Who owns a Ribble?

Sentral

Hi all,

Forgive me for posting another Ribble-related topic; but I'm planning on purchasing one in a weeks time. Not really sure between the R872 (Stealth), Sportive Bianco or the Gran Fondo. Using it for commuting, club rides and hopefully some sportives later on.

I'd just like your guys opinions on this, and your experience of owning one? They have great reviews, but I'd like a real-world opinion!

Ta

knownothingbozo

I own a sportive bianco. It looks great, and although lacking experience of more expensive bikes, i find that i like the way it rides as well. I also have a boardman team, whilst one is carbon the other alloy, the biggest difference is that the team is more stretched out riding position. My Ribble currently weighs 7.8kg, nothing on it being ultra light and expensive. I've done well over 2000 miles on it this year and have no complaints. In short, i love it.

rolf_f

I have a Gran Fondo - it's heavier than the Sportive (chunkier tubes and alloy fork steerer) but I have a posh light bike anyway and the geometry of the GF wsa a better fit for me. It compares well to the posh bike though and I've covered 5000 - 6000 miles on it most of which has been daily commuting and it's been fine. Not needed to replace anything on it yet aside from the terrible tyres it came with.

Downsides? Not much. The typically absent minded Ribble staff made a couple of mistakes in the build which they quickly sorted though it would have been more of a pain if I hadn't picked the bike up in person. Both these issues were down to me having very specific requirements which they forgot despite prompting (one was that I requested the 2010 Campag Groupset which was still listed as available when I ordered and which was much better than the 2011 equivalent - when went to pick the bike up I discovered it had the new shifters on it and they had none left except a pair on a display bike - but they were happy to take the shifters off the display bike and swap over.

It also suffered from a cosmetic rear dropout crack which affected the early bikes (too much filler over the joint between dropout and seat stay). They replaced the frame with a brand new one even though the damage was only cosmetic.

Note that the current Gran Fondos have been altered so this shouldn't happen.

centimani

New sportve racing / veloce here for about 4 months. Really enjoying having it. I'd try your best to go for betttsr wheels than the rodi's if you can, they are reputedly strong but heavy. I put racing 5s on mine. Got a creak developing but that's n o surprise on any bike IMO.
Previously had a Via Nirone, given the tall head tube on the Ribble, it's very comfortable indeed, I spend far more time on the drops than ever before, it performs probably better than my BIanchi. Despite infrequent rides nowadays, my average speed is up a bit.
He the best saddle you can as well, I find the Superleggera saddle a tad uncomfortable too.
Excellent bike, excellent service in my case.

crescent

Gran Fondo owner here. Nothing but praise for Ribble, although I admit to having concerns beforehand due to reports of poor customer service, not in my experience though. I bought the frame and various components from them and all received in good time and well packaged etc and at a good price too. Only very minor problem was they did not send the 'special' long bolt to fit the brake calipers (the GF has a deeper than normal fork apparently) but a quick phone call and they sent it out next day even though I had bought the frame a few months beforehand. I had no problems with their customer service over the phone, had a couple of calls to discuss the correct frame size and found them to be very helpful and quick to respond.
I built the bike this spring and have been using it throughout the summer and absolutely love it. Received a nuber of favourable comments about the bike too, which is always nice

Cheers

monkeydan

I got a Sportive Bianco last month, it's my first proper bike so I don't really have anything to compare it to, but I absolutely love it. I did a lot of research and was going to go for either a Ribble or Canyon (but was put off by a very long lead time for the Canyon I wanted).

I was a bit worried about the tales of Ribble's customer service but it was all good... didn't even bother going up to sit on a frame, just looked at the geometry charts and went by effective top tube length.

It did develop an alarming knocking sound over the weekend, thought it was the chain but continued even when freewheeling... my mate noticed that I had a massive lump of chewing gum on the tyre which was hitting the brake caliper each time the wheel went round.

I am super happy with it, the wait time was about 3 weeks I think but well worth it. Go for it!

dodgerdog

Gran Fondo owner of 18 months and 3500+Km mainly dry riding. The Allez is for crappy days and winter.

Really happy with it, lovely ride have Pro-lite Lucianos on it for commuting and use Ksyrium Elites for events. Both work well although you can tell the differnece in stiffness/ride with the elites. More than happy, no problems with it or Ribble other than arriving with a bog standard seat post rather than the ITM7075 in white due to stocking issues. The originally ordered one arrived very soon after improve the looks.

Overall very satisfied.

fast as fupp

i have a stealth

its sexy

d4evr

I have the R872 (Stealth) and I love it. Only had it a month but could not be happier with it or Ribble as a whole

team47b

I've just seen a ribble go through my village, so I say they must be good for distances :shock:

big_p

Mrs big p owns this bad boy.......


i only live 5 minutes from ribble's warehouse and the Mrs work's for them, i just went in, paid for the frame, fork and a few other bits one Saturday and went in the following Saturday and picked them up. they have more than one warehouse and all the frames are at the other, hence the wait.

other than that, i have no problems with ribble, i just tell Mrs big p what i want and she brings it home that night.

cyclingsheep

Have a Ribble Stealth here. Have had it for 4 months, apart from a bent rear dropout on delivery I haven't had any problems with it. I used it to ride Etape du Tour Act 2 this year and I felt totally comfortable on it the whole time (even having an absolute blast descending in the wet). As someone has said I'd get the best wheels you can afford (I went for Fulcrum 3's). Still loving it.

pinarellokid

picked up a ribble sportive with Campag set up and i absolutely love it..

feel a million dollars while riding it..

very nice

dirtymonkey1985

Had gran fondo which was a brilliant bike.

Got a stealth now and that wins hands down on everything (plus it looks sexual)

fsman

I was in the same situation as you a few months ago. Some friends all have ribble and then for my budget it was down to the Sportive Bianco or the grand fondo. I don't think that their is much between these 2 carbon bikes. Grand Fondo is a few grams heavier as the carbon forks have an alloy steerer. But the GF looks the business and a great paint job too.

I went for the bike build, campag volice silver, conti typres, campag wheels - looks stunning and rides like a dream.

good review here http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... -210-39756

monkeydan

dirtymonkey1985 wrote:

Had gran fondo which was a brilliant bike.

Got a stealth now and that wins hands down on everything (plus it looks sexual)

OMG... dat bar tape & dat saddle...

fossyant

Here is mine - no longer available LOL

jus71n

I owned a sportive bianco & loved t, I went For 105 black, end up upgrading the wheels as the pro- lites it came with we're quite heavy. Did a few thousand miles together then decided I would go for a Felt AR3....

dirtymonkey1985

monkeydan wrote:

dirtymonkey1985 wrote:

Had gran fondo which was a brilliant bike.

Got a stealth now and that wins hands down on everything (plus it looks sexual)

OMG... dat bar tape & dat saddle...

Yep it matches the hubs and small parts of white on the frame and the rotor chainset which it's just had put on.

MICHAELCYCLES

Last year I purchased a 7005 Alloy Sportive and I absolutely love it.

The ability to spec your choice of components is an absolute winner, I went with SRAM Apex and Deda finishing kit with ITM wheels.

Critch

I've had a 7046 Ribble with the Shimano groupset for about 3 months now. I know the feedback has been good so far but personally I would not buy another one. I won't waffle on about the service because thats not whats really being asked about but I feel obligated to at least say that the sevice is dreadful. I had to wait 3 weeks from order to delivery which I think in this day and age is unacceptable, but moving on...

The most annoying thing for me is the paint finish. The paint finish isn't great on mine - it chips very easily and I have as many chips on mine now as my 3 year old Merida thats used as a commuter bike. Neither bike is mistreated (I'm very particular about my level of care over my possessions) nor has either bike been involved in a collision. Bad paint? I don't know, but its not good.

The Rodi wheels are awful - well at least the rear one is although they do look very nice. Granted I am nearly 100kgs but I had a noticeable buckle in the first week and the rear cassette isn't true on the axle. Front wheel is not spot on true either out of the box.

Ribble put cheapo £10 tyres on the bike - 700 x 23. Too narrow for me. Putting 700 x 25 Gatorskins on made a massive positive difference but I now have zero clearance between the rear tyre and the front mech mounting band on the frame. I get that the tolerances are meant to be small but with the Rodi wheel and 25 Gatorskin the tyre in its rotation is like 2mm clearance down to literally nothing for around half of its revolution. The tyre is new and although it does not touch the mech mounting band in its rotation you cannot see daylight between tyre and metal. Thats too small a gap for me but I'll stick with it (and yes the tyre is mounted correctly on the rim).

With the new problems with the rear wheel and tyre touching the front mech mounting band it now rules out fitting winter mudguards. I had some raceblades which I just managed to fit on the 700x23's with some modifications. Now I can forget that with the current wheel/tyre and frame spec's. There goes my winter cycling....

The frame is just a little too tight for me and feels like it needed to be 5 to 10mm longer.

The bike rides well though in its defence. Theres a long hill where I live and providing theres no head wind I can go over 40mph and the bike is rock steady, no vibrations or wobbles whilst upright, however with my weight I certainly feel the wheels flexing when I lean the bike over into corner ehich can be a bit worrisome.

Cost wise I feel that I paid about £100 over what I felt the bike was worth. It was bought on an interest free deal and as soon as its paid off I'll be looking at something better in the £1500 -£1800 price bracket. I certainly won't ever buy another Ribble. They're not horrible bikes by any means but I think they are over-rated.

Hope I've added at least a little contrast here.

rolf_f

Critch wrote:

They're not horrible bikes by any means but I think they are over-rated.

Sorry but how do you know that they are over-rated? Your experience of Ribble bikes seems to be of one model. That doesn't give you the knowledge to comment on the rest of the range does it? I can only comment on my Gran Fondo which has been excellent but I don't assume all are equally good.

You are right that some of the tyres are bad - mine was lumbered with Pro Race Nitros which were OK unless you tried to get them off the rim. I'd have preferred not to take any tyres at all but at the time I hadn't got the choice within the limitations of the Special Edition Bikes section (and they still do this and really they shouldn't - it just wastes money inflicting tyres on people that they don't want).

As for the Rodis - you chose them. The reviews are out there and irrc the ITMs that are offered for not much more are a far better wheel for the money. Use the Bike Builder (not so much more expensive than the Special Edition) and you can choose any wheel you like - and you also have a full range of tyre types and sizes to choose from - as per below.

Chipping - yes, that would be annoying and you have my sympathy there as I'm pretty obsessive about my bikes and hate chips. But whilst this may be a fault of your bike, it doesn't apply to my Gran Fondo so it hardly counts as a general criticism.

3 weeks for delivery? Unacceptable? You're being a little immature there - the bikes are built to order to your specification and you ordered right at one of the busiest times of year. 3 weeks is perfectly acceptable. If you want instant gratification, pop to Evans and get something mass assembled in Taiwan. It will be quick but you might have to spend time and money swapping some parts over to get a proper fit.

Frame just too tight for you? Well that's a shame but life isn't perfect - fortunately Ribble do make bikes with different geometries (the Gran Fondo is one of not that many bikes that fits me well) so maybe you got the wrong frame but that's not really Ribbles fault. Really I'm not sure how Ribble can reasonably have been expected to run their geometries by you just in case one day you wanted to buy one of their bikes.

Glasgowbhoy82

I liked the look of the stealth how much is it roughly with a decent spec guys?

d4evr

I put carbon Chorus 11 on mine, Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheelset, Conti GP4000s tyres, ITM Triango stem, bars and post, Selle Italia Carbonio saddle came in at a little under 2K. The De Rosa 828 with Veloce, Fulcrum 7s, etc etc was around the same price. Hence my decision to 'bikebuild' with Ribble.

monkeydan

dirtymonkey1985 wrote:

Yep it matches the hubs and small parts of white on the frame and the rotor chainset which it's just had put on.

Aaaaaargh!!! Why did you have to point those out to me - I didn't notice them before!!

(Just kidding, if we all liked the same things the world would be a boring place )

Critch

Rolf F wrote:

Critch wrote:

They're not horrible bikes by any means but I think they are over-rated.

Sorry but how do you know that they are over-rated?

I don't know. I said I 'think' they were, based on my experience with the bike I ordered, like the OP asked. The OP didn't ask you disect other posters contributions, he asked you for your experiences with your Ribble. I realise whats involved with internet ordering and I can see that most people in this thread love or are very happy with their Ribble, particularly those who went with carbon frames. My experience wasn't poor by any means but not that great.

The OP asked for experiences and opinions on their Ribble. With all due respect all you needed to do was publish your experiences and opinions and be done with it, not pull mine apart. My experience with Ribble was not brilliant. The bike I bought I felt cost too much for the quality of components and the frame, then I have problems with clearance on the back wheel, problems with the wheels (one out of the box), and the paint problems.

Maybe if I'd gone the the carbon route like you I'd be overjoyed but I didn't and I am not so I posted to add some contrast to all the postive feedback. Ribble do make some nice and sexy looking bikes, I can see that. Mine turned out to be not the best choice. I'll live with it but I won't be going back, even for a carbon because of that initial experience. People who have bad experiences with a Ford motor car I would suggest may be more likely to go to Vauxhall for their replacement instead of trying a different model Ford. I'm glad you love your Ribble, enjoy it.

Maybe this will appease you: "My perception and experiences of the non-carbon Ribble bikes has led me to feel that they are just slightly overrated and provide one or two quality problems at the bikes price point from and end-consumer point of view. This does not affect any other model in the range other than than the 7046 Sportive."

But the OP will no doubt be very happy with his as he is likely going the carbon route and will splash out on some decent wheels I guess. And yes, waiting 3 weeks is not acceptable to me. 7 to 10 days from order to despatch is okay. Its not like I send all my bodily measurements in and have the frame custom made. Its a frame off a shelf with a groupset and wheels added on for Wiggo's sake! Calling me immature about it is really, well, immature.

Sheesh!

rolf_f

Critch wrote:

Its a frame off a shelf with a groupset and wheels added on for Wiggo's sake! Calling me immature about it is really, well, immature.

Sheesh!

C'mon! You dissed my bike (said it was over-rated) - what do you expect! :twisted:

It is a frame off the shelf but that's all - everything else is to your specific order so they do have to schedule a build for them. It takes a long half day for someone to build a bike so ultimately it is a pay off between wait time and how many staff they employ. They could shorten delivery times by employing temps to build the bikes but would you want yours built by a temp? Most online suppliers do not build bikes to specific order. Infact, you are getting a remarkably bespoke service for the money out of companies like Ribble.

But I do get what you mean about not going back. You have to judge your own actions by your own experience and if I bought a frame with flakey paint I'd not be in a hurry to go back.

BigLights

I've got a Ribble Gran Fondo - 105 all round, RS30 wheels, Gatorskins. Love it, absolutely a pleasure to ride, and it's pretty quick too (the only other Carbon i've tried is the Planet X which is v aggressive). it was down to this, or a Roubaix...I test rode the Roubaix and didn't click. Customer service was totally acceptable and within expectations...i mean, their USP and low cost is precisely because they keep their overheads down. I'd recommend.

Sentral

Thanks for the replies all, getting close to putting my order in!

dirtymonkey1985 wrote:

Had gran fondo which was a brilliant bike.
Got a stealth now and that wins hands down on everything (plus it looks sexual)

How do you find the comfort compared to the GF? That would be only reservation as I love to go out on the occasional long ride, so I wouldn't want something overly aggressive.

dodgerdog

Sentral,

Noting your location, if you you like to try out my GF give me a PM and lets see what we can sort out. It is a Large, and I am 1.78m, fits perfectly with a 100mm stem.

CC1981

i owned a ribble sportive bianco for 2 years and adored it - had a boardman before.
it got stolen 3 weeks ago and i felt like i d lost a limb....now deciding whether to order the same again or go for the r872, and leave my love affair with the bianco. mine is mainly for a 100mile commute each week and then sunday rides and the odd/rare sportive or london to brighton/paris with work