Which Wheels and Groupset for Ribble Gran Fondo?

Calder

Hi all, hope you can help me out a little.

I'm planning on getting a Ribble Gran Fondo, that much I've settled on, but I've tied myself in knots over what wheels and groupset to go for.

Obviously with the groupset there's an element of preference, but I was wondering how SRAM Rival compares to Campag Centaur in terms of reliability and every day use.

And then there's the wheel choice. Thought about Aksiums or Racing 5's, and then though about equipes or elites. But now I can't decide. Is it worth forking out the extra - thoughts on this most welcome!

Any help most appreciated!!!

Cheers.

JD_76

If it were me from your choices id go for the Mavic wheels and sram groupset.

Had some Racing 7's on my GF and the freewheel was very noisy so they got swapped for some RS30's.

Personally im a big shimano fan, so Id actually go for Ultegra groupset with RS80 wheels. :-)

rolf_f

I have a Centaur Gran Fondo - I wouldn't swap the groupset for anything!! Incidentally, if you do find the freewheel a bit noisy, a touch of grease apparently makes the difference. However, that assumes you freewheel in the first place - perfectly quiet if you are pedalling! FWIW my Gran Fondo is used daily on the commute and is probably on about 2000 miles now.

Mine usually runs cheapo Campag Khamsins or slightly less cheap Vento Reactions. If it is well behaved, I occasionally let it borrow the Neutrons from my Look! Those are the only ones that really make a difference but you can't get those using the Ribble special edition pages (which are much cheaper than Bike Builder).

Whatever you go for, I'd spec it on Special Edition and then get some flashier wheels when something too good to miss turns up. You then have a very useful set of spare wheels.

Calder

Free wheel... me...? Nooooo.

Cool, cheers for that. Definitely food for thought.

Rolf: Did I read that you had some issue with your Vento's recently? I'm guessing you got it sorted if you're still recommending them?

Anymore opinions out there?

rolf_f

Calder wrote:

Rolf: Did I read that you had some issue with your Vento's recently? I'm guessing you got it sorted if you're still recommending them?

Me of little faith! I probably should have posted a conclusion to that thread. Basically, it turned out to be the headset and not the wheels at all! The trouble was, it wouldn't rattle until someway into a ride so my attempts to swap things round and test ride weren't as straightforward as they might have been (should have been easy with two comparable bikes and 3 wheelsets between them!).

So, the wheels are fine but the headset did get rattly and someone else found the steerer on his Gran Fondo to have been too tall for the number of spacers so his always worked loose. Mine is OK in that regard and it is now tightened up again so all seems well. It is something to look out for though.