sprocket on the back that can handle the demands of long-distance touring.
It was looking to be the Planet X London Road, an aluminium adventure bike with all the mounts/bosses and SRAM Rival 11 for £800 or the hydraulic groupset for £1,000. It was almost a done deal, but then I stumbled across the...
... On One Bish Bash Bosh. What a stupid name. This is another Planet X brand and comes with all the mounts, the hydraulic Rival groupset again, through axles and (wait for it) it's made of carbon. My first thoughts were to avoid like the plague. Touring on a carbon bike, I must be mad. I think the fragility of carbon is overhyped a little bit though. Sure, I'd be hesitant about it, but I think having a trailer would offload most of the additional strain, which would be attached to the rear axle anyway and not the frame. £1,500.
Then, the Tomac Montezuma came along. I think it's identical to the On One listed above - literally. Planet X also acquired the Tomac brand and it looks like it's come out of the same mould. The only, only difference I can see is that it doesn't have pannier bosses on the seat stays like the On One. It costs £1,800, so why am I even considering it? Planet X are doing a 40% off code until the end of March, bringing the price down to under £1,100.
I've heard some bad things about Planet X's customer service and their carbon frames. I had a friend have his N2A frame crack. But the bad stories propagate better than the good ones. I'm still sure a purpose-built "adventure" carbon road bike would cope with the strains of touring; however, I do keep looking around everywhere for something away from the Planet X brand, but I get no where.
I'd prefer the frame to have all of the mounts to avoid the workarounds (I have a seat collar on my Boardman with pannier bosses drilled into it). I prefer SRAM to Shimano. I'd appreciate disc brakes and I'd put big rotors on there. Preference of hydraulic to mechanical. I like the idea of through axles, especially as I'm going to be weighted down and I can't see extra rigidity being a bad thing.
So... I'm not asking for a lot, am I?
I was worried that my frame would be fecked, but apart from a scuff on the rear stay it's fine
steel frame , weighs in at 15kg with my lights, bottle, tool bag,pump rack and mudguards on.
