Yet another which bike thread!

louispeace23

Okay so i have narrowed it down to these three bikes,

Kuota Korsa Lite with Sram Rival
Orbea Aqua T105
Ribble Sportive with Sram Rival

I know the Ribble is carbon but to be honest it doesn't really bother me if its alu or carbon.

The Kuota is probably my favourite as its different and looks the best, does anyone else own one or similar? Which one would you go for?

Pigeons in flight

Louis - sounds like you're in a similar place to me...a C2W voucher burning a hole in your pocket per chance?!

My shortlist is (and no, they are not all the same price:
Ribble Gran Fondo with Apex and Ksyrium Equipes £1300 (pros - carbon, geometry looks good on paper, nice wheels given overall price, cons - I have never ridden a Gran Fondo...waiting time could be horrendous, superficial I know..but big 'Ribble' stickers are not getting me overly excited)
Kuota Kharma with Rival and Askiums c.£1700 (pros - different, nice 'solid', looks cool, cons - its a lot of £ for lower end groupset and so-so wheels).
Specialized Roubaix Elite (entry one - I think it's Elite) pros - its comfortable, the frame feels great (I can just about tell via the cr*p wheels). cons - like the Kharma...it's £1600 and you get 105 and Fulcrum 6's (which are so exclusive they're not even on Fulcrum's website!).

The smart money is on the Ribble. I am expecting my £1K voucher anyday now - so I'm going to phone them and get an idea of turn around time (Apex is showing as out of stock on their site at present...what impact does this have?). The offer some flexibility re C2W limits...but not much. My LBS says the sky's the limit - that could be dangerous!
Second on my list is the Kuota - I love how they are different. My LBS assures me their frames are excellent and upgradable. He seems like he knows his onions. I have given one a test spin, which is reassuring!

You have my sympathy - it's tricky.

louispeace23

@ pigeons in flight - you would be absolutely correct with regards to the c2w voucher! i would love to spend an extra 3-400 quid and get a much better bike but i am currently saving for a house and just cannot afford it.

The ribble's look great but I have heard some horror storieds about delivery times and just general bad customer service, plus the fact i would need to pay a bit extra anyway as they charge a £65 admin fee.

I think the Kuota's look great and I have heard their reputation is growing all the time, also being built in Spain and not in China (Ribble) is another factor for me, i know the majority of carbon frames are made there but it doesn't fill me with confidence!

Maybe I will just have to convince the mrs to let me raid the savings haha

Pigeons in flight

Haha...I have raided savings for bike stuff before ("but its Assos...it lasts a lifetime!") and got into hot water!

I reckon get the best frame you can with your voucher and then you have the option to upgrade in the future. I wouldnt be put off by the odd (and I think it is odd) bad Ribble feedback on here. They are a massive set-up now and shift a lot of bikes - juggling balls on that kind of scale, things are going to go wrong! It's how they put them right that counts - on that front they seem more than ok from what I have read on here. I think there is a lot of scaremongering going on - someone told me the other day (a guy at my club who rides Colnago/Record) that he knew someone who had a Ribble carbon frame that broke in a crash - and it was a carbon wrapped alu frame. Hmm....I nodded politely with a thought bubble above my head think 'fools and their £ are easily parted'!

I'm going to test ride the Kuota again on Thursday and will make my mind up. Is the Kuota frame THAT much better than the Ribble?! Am I going to go mad with this decision...probably!! (My wife certainly is!) I'll keep you posted. Good luck with your cogitating.