Beginner

Scotxr

Hi guys looking for some advice. I'm a Mountainbiker, never done any road biking but i'd like to change that. I have a turbo trainer in the house which I will use as well as getting out on the road.


I already have thousands tied up in bikes so i'm going to use the cycle to work scheme and spend about a thousand. I like the look of the Ribble bikes so what's the general consensus on these?? I will have 1k to spend (I could maybe add more if this is possible), what set-up should I get? Worth upgrading to higher end parts etc??



Thanks in advance.

springtide9

You can't go wrong with Ribble, Planet X and Boardman (Halfords). All offer good value.

You can get a nice bike for £1k. Some places will also let you 'top up' if the config comes in at a little over the £1k mark (and you just pay the extra).

You can probably just about get a carbon bike for that money, but with a cheaper groupset. The alternative is to get a cheaper aluminium framed bike with a better groupset.

Carbon isn't a must for a road bike, it's just that it's usually lighter (and is 'generally' used for the premium frames)

Scotxr

Thanks for the reply.

I suppose I need guidance on which bike. There are 4 or 5 Ribble's that look good. The Sportive Racing, Sportive Bianco, Gran Fondo, Evo Pro Carbon etc. Any particular pros or cons about any?? Plus am i best leaving the groupsets as is or paying 250 extra to upgrade?? I have a Santa Cruz that has an all XTR groupset but as I said I'm a noob when it comes to road.

Thanks.

springtide9

Scotxr wrote:

Thanks for the reply.

I suppose I need guidance on which bike. There are 4 or 5 Ribble's that look good. The Sportive Racing, Sportive Bianco, Gran Fondo, Evo Pro Carbon etc. Any particular pros or cons about any?? Plus am i best leaving the groupsets as is or paying 250 extra to upgrade?? I have a Santa Cruz that has an all XTR groupset but as I said I'm a noob when it comes to road.

Thanks.

Would probably go for the Sportive Bianco or Gran Fondo. Think the Sportive Bianco got the best £1k C2W in one of the mags. Personally would spend a little extra and go for 105 or Rival.
I'm usually a XT person, but my bike (PX) came with SRAM - which have been very happy with. I really like having the gears built into the brake levers - I know Shimano also does this on their range, but seem to remember not all models have this... looking at the web, I can see TIAGRA and above appears too.

ollyridesfirst

Personally, if you can, i'd leave it for another couple of months. You will then see the 2011 bikes coming down in price in preperation for 2012 models. You could then get a very nice bike for around the £1k mark.

Either that or see if Halford have any of the Boardman Team Carbon 2010 model left. A mate of mine got one for under £1k on the cycle to work scheme about a month ago...

CakeLovinBeast

OllyRidesFirst wrote:

Either that or see if Halford have any of the Boardman Team Carbon 2010 model left. A mate of mine got one for under £1k on the cycle to work scheme about a month ago...

Our C2W scheme is run and adminstered by Halfords. I was told, unequivically by both my two local shops AND the people on the phone, that there are no 2010 Team Carbon left.

Of course, they may well be lying to me - I was pretty much hounding them every other day for a fortnight!

Me, I ended up getting a Cube Attempt. I have nothing to compare it with, having never had a road bike before, but it makes me happy. Nearly 300 miles in 3 weeks will prove that!

Scotxr

Thanks for the input guys.

I think the general consensus is they are good bikes and to upgrade the groupset if possible. What to choose though, Shimano, SRAM, Campagnolo? 105, Ultegra, Centaur etc? Anyone fancy having a look at the bike builder and seeing what looks good as is or what should be upgraded?

Any help with this is greatly appreciated.

merak

If you are new to this I'd go for one of the Sportivs as that'll give you a little more height on the head tube so you'll be comfortable with less in the way of spacers. In the first post you said you wanted to spend about a grand. Well if you specify Campag 10 speed Veloce and Khamsin wheels you get to £1050. Today's Veloce is like Athena or Chorus from 10 years ago and looks like it and I'm sure it'll be a perfect for this frame. Khamsins are a significant and worthwhile upgrade from the stock wheels. You might also choose better tyres while you're about it.

(As an aside, I have a vintage Ribble road bike in Reynolds 653 steel with Campag 8 speed Veloce of about 16 years ago that is still going strong. I ride it quite often and it works well.)

Scotxr

merak wrote:

If you are new to this I'd go for one of the Sportivs as that'll give you a little more height on the head tube so you'll be comfortable with less in the way of spacers. In the first post you said you wanted to spend about a grand. Well if you specify Campag 10 speed Veloce and Khamsin wheels you get to £1050. Today's Veloce is like Athena or Chorus from 10 years ago and looks like it and I'm sure it'll be a perfect for this frame. Khamsins are a significant and worthwhile upgrade from the stock wheels. You might also choose better tyres while you're about it.

(As an aside, I have a vintage Ribble road bike in Reynolds 653 steel with Campag 8 speed Veloce of about 16 years ago that is still going strong. I ride it quite often and it works well.)

Sounds like sound advice! I will have a look at the different build options.

I must say I've been pleasantly surprised by the response to this thread. I'm sure if I'd put a similar thread in the MTB section I would have got some smart arses replying with unhelpful trying to be funny comments.

Thanks guys

desweller

A vote for PlanetX here! IME Ribble's service can be a bit hit-and-miss, but I've never had any difficulties with PX and I love my Nanolight.

I'll try to think of a smartarse comment for the morning. We'd like to make you feel at home!

kfinlay

If considering a Ribble - the Special Edition bikes tends to be better value but offer less choice to change spec.
Sportive Bianco with Black 105 groupset, ITM 2.4 wheels, Rubino tyres, Deda RS01 bars and seatpost, Zero 1 stem and you'll have a great looking bike - white frame all black kit so it will stand out really well. If you have a favourite mtb saddle then you can use it on the road bike too - all for £1100.
There is Planet X too but personally I'd say the Ribble sportive is better than the say the PlanetX Pro Carbon (dated now) but on par with the Nanolight Hi-Mod (they are different types of frame though - nanolight a bit more racey geometry)

Lots to consider but treat it a bit like your MTB - there are bikes out there with cheaper frames/better groupset and vice versa - it's just what you feel would suit you.

let us know how you get on

Scotxr

kfinlay wrote:

If considering a Ribble - the Special Edition bikes tends to be better value but offer less choice to change spec.
Sportive Bianco with Black 105 groupset, ITM 2.4 wheels, Rubino tyres, Deda RS01 bars and seatpost, Zero 1 stem and you'll have a great looking bike - white frame all black kit so it will stand out really well. If you have a favourite mtb saddle then you can use it on the road bike too - all for £1100.
There is Planet X too but personally I'd say the Ribble sportive is better than the say the PlanetX Pro Carbon (dated now) but on par with the Nanolight Hi-Mod (they are different types of frame though - nanolight a bit more racey geometry)

Lots to consider but treat it a bit like your MTB - there are bikes out there with cheaper frames/better groupset and vice versa - it's just what you feel would suit you.

let us know how you get on

What's the difference between the normal bikes and the special edition ones??

Will hopefully sort something this week and get it ordered.

merak

I think the only difference is that the special edition ones have limited options for components. They buy those components in larger quantities so they can get and offer a keener price. If you are content with what's on offer they make what is already good value for money even better.

Scotxr

Sent an e-mail to the guys at Ribble, mentioned I wanted to upgrade a few things and that the package would come in at around £1100. I mentioned to him that I worked for the NHS, he said the NHS were very strict and did not allow them to take more than the £1k budget.


So it looks like i'll be going for the standard groupset. Which one is best?? SRAM Apex, Shimano Tiagra or Campagnolo Veloce???


Thanks again guys.

merak

I think they are pretty equivalent in terms of shifting quality and robustness. As I said up the thread I have an ancient bike with vintage Veloce and it's still working fine. My choice would be Veloce but that's because I'm a Campag fan boy. I think it'll be down what you prefer in terms of the shape of the hoods, the feel of the shifting and wherther you like thumb tabs or the Shimano system

Scotxr

merak wrote:

I think they are pretty equivalent in terms of shifting quality and robustness. As I said up the thread I have an ancient bike with vintage Veloce and it's still working fine. My choice would be Veloce but that's because I'm a Campag fan boy. I think it'll be down what you prefer in terms of the shape of the hoods, the feel of the shifting and wherther you like thumb tabs or the Shimano system

What's the difference between thumb tabs and the Shimano system???!!


COMPLETE road novice here!!

Scotxr

merak wrote:

I think they are pretty equivalent in terms of shifting quality and robustness. As I said up the thread I have an ancient bike with vintage Veloce and it's still working fine. My choice would be Veloce but that's because I'm a Campag fan boy. I think it'll be down what you prefer in terms of the shape of the hoods, the feel of the shifting and wherther you like thumb tabs or the Shimano system

Which systems have the gear shifter built into the brake lever???

merak

Tiagra and above shifts gears on the front and rear mechs by moving a) the brake levers themselves in-board (to a larger rear sprocket or lower gear on the right lever; and from small to large chain ring on the left lever) and b) by moving a lever behind the brake lever in-board (to a smaller rear sprocket or higher gear on the right lever; and from large to small chain ring on the left lever). I think Shimano allows maximum of two sprockets when shifting down the gears and one when shifting up in a single stroke.

Campag shifts gears by moving a) a lever behind the brake lever inboard (to a larger sprocket or lower gear; and from small to large chain ring) and b) a thumb tab on the inside of the hood downwards (to a smaller sprocket or higher gear on the right thumb tab; and from a larger to smaller front6 ring on the left thumb tab). The brake lever itself is not used for shiftinmg in Campag. Campag allows multiple sprocket shifts both up and down in one stroke, and if you have a triple you can go from the granny ring to the big ring and vice versa in one stroke. In my opinion, trimming the front mech is also easier and better with Campag.

I'm afraid I know very little about SRAM.

Scotxr

merak wrote:

Tiagra and above shifts gears on the front and rear mechs by moving a) the brake levers themselves in-board (to a larger rear sprocket or lower gear on the right lever; and from small to large chain ring on the left lever) and b) by moving a lever behind the brake lever in-board (to a smaller rear sprocket or higher gear on the right lever; and from large to small chain ring on the left lever). I think Shimano allows maximum of two sprockets when shifting down the gears and one when shifting up in a single stroke.

Campag shifts gears by moving a) a lever behind the brake lever inboard (to a larger sprocket or lower gear; and from small to large chain ring) and b) a thumb tab on the inside of the hood downwards (to a smaller sprocket or higher gear on the right thumb tab; and from a larger to smaller front6 ring on the left thumb tab). The brake lever itself is not used for shiftinmg in Campag. Campag allows multiple sprocket shifts both up and down in one stroke, and if you have a triple you can go from the granny ring to the big ring and vice versa in one stroke. In my opinion, trimming the front mech is also easier and better with Campag.

I'm afraid I know very little about SRAM.

Amazing. Thanks for all your help mate, will get some pics up when I get it!

blackpoolkev

What about a Ribble Evo Pro Carbon with SRAM Rival groupset and ITM Aero 2.4 wheels.
£974?

Scotxr

blackpoolkev wrote:

What about a Ribble Evo Pro Carbon with SRAM Rival groupset and ITM Aero 2.4 wheels.
£974?

Sounds good. What's the differences in the bikes though?? A couple of people have suggested the Sportive Bianco because....

"If you are new to this I'd go for one of the Sportivs as that'll give you a little more height on the head tube so you'll be comfortable with less in the way of spacers"