Is the Planet X Carbon 6800 Ultegra for £900 the steal ?

[Daveyraveygravey]

I agree with Barchettaman about the Merlin; for anyone thinking about a road bike for the first time, or in a long time, that is an unbeatable deal. I used to suggest people pick up a secondhand bargain like a Specialized Allez if they weren't sure a road bike was for them. That way they can sell it on at a reasonable price if they don't like it. With that Merlin, you have the benefit of a shiny new thing and a warranty.

There's a big difference between £300 on the Merlin and roughly £1200 for a Supersix in the sales.

[TwistingMyMelon]

You cant go on how good a bike is until you have ridden it , or at least seen it in the flesh.

Plus the bike is sold out, so you cant get it, they might not get many back in stock when they re-stock, either way its simply not available to buy atm so not an .option for people

Seems like a good PR exercise for Merlin, I don't understand why they haven't re-stocked and are selling as many as they can, unless its a loss-leading deal that they get a few in once in a while to drive traffic to their website. If it was my business I would be trying to get stock in ASAP, not leaving it 5 months!!!

[Barchettaman]

TwistingMyMelon said:

Have you ridden this Merlin bike ?

Hi TMM,
I haven't.
However, I have had 3 road bikes with a similar 6061 Aluminium frame and carbon fork/alloy steerer combination, they ride very nicely indeed. One was sold (a Jan Ullrich) as it was slightly too small. My Dad has another one (Kinesis, I think) now built up by me for him as a flat bar speedbike. The third, a Canyon Passione, donated its Sram groupset to my CX build in the winter and is now in the attic, awaiting its next life!
I have put about 1200km on a Mavic CXP-22 wheelset, built up (second hand!) with Ultegra hubs. I only had to true the wheel once, after I decided to ride home with a slightly slow puncture on a training ride. It remained true for the remainder of its stay with me. Good wheels.
I have done MANY thousands of commuting KM on Shimano Sora 8-speed components and they're just unkillable. I've had a look and a fiddle around with the Claris 8-speed groupset on a trainer-mounted display bike, it shifted nicely theough the gears but I do like the similar action of 9-speed Sora and 10-speed Tiagra (which I have on my current commuting set up) so I am maybe a bit biased.
The Merlin site shows many positive reviews from actual buyers of the PR-7 and road.cc did a test of it I think, maybe worth a look if you're considering one.

::edit:: Here's the review:

http://road.cc/content/news/129359-merlin-cycles-l...

Edited by Barchettaman on Friday 19th December 13:18

Edited by Barchettaman on Friday 19th December 13:25

[TwistingMyMelon]

Ok fair enough I guess you know the ins and outs of the bike well!

I also think it looks a steal and looks great on paper

I just think that its odd they release something then run out of stock for 5/6 months, kind of like the DFS sofas that are full price in one store for a week then for the next 51 weeks of the year they are half price

Maybe there are supply issues and the demand was really huge just is unusual in todays market place

[Barchettaman]

Both scenarios are possible I guess, no way to know really.

What is certain however is that the buyer of a sub-£500 road bike (and I don't want to go all Harold McMillan here) 'has never had it so good'.

It's important however to note the provisos with these budget deals - does the bike have a crappy wheelset, a steel fork (not that there's anything with that but the market wants carbon), an outmoded groupset etc etc..... That's the outstanding thing about the Merlin, there are no significant provisos, just the fact that it's 16-speed.

Just to make it clear - I don't work for Merlin, I'm just a fat opera singer with a bike problem.

[Barchettaman]

Hi Hora. I'm not trying to 'big up' anything, I think the spec of that Merlin speaks for itself.

The website doesn't mention anything about frame butting so I would assume it's unbutted, which would account for the increased weight compared with, say, a Felt F95. My Kinesis 6061 Aluminium frame was unbutted and built up into a really nice riding bike. My Leader TT frame is also unbutted and rides well too. I don't think it's that much of an issue.

I wouldn't like to speculate on how anyone would use any bike they purchase. The main issue with that Merlin is that you can't buy one of the bloody things until March 2015...

[mikees]

Hope that this isn't advertising but I have one of these nearly new ( less than hundred miles) on ebay and bike radar that I'll let go for less to a PHer.

700 collection from Maidenhead.

Someone can have a bargain.

Mike

[Herman Toothrot]

mikees said:

Hope that this isn't advertising but I have one of these nearly new ( less than hundred miles) on ebay and bike radar that I'll let go for less to a PHer.

700 collection from Maidenhead.

Someone can have a bargain.

Mike

What size?

[mikees]

Medium. So 5'7" to 5'11"

[Herman Toothrot]

mikees said:

Medium. So 5'7" to 5'11"

I've sent you an email :-)