Interesting-looking new tyres on sale from PX

[bludger]

Mark's gone and cleared out some poor bugger's factory and bagged all their tyres, so there are some good looking deals on tyres available. Never heard of 'vee' personally but I bet they're OK.

Mix of tubeless ready 'gravel'/cross tyres with slickish tread patterns, might make for good winter tyres and moderate off roading. Mostly 700c but some 27.5/650b.

https://www.planetx.co.uk/news/products/q/date/2019/12/02/huge-savings-on-vittoria-and-vee-rubber-tyres

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Last century when I did the bike shop thing in Oz, Vee Rubber were low to medium quality tyres and tubes.

That said, things change over time. Schwalbe was sold as Swallow and similarly only low to medium quality tyres were available, back in the day.

[Hot Flatus]

I wouldnt buy anything from PX unless I knew exactly what it was I was buying

[mattc]

I wouldnt buy anything from PX unless I knew exactly what it was I was buying

That's more-or-less my view now.

(although I have tried a few vv cheap clothing items, that's gone OK - well apart from the strangely short arm-warmers! To be fair, they should fit someone. Somewhere ... And I have tons of other nice arm-warmers from them now.

You can usually wear crap socks at least a few times! Whereas a tyre (etc) can let you down badly. And I might accidentally get lumbered with some tubeless crap     * )


_{*may contain traces of satire}

[Brucey]

IIRC 'Vee rubber' tyres were/are cheap and nasty. Typically they perished fairly quickly (like many cheap tyres do) but they usually had the saving grace of a nylon carcass, so didn't actually fail (explode)  that often.  Those I have seen in more recent years appear not to differ in these respects.

cheers

[Paul H]

Mark's gone and cleared out some poor bugger's factory and bagged all their tyres,

That's straight out of Del Boy's book of marketing, I thought Sports Direct had perfected it, but PX seem to be catching up fast.

[bludger]

I mean that has literally been their game since the 1980s when Mark blagged off to Powerbar that he was a big sporting bigshot and became the only UK importer of energy bars, with his mum's shed in Rotherham as his warehouse.

[grams]

I have a SAB frame off them that was genuinely a company that went bankrupt leaving a warehouse full of parts to clear.

The other companies still seem to be in business though?

[Paul H]

I mean that has literally been their game since the 1980s when Mark blagged off to Powerbar that he was a big sporting bigshot and became the only UK importer of energy bars, with his mum's shed in Rotherham as his warehouse.

Yes it's a great story, but now they're living off it and very often it is just a story.

[bludger]

I have a SAB frame off them that was genuinely a company that went bankrupt leaving a warehouse full of parts to clear.

The other companies still seem to be in business though?

my dad's got one of their Sab frames, it's a banger. Very odd bike. Cross frame fitted with cantis but comes with a disc fork. Works a treat though, it was the first bike I used for a 'real' ride as a grown up.

[giropaul]

SAB were a frame builder in San Marino. They, as has been said, went bump, and Planet X took over the old stock and brand name. The “ real” SAB frames were nice, but obviously ran out quickly. The same story is true of several Planet X brands , Viner etc.

[Hot Flatus]

There are fewer and fewer things on PX that interest me. So much of it is shite. At one time they, like Merlin and Ribble, had a nice line in bagged Shimano components at decent prices but that seems to have dried up. I wouldn't risk one of their frames having seen how crap they are 14 years ago. Holdsworth? Fuck off.

The clothes are weird, and if they fit you it's because you are weird. Tyres? Well, old stock that doesnt sell and I wouldnt trust the fuckers not to be offloading seconds or production runs with something not quite right.  YMMV.

[bludger]

I've had good results with the tyres and seen the mile munchers particularly ( https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=109111.msg2455656#msg2455656 ) as very good tyres indeed. I've never ridden their frames but they've had a u23 team riding them and getting results, plus two bludgers at the london 6 day who placed OK on Newsworths (I think they were loaned them, as two 'ex team' Newsworth were on the site shortly after).

They're definitely behind on road tubeless tyres. Which is annoying as I'm on the market for some endurance tle 28mm ones and everyone is charging and arm and a leg.

Clothes are a funny one. I expect their clothes come from the exact same factories as a bunch of others such as Texmarket ( https://youtu.be/YgQsm-5cfpk?t=290 ).

I don't know what it is with them and Shimano though - I think there might be something odd going on with how Shimano distribute their groupos, that make it significantly cheaper for them to get SRAM.

I'm not sure what the future of the shop is. The Boss is (according to himself...) turning the thing into an employee-owned enterprise. We'll see how that goes.

[robgul]

Having been to PlanetX (I have a "build-a-bike" - see earlier threads) I have to say it's a strange but interesting business model - it's clearly built on a) direct volume buying, possibly re-badged factory over-runs, and b) spot purchase "cents on the dollar" for over/redundant/old model stock from factories and or bust businesses -  as well as a number on own-brands (Holdsworth, OnOne, Carnac, Jobsworth etc.)

Current PlanetX bike ranges seem to have very few Shimano equipped models (mine - I built it in August 19 - is Ultegra), a strong focus on SRAM.    That may have something to do with Shimano trying to tighten up disocunting and distribution which I heard about from a Madison rep about 6 or 7 months ago - Madison is the UK trade distributor for Shimano BUT their elite dealer trade prices are significantly undercut at retail by Chain Reaction/Wiggle and others.   IIRC Shimano has stopped CRC selling Shimano in some territories, notably the US.

.... and my machine - limited use so far but pretty pleased with it . . .  but then it was built by a skilled mechanic 

How the business will fare with Dave Loughran stepping back and having the employee-owned set up will be interesting to see.

Rob

 

[Blade]

I don't know what it is with them and Shimano though - I think there might be something odd going on with how Shimano distribute their groupos, that make it significantly cheaper for them to get SRAM.

When I built up my latest bike at Planet X using their 'Build a bike' scheme, I was told by their mechanic that the reason that they mainly used Sram components was that they could buy them directly and cheaply from the manufacturer. Whereas, Shimano wanted them to purchase their components through their U.K. distributor who obviously marked up their prices.

[robgul]

I don't know what it is with them and Shimano though - I think there might be something odd going on with how Shimano distribute their groupos, that make it significantly cheaper for them to get SRAM.

When I built up my latest bike at Planet X using their 'Build a bike' scheme, I was told by their mechanic that the reason that they mainly used Sram components was that they could buy them directly and cheaply from the manufacturer. Whereas, Shimano wanted them to purchase their components through their U.K. distributor who obviously marked up their prices.

. . . . reading between the lines it looks like Shimano just wouldn't sell direct (even direct from the manufacturing sources in the Far East) - BUT how does that work with CRC/Wiggle?    IME quite a few Shimano parts from CRC arrive in basic packaging, not the usual (expensive) blue and silver packaging. 

When I was running an LBS it always seemed pretty pointless to order a load of Shimano stuff for the workshop from Madison for it arrive the next day and the packaging going straight in the bin - a cassette or whatever in a polybag would have been fine (the amount of Shimano stuff that needs POS packaging to attract the retail customer must be pretty small?)

Rob

[Hot Flatus]

Weren't they importing bikes, stripping the components and reselling them, as some sort of import tax dodge?

[robgul]

Weren't they importing bikes, stripping the components and reselling them, as some sort of import tax dodge?

It was rumoured that was happening but it doesn't make economic sense to me - the ratios of parts to resell would have to balance precisely to avoid building up stock and that's unlikely - are you going to sell a frame for every cassette or mech that you sell as a component?

Dunno - but I do know that there's a fairly mainstream brand that has a UK distributor that imports bikes that are fully built but without front forks fitted . . . . and guess what, they import front forks too, separately with brakes and wheels mounted!     It's a way to get round duties on fully built bikes . . . sailing a bit close to the wind.

Rob

[vorsprung]

There are fewer and fewer things on PX that interest me. So much of it is shite. ....

Tyres? Well, old stock that doesnt sell ...

Right, and picking out something that looks worth while from the huge pile of shit is a huge waste of time

[fd3]

I wouldnt buy anything from PX unless I knew exactly what it was I was buying

I've recently gambled on some jobsworth lights for #1 child, which seems to have been a good gamble.  I have issues with buying from them as there are no reviews of their products online (other than on this site).  That said I have a 10-15 yo pompino that is still running with no complaints.

[rogerzilla]

There are fewer and fewer things on PX that interest me. So much of it is shite. At one time they, like Merlin and Ribble, had a nice line in bagged Shimano components at decent prices but that seems to have dried up. I wouldn't risk one of their frames having seen how crap they are 14 years ago. Holdsworth? Fuck off.

The clothes are weird, and if they fit you it's because you are weird. Tyres? Well, old stock that doesnt sell and I wouldnt trust the fuckers not to be offloading seconds or production runs with something not quite right.  YMMV.

It is about 70-80% mystery stuff but they sometimes have very cheap prices on Nitto and their cable cutters (mine are branded On-One) are very good. I've had some good tyres.  They are indeed slow-selling remainders, but that's often just because of fashion (23mm tyres don't sell well at the moment, since everyone has decided to race on touring-width rubber).

[alexb]

Their 365 shorts are very good. I use them for commuting and they're than Wiggle's lowest priced DHB shorts.
If they were cut lower at the fron they'd be great long distance shorts as well.
The On One shorts weirdly have a completely different cut. They pad is great, they're well made, but the cut on the thigh is much tighter.
OK for commuting, not good for longer rides for me.

The 3/4 length tights have a nice pad (it's the same as the 365 pad), but the material is really odd. They're windproof, but not insulated (no Roubaix fleece anywhere), so simply not warm enough most of the time.

[bludger]

I used their full-length roubaix bib tights for the Willy Warmer on Saturday - it wasn't biting frost (looking at Wunderground it was 1 degree at the 0800 start, rising to a 7 degree high at noon and then back down). In the past for really chilly days I have also stuck some merino leg warmers on top of the tights for some added insulation which works very well, if looking a little peculiar.