How good are Ribble hand built wheels?

doktorsteve

Does anyone have experience of Ribble hand built wheels? The prices on their site look pretty reasonable. e.g. £127 for Mavic OP CD or CXP33 on Shimano 105.

zaynan

I had a pair of Open Pros laced onto Ultegra 9spd hubs about 6 years ago - by Ribble.

Never once have they needed truing and are still going strong now after being used as winter wheels for 3-4 thousand miles plus weekend rides etc.

Slightly more expensive and with a great reputation are Paul Hewitts in Leyland

http://www.hewittbikefitting.co.uk/

star_rover

No problems with mine, 105 hubs on open pros. Used everyday for the past 5 months and they've been fine.

doktorsteve

Supplementary question:

Why handbuilt? I can see that they are maintainable but how do they compare to factory built in terms of lateral stiffness and vertical compliance? I am thinking 2x lacing may be more compliant than radial lacing but I don't know why.

James_London

There are too many other variables to generalise on stiffness and compliance but handbuilts are often cheaper for like for like quality. They *normally* have more spokes than factory wheels which tends to mean they're more comfortable (vertically compliant) but it depends how they're built.

John C.

Don't know about Ribble but. If you want hand built wheels try [url=Shttp://www.spacycles.co.uk/]Shttp://www.spacycles.co.uk/[/url] you won't get much better on quality.

mr-flibble

Hi

My dad has two pairs of Ribble wheels which I ordered for him, here are my observations:

The first pair are open pro on shimano ultegra10 hubs for his race/summer bike, about a year old. The first time he rode on them the spokes made amusing "pinging" noises which seems to indicate that they hadn't been stress-relieved. Apart from that he's had no problems with these wheels, they've not needed true-ing and are much lighter and faster than the shimano 550 factory wheels they replaced.

The second pair are about just under a year old, they are open pro cd on tiagra hubs, used on his commuting bike, 30 miles per day, 2/3 days per week, in all weather. These have been fine, although when he had a bike mechanic service his bike, he said the spokes were a bit loose when he trued the wheel. Also the spokes seem have a bit of surface corrosion where they cross, it doesn't seem too bad, but they are supposed to be stainless.

I have some handbuilts by Harry Rowland (open pro on campag hubs) which are excellent and have never needed truing yet, although an independent wheelbuilder will be more expensive than Ribble, you can be sure they're built properly and the spokes are stress relieved etc.

On the whole I would recommend Ribble wheels as they seem to be good value for money, and reliable, albeit with a few minor niggles.

doktorsteve

Mr Flibble,
I am interested that you compared the OP/Ultegra wheel with R550.
I am also considring RS20s as an alternative.
Why did your dad switch from the R550s to the OPs?
Where do you think that the speed comes from?

thanks
Steve

Ramanujan

In my experience they're not that good.
Had a pair of Veloce on Open Pro's.
Needed constant truing.
I've had them for 2 years now and I still have to tru them every month or so.
I am 80kg's though.

mr-flibble

Hi doktorsteve

The R550s were swapped out because the freehub self-destructed after about two years. The wheels were never much good anyway, the rims were heavy and the wheels flexed too much.

The Open-Pros should be faster because the rims are lighter, I think a lower rotating mass should improve acceleration.

pawlfreehub

Actually getting them from Ribble might be tricky unless you go in, I still use them occasionally (low prices) and their unreliablity streak has been maintained this year, although they have improved in as much as they haven't charged me for the stuff they've failed to send recently.

term1te

Doctorsteve,

I switched from some R550s to OP on ultegra hubs 18 months ago. There was a great improvement both in perceived speed and ride quality. It's hard to pinpoint why, smoother surfaces in the bearings, less weight on the rim? The OP/Ultegras just seem to roll better. Not a very scientific study, but starting at the top of a gentle hill near my house and letting gravity do her thing, I arrive at my house about 2 kmh faster on the OPs than the R550s. Many other factors could be involved, but it reassured me I'd made the right move.
.

doktorsteve

Well I have taken the plunge and ordered the OP on 105.

They should be a little different from your run of the mill Aksiums, R561/RS20, Racing 7/5!
Probably a bit retro on my Giant SCR.

Anyway apparently this is a standard stock item so it should go out today. Lets see how soon they arrive!

I will make sure that the wheels are de stressed when I get them and keep an eye on the spoke tensions.

Thanks for all your comments.

doktorsteve

Wheels arrived next day. Spoke tension is a bit uneven and a bit lower than expected. I had to stress relieve the spokes by pressing on the rims. Ping Ping Ping

When I asked about increasing the tension I got this reply:
Handbuilt wheels are never as stiff as a factory wheel, this is the main reason factory are preferred for every day road use. Pro riders tend to favor hand built wheels for climbing because they can be built lighter or for races such as the Paris Rubaix where they are on cobbles as they will flex rather than break. I would not recommend tightening the spokes as our wheel builder is a veteran of 40years and is very competent when it comes to details such as spoke tension. :?

The guy may be competent, but given the price I paid, I don't think he has enough time to do a perfect job, so I have no real complaints. I will leave 'em alone for a few months and see what happens.

The ride is a little smoother than with the stock wheels - there is less vibration coming through the handle bars. Maybe they feel lighter on the hills too. Not noticed any flexing when climbing but then I did not notice any before.

Anyway I'm getting to love the fat silver hubs and (Massey Fergusson) grey rims!

biondino

but handbuilts are often cheaper [than factory wheels] for like for like quality

I don't doubt this is true but - how? What other goods are cheaper bespoke than off the peg? Is it because a lot of factory wheels use unnecessarily poncey and therefore more expensive bits and bobs when all you really need are the classic components put together by a man with a beard in Northumberland?

doktorsteve

The clue is in the word quality. We are generally not just buying quality but kudos, style, lightness, stiffness, designer labels.

What you get depends on the combination you choose.

Strong, light , cheap - choose 2.

robbarker

doktorsteve wrote:

When I asked about increasing the tension I got this reply:
Handbuilt wheels are never as stiff as a factory wheel, this is the main reason factory are preferred for every day road use. Pro riders tend to favor hand built wheels for climbing because they can be built lighter or for races such as the Paris Rubaix where they are on cobbles as they will flex rather than break. I would not recommend tightening the spokes as our wheel builder is a veteran of 40years and is very competent when it comes to details such as spoke tension. :?

The issue here is that Mavic specify a maximum tension of 900N for Open Pro rims, which in my opinion is cowardice on their part. Their factory wheels have less spokes but they tension them to 1600N. This is very bad news if one breaks when you're along way from home, as the wheel deforms significantly. If your 32 spoke 900N wheel loses a spoke, you can retrue with your multitool and crack on. I dearly wish they would make them to be built to around 1300N, which is where I want to be with a pair of wheels.

The reality is that Open Pros can be tensioned higher than 900N, with an increased risk of spoke eyelets pulling through the rim. I wouldn't risk it if I were building commercially but I have my Audax wheels (XT hubs, Open Pro ceramic) tensioned to about 1200N and my fixie wheels (CXP33 on Goldtech) similarly tight. The build is that much more reliable and I have never had a problem with Mavic rims tensioned to this level.

If you want to get the advantages of handbuilts with a bit more tension "legitimately" then DT Swiss spec a higher maximum for their road rims, the disadvantage being that tyres are said to be tighter to mount.

If you want a bit of backgorund on why stiff is good, read the 2what makes a wheel strong" stickie thread in the mountain bike tech forum here on Bikeradar.