Buying a used Ribble Gran Fondo

portland_bill

Hi all,

I've just made a verbal agreement with someone in Cumbria to buy their 2010 Ribble Gran Fondo from them. It has the Ultegra groupset, and XL50 carbon wheels. The guy paid £2000 for the bike and he's asking for £950 for it.

He says it's in great condition with the usual wear marks and he's only selling it because he's got too many bikes and it's not getting used as much as he wanted.

Is there anything I should ask about it or anything I need to look out for with it?

Cheers

Kristian

smidsy

Same as buying a used car really.

Proof of ownership, is it nicked, has it been crashed, receipts for maintenance etc etc.

Should also get a test ride to check it runs OK under load.

ajb72

Bearing in mind the amount of cash involved it might be worth trawling this forum; I remember a few posts mentioning a common fault developing with Ribble frames - it involved paint cracking / fractures which Ribble said was non-structural, but which they were replacing frames for free. If you are the second owner that guarantee would not apply, so find the postings and it will tell you where to double check the frameset. If not, hopefully someone on the forum will have had personal experience of this.

Other than that it's common sense really. The general condition of the bike will indicate how it has been treated, but check closely for areas of damage - has touch-up paint been used etc? Check the rear mech for signs of crash damage, as the rear mech hanger may have been bent in the process. Apart from the visual check, have a play with the bearings in the headset an BB - not especially expensive to replace but for a 1 year old well looked after bike they should still be smooth and might tell you about the life the bike has led!

For me it would need to be pretty mint. If he spent £2k on a Ribble fair play to him, but even nudging £1K you can get plenty for your cash second hand so just be sure it's all above board and in A1 condition. Good luck and report back!

northpole

I know two people who have the Gran Fondo and both highly rate theirs with no reported problems.

ajb has given a thorough set of points to check.

Key to me is to arrange to meet and get a good look at the bike in daylight and take it for a ride to make sure everything is running as it should with no strange vibrations, movements under braking, etc.

Peter

ajb72

northpole wrote:

I know two people who have the Gran Fondo and both highly rate theirs with no reported problems.

ajb has given a thorough set of points to check.

Key to me is to arrange to meet and get a good look at the bike in daylight and take it for a ride to make sure everything is running as it should with no strange vibrations, movements under braking, etc.

Peter

I should add that when I returned to cycling around 4-5 yrs ago I purchased a Ribble Sportive Racing frameset and really enjoyed it, absolutely zero problems. I don't expect Ribble frame sets to have problems, I just have that nagging question in the back of my mind about the issue that was raised somewhere on the forum! Hopefully someone can help you out there with a better memory than me! You should soon spot any issues with a close visual inspection though, and being carbon if you do see fractures in the paintwork, walk away.