Non-Ebay Deals/Bargains

This is the Saddleback blowout stock - 3T are now going direct to consumer and severed ties with the distro hence some really cheap 3T kit floating around on various bike sites - Wiggle/CRC/Merlin - as the relationship ended late last year.

@TotalShanner Yup. Build thread here: https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/358063/ and the reason I have a grey one is because I couldn’t get a RX4 flat mount in Purple. I’m glad I couldn’t tbh. Really like this colour and the blue / purple.

Purchased after much research it has to be said. Sure, there are horror stories. But people don’t come online to say that their seatpost hasn’t slipped do they?

If it slips and G man at 3T tells me to tighten it more and it creaks in doing so I’m not concerned providing my warranty is intact.

Darimo have a seatpost on the way, and so do 3T in the form of a Ritchey head clamp. Most of the internet stories relate to the head slipping as the design in gash.

All in all risk vs reward I’ve gone for it. A bit more interesting than my CAAD12 frame that’s for sure.

I hope he bought it for £2,650.00 from Merlin last year...

I'm pretty sure aquablue sold off complete race spec bikes for less than that. I was tempted tbh. Settled for a few aerohead ultimates for €60 each

But people don’t come online to say that their seatpost hasn’t slipped do they?

Yeah this is very true!

To be honest, I think it's a punt I'd have been willing to take too. As you say, the warranty is there if it's needed.

The blue calipers just look really nice on the frame. Will keep my eye on the build thread, looks ready to ride in a day or two.

I think part of why the reputation of these frames is tainted is that the Aqua Blue riders absolutely hated them. If 3T/Vroomen hadn't been so uncompromising on 1x in the beginning then maybe it'd be a different story today.

Mate of mine had a (1x) Strada, which he didn't get on with. I borrowed it for a long weekend and thought it was one of the fastest bikes I'd ridden, and I could upgrade the 1x 11 in time to AXS. But I could not get the seatpost to hold. In 3 rides, every time there was always a point in the ride where it slipped. Not massively, probably only 5-6mm, but enough to make things feel off. And I'm only just over 70kg, so not a huge guy. It's a shame, because I think they're great bikes, aside, and back in the BC days (before Covid) a couple of the fastest guys at the local club had one and raved about them.

If you've never ordered anything from https://www.probikekit.co.uk, you should be able to get 10% off everything by using a referral code NIKICA-R2 during checkout.

Hope this helps.

Cougar and vitus and others from there look good too 👌🏻

Sam from No Hands... races on one. Makes good sense for a crit bike as you don't need a smaller chainring.

Slipping seatpost doesn’t make it ideal for regularly chucking the bike in your boot though.

Sure it does.

You get the bike out the boot and put the seat up, by the time you're finished riding the seat has slipped down and the bike is ready to go back in the boot!

And if your ride starts off on tarmac, and gets progressively more tekkers until the end is full gnar, it's like an auto dropper. Win win.

Fair point, sounds like it should have been on the marketing blurb.

https://pacenticycledesign.co.uk/collections/clearance/products/brevet-wheel-set-700c-rim-brake

Looks like a good deal for decent pair of vintage looking 11sp wheels

Shame there are no 11sp groupsets that would match!

The older Athena silver groupset would look great with these. Think you’d have to find it in bits & pieces and use a shimano cassette though

5800 is/was available in silver, although the chainset looks shite. There are (not silver) Dura Ace bar end shifters for 11 speed.

thanks for the code, sadly the item i wanted was excluded from the discount :(

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/YBCL1768194/holdsworth-roi-de-velo-carbon-track-bike-x-large-orange-ex-team-bike-49t-15t

Not a bad deal from PX - tubular carbon track wheelset, 2 years warranty (if PX survives Brexit).

You should be able to split and make some money if you were so inclined...

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@Vince not a bad deal at all
Going to spend the day trying to find reasons not to go for it...

Think these are probably a bargain:
DI2 ultegra (rim brake) lever pair for £90 at Merlin
https://www.merlincycles.com/shimano-ultegra-6770-di2-sti-levers-56443.html
Also unfashionable Di2 XT front mechs for £60 (have just bought one in anticipation of going back to 2x11 at some point in future)

if PX survives Brexit

their postage was always pretty expensive so you had to REALLY want their stuff to buy in Europe or have found something super cheap

I notice Merlin, Brick Lane Bikes and PlanetX always have the same discounted branded stock - clearly b2b reselling NOS networks. And agreed PX shipping prohibitive, I would buy way more from there if it wasn't so £££ even for UK.

Which stuff?

Changes from time to time but right now some bargainous San Marco wide saddles