Ribble handbuilt wheels

jazzkailey

This is a query about the quality of custom wheel builds from ribble. I want to order a pair of open pros on 105 10spd hubs.
Has anyone any experience of the quality of their wheel builds?
I'd be grateful for feedback from anyone who has.

maddog 2

I've had two pairs and both have been okay. Paul Hewitt is better though. Bit more cash but really good builds.

nickwill

+1 for Paul Hewitt

giant_man

+2 for Paul Hewitt

davelakers

+3

sclements

+4

Doobz

I have a set of Dura ace hubs built onto CXP 33 rear and open pro front and they are fine..

Done me last season and winter also and not had to true them yet and I do a whole load of mileage on roads Beirut would be ashamed of.

Either way I am sure the wheels will be fine

thexvw

The biggest problem you may find with Ribble Handbuilts is finding them in stock. I was after a set of Ultegra open pros, emailed them etc, but after about 3 months gave up and bought elsewhere in the end.

leighz

ribble rims arrived - with some marks on the rims themselves and some of the spokes loosened pretty quickly. If you're happy to sort them yourself with a spoke key then go for it. Otherwise go elsewhere.

topdude

I've had a pair of Ribble built Open Sport on 105 hubs for 6 months now. Had to true up the rear wheel a bit to make it sit central in the frame. Other than that they have been fine.
I think you get a reasonably built pair of wheels, not a lot of time spent on final truing, but at a good price. Assuming they have any rims in stock of course. :?

colint

Had some ribbles which I used for cross, absolutely perfect, no issues at all

Jonathan M

+1 for Ribble, I run two pairs, had one set for several years.

doktorsteve

I got Ribble open pro on 105. I was not happy with the evenness of the tension but they seemed true enough. They also seemed to have a low tension compared with my original machine built wheels If you don't pay much for the build then you cannot expect perfection.

If you don't like wheels as they are then you can use them as a cost effective way of getting all the parts you need in roughtly the right position to learn to tension a wheel. I removed oiled and replaced each nipple in turn. With the help of the Wheelpro manual I was able to retension the wheels more evenly (by pitch at least) and still get them pretty true. Took a long time but there is a lot of satisfaction to be had.

I think that you need to be careful with open pros though. As I got the front wheel to what I thought ws the correct tension by musical pitch (probably discredited by now) I could see that the rims were starting to deform slightly around the eyelets. I slackened them off half a turn and tried to ignore the problem as best I could after that ! They are still tighter and more even than as delivered from Ribble.