Planet X tease new long distance Audax/touring bike

[bludger]

https://www.planetx.co.uk/news/products/q/date/2019/05/23/long-distance-hypertourer-sample?fbclid=IwAR2iQhBJ4t7MGysA0jIalpYWkQHFUcM4gOR09zy-09UWLdQpLv80VYUa0Mw

Interestingly it looks like it's running 105, which is a bit of a new one for PX who as far as I can tell have been exclusively SRAM for anything 'lower' than ultegra for the past few years.

[grams]

Any clues about the frame material?

Looks like a minor variation on the Space Chicken.

[Phil W]

Crap choice of where to photograph, in front of a shipping container! Strange choice of up to 34mm, do tyres come in that size?

[Brucey]

that looks like RD6800 to me at the back, 105 chainset etc so the groupset is a bitza.  Also the hose routing to the rear caliper is so crap that I don't think you could fit a cable-operated caliper; if so, it is hydros only. Obviously everyone will want something different but I'd want to be able to fit 28s (at least) and mudguards.

Frame looks like welded aluminium to me.

The title of the photo is 'Kesselrun' so maybe Gradbach is not the only name under consideration.

cheers

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Planet X sell Panaracer-made tyres that are 33.3mm wide...

[Ian H]

I wonder why there's only provision for a rear mudguard.

[Ben T]

Crap choice of where to photograph, in front of a shipping container! Strange choice of up to 34mm, do tyres come in that size?

and one that's advertising a competitor....

[bludger]

A 'planet x design meeting' video is now out (in the same link in the OP). Looks like internal cable routing might be scrapped for one thing. No final word on which drivetrain system'll be on it either.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Good! Internal cables are the work of stan! IMO, ymmv...

Crap choice of where to photograph, in front of a shipping container! Strange choice of up to 34mm, do tyres come in that size?

and one that's advertising a competitor....

Yeah, I've always been a fan of Payload Bikes.

[JennyB]

The title of the photo is 'Kesselrun' so maybe Gradbach is not the only name under consideration.

Maybe they did it in 12 parsecs 

[mzjo]

I was going to say " a long distance bike with a slammed stem, internal cables and no luggage facilities - what on earth?"
Then I looked at Karla's round the world bike on his blog photos - oops!

Perhaps I really am past the sell-by date  Still not going to buy one though

[grams]

Di2 without internal cable routing is a big old mess.

Also the hose routing to the rear caliper is so crap that I don't think you could fit a cable-operated caliper; if so, it is hydros only.

That’s flat mount. With a post mount adapter the cable routing would be much straighter.

[Karla]

I was going to say " a long distance bike with a slammed stem, internal cables and no luggage facilities - what on earth?"
Then I looked at Karla's round the world bike on his blog photos - oops!

Perhaps I really am past the sell-by date  Still not going to buy one though

You noticed I've got panniers*, right?  And I do have one spacer below the stem!

I wouldn't want to use the PX as a tourer though: the rear end looks a bit short to handle well when loaded.


*The Tripster actually has very good pannier mounts that go through the centre of the (chunky) chainstays rather than being braze-ons.  I rung up Kinesis before I bought it to check whether it was designed to cope with a touring load or just a briefcase on the commute: "Hi, I'll be riding round the world with ~15 kilos of luggage, will the rear end take that?" "Yeah we designed it to do that" "Great thanks."

[Brucey]

Di2 without internal cable routing is a big old mess.

Also the hose routing to the rear caliper is so crap that I don't think you could fit a cable-operated caliper; if so, it is hydros only.

That’s flat mount. With a post mount adapter the cable routing would be much straighter.

good point, a bit like this then;



much better for sure, but even so an unnecessary 'S' bend in the cable. I don't see why they hose/cable can't exit the stay on the inner face....? 

cheers

[mzjo]

I was going to say " a long distance bike with a slammed stem, internal cables and no luggage facilities - what on earth?"
Then I looked at Karla's round the world bike on his blog photos - oops!

Perhaps I really am past the sell-by date  Still not going to buy one though

You noticed I've got panniers*, right?  And I do have one spacer below the stem!

I wouldn't want to use the PX as a tourer though: the rear end looks a bit short to handle well when loaded.


*The Tripster actually has very good pannier mounts that go through the centre of the (chunky) chainstays rather than being braze-ons.  I rung up Kinesis before I bought it to church whether it was designed to cope with a touring load or just a briefcase on the commute: "Hi, I'll be riding round the world with ~15 kilos of luggage, will the rear end take that?" "Yeah we designed it to do that" "Great thanks."

Yes I did notice the luggage facilities; also that your tri-bars and pads are probably higher than my drops so the drop to the dropbars is probably totally reasonable. I didn't count the stem spacer(s) though. My point was more that my view of what a long-distance bike should be is undoubtedly well out of date when compared to what people actually use (and I'm not afraid to admit it - now).
I like your comment on chainstay length.