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Have any of you any experience with Planet X kids bikes? Given their shining reputation for quality control and customer service I haven't used them for many a year, but somehow their kids bikes have got onto my radar and wondered if anyone had seen or used them out in the wild. Online images look OK at a glance, price is OK with current offers, detailed spec is conspicuously absent... what could possibly go wrong?
Thoughts? Do of course feel free to add general PX/"won't somebody think of the children" rants as you see fit.
Friday evening bump for this hot topic...
[edit] with a link to one of the bikes in question...
here
I’ve no experience of their kids MTBs, but have had no problems with any of the 3 bikes I’ve had from PX, nor their customer service.
Not to turn this into one of those threads, but I only had one issue many moons ago which was resolved without any real hardship - but it took aaaaaaages and some daft interventions to finally get a seemingly straightforward problem sorted.
Planet x are cheap, much cheaper than most others and provide some good quality bikes. They stack em high, sell em cheap. There's no shop or middle man which keeps the prices low. They are now staff owned or moving towards it.
They could be a great shop but they do daft things like post frames in boxes that are too small so the mech hanger and steerer tube stick out the box or change specs so frames that are designed to go downhill can only fit a 160 rotor on the back.
The other problem is as you've experienced, it's when something goes wrong they don't tend to own the problem and resolve it quickly. It takes ages to resolve.
But, get over these hurdles and the bikes they sell are usually really good, well spec'd and the cheapest around.
As others will say, you pay for what you get.
Personally, for a kids bike that will get dropped and abused I would buy one.
My rule is never pay px rrp. Wait for a sale or discount code. Is this £499 or does sizzling30 get you 30% off?
For £500 I would be looking at a 2nd hand Isla or Frog. There are 3 Islabikes Creig 24 on eBay ending this weekend which would be a great option, or a cheaper Beinn 20 or 24 without a sus fork or discs (V brakes are effective for this age/weight)
Just had a look on px website and looks like the linked bike is in the sale so got £150 off it (£350) which I think is a pretty good deal. Only thing I have found with my eldest is he didn’t get on at all with twist grips (I’ve never liked them either) so swapped out for a Shimano trigger (£15 on Amazon pre COVID) if you are lucky it might have a freehub back wheel so you can go to 10-11 speed later on or it will be screw on which limits it to 7speed.
but it took aaaaaaages and some daft interventions to finally get a seemingly straightforward problem sorted
I ordered some CX-Ray spokes and it seems like due to a genuine error they miscounted the stock.
This is all fair enough .. mistakes happen but I then had to go through hoops having to decline putting a single alternative spoke they wanted to sell me into the build.... I don't even think it was the same length from memory.. instead of just shipping, letting me know and refunding me the 99p I had to jump through hoops to decline alternative spokes.
I think the most important thing for a kids bike is weight. Personally I would avoid cheap hydraulic brakes. As above, for their weight go v brakes. I dropped v brakes not because of performance but because I wore rims out. Something that's not going to happen on a kids bike. I had v brakes on my fully loaded touring bike!
The reason they put grip shift on kids bikes is because they are bomb proof and out of the way when they throw them on the floor!
Looking at the website it says 8kg or 17.6 pounds. I think you could find lighter but not at £350!
And besides, your kid probably wants hydraulic brakes and not old school v brakes.
As a plus point its quick release and not nuts that you get on the really cheap Halfords bikes.
on or it will be screw on which limits it to 7speed.
Nope, Sunrace do freewheels up to 10 speed I think, SJS sell them as well as the usual places.
Personally I would avoid cheap hydraulic brakes. As above, for their weight go v brakes.
I would say the exact opposite. Discs on kids bikes have been a game changer… so much more consistent and predictable for them. Agree on the general weight point though… heavy kids bikes suck.
Are SUP not a brand in their own right rather than a PX special? They only appeared on PX during the lockdown stock shortage when they seemed to be scouring Europe for bikes to sell (a few other weird brands appeared at the same time).
None of the SUP bikes (adult and kids) looked like PX designs so you might be safe from their usual tolerance / first batch cock-ups.....
At £350 I'd go for one and the spec seems well thought out (hydro discs are worth the weight - with 2 kids we wore through a set of Isla 20" rims and the vee brakes were pretty rubbish Tektro ones).
Are SUP not a brand in their own right rather than a PX special? They only appeared on PX during the lockdown stock shortage when they seemed to be scouring Europe for bikes to sell (a few other weird brands appeared at the same time).
Either that or another brand name px have purchased.
Thanks for all the responses above, soem really useful thoughts. It would indeed get the 30% off - no way I'd entertain £500 on a kids bike, second hand seems the sensible way normally but decent mtbs in this size range is like looking for hen's teeth.
And excellent idea on SUP actually being a proper brand in their own right - I assumed it was a PX ripoff but a quick search came up with this which fills in some of the gaps in the PX spec handily. Have no idea whether many of the components are decent or not as not familiar with the (non)branding on this stuff, but have found Tektro to be decent in the past on the brakes for instance.
Anyway, copied from the SUP website incase it's of use for anyone else...
FRAME: Alu 6061.T6 Double Butted, Junior Race Geometry, 1x Optimized, BB BSA 68 mm
HEAD SET: CH-290-TBW 1-1/8"
FORK: Alloy rigid Superlight
SHIFTER: SHIMANO SL-RS45 Revoshift 1x7
REAR DERAILLEUR: SHIMANO TOURNEY RD-FT35A
CRANKSET: WheelTop M32 28T
BOTTOM BRACKET: Thun Topaz 128 mm, shell BSA
FREEWHEEL/CASSETTE: SHIMANO HG200-7 12-28T
CHAIN: KMC Z50
PEDALS: Marwi SP-202
HANDLEBAR: Alloy
STEM: Alloy 25.4 mm
GRIPS: ONE MTB dual density kraton-gel
BRAKES: Tektro TK-D57, hydraulic disc, 140/140 mm rotor
SADDLE: Selle Royal Junior
SEAT POST: HL Alloy, 27.2 mm
FRONT HUB: ONE KT QR
RIMS: ONE J18SF 20H
REAR HUB: ONE KT QR
SPOKES: Sapim Laser
TIRES: Schwalbe Black Jack KevlarGuard 20x1.90
WEIGHT*: 7.9 kg
It's probably the usual things that might let the rest down, whether the reach on brake levers is sensible/adjustable, crank lengths, cheap wheels, unbranded finishing kit etc, but it might be fine stuff too, who knows? Geometry wise, I'll have to see how it compares with Vitus, Orbea etc which are the kind of thing I'm ideally looking for 2nd hand.
Having procrastinated over this until the limited 30% off offer ended, curiosity got the better of me and I had a look at it again this evening. 44% off now. Gotta love PX pricing strategy - always another random discount round the corner to make you put off actually buying something.
@bajsyckel as I said before
My rule is never pay px rrp. Wait for a sale or discount code. Is this £499 or does sizzling30 get you 30% off?
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/FBSUTEAM20/superior-team20-junior-mountain-bike
Confusing thing is the rrp has gone up to £539.99 but has a bigger discount of 44% 🤔😂
So instead of £350 it's £300. It's looking a good bike for the money now and it's in stock!
Having procrastinated over this until the limited 30% off offer ended, curiosity got the better of me and I had a look at it again this evening. 44% off now.
Have you got a descent spares bin?
Its got disk mounts/wheels and a cassette not freewheel.
Chuck the revogrip and tourney (or wait till it breaks)...
If the latest kids bikes are anything like the on-one piccolino I bought in the sales 5 yes ago I'd say they're a safe bet,I've looked as I receive email offers from them and they look a little better imo,
What size op?
I've a piccolino I should be moving on,jnr has now grown into 26",so the piccolino with upgraded shimano slx brakes will be for sale once I figure out how to drop pics.