What spec for Ribble bike?

flappymcflappypants

Hi everyone,

I'm in the market for a new commuter (terminally crack in the aluminium frame of the old steed). I quite fancy the Ribble 7005 Audax/Winter bike.

On the Ribble website you can spec out the bike exactly how you want using the "bikebuilder" tool.

The problem is, I don't know what to go for in terms of group set, tyres, wheels, even handlebar tape! What's the best combination of parts here? I can probably spend around £800 total. The base bike is £569.95 with Sora 9.

Thoughts? :?:

zx6man

Sora spec for a commuter would be fine IMHO.

flappymcflappypants

Thanks for the info. I commute about 8 miles each way per day, plus the odd 30+miler at the weekend. Any thoughts on wheels/tyres etc.?

jeepie

Michelin Kryolin Carbons for the Tyres

and upgrade the guards if you are getting them

flappymcflappypants

Thanks Jeepie. They offer the SKS guards for about £20 more, so I'll go for those.

JamesB5446

I'd go SRAM Apex with lower bottom gears if it was me.

flappymcflappypants

My route to work is quite hilly, so lower gearing is something I'm considering.

So SRAM Apex: is it worth £200 extra? I see it does give me the option of 32 teeth max. on the back.

BigLights

If you can afford it I'd go for Tiagra. And on the tyre front I'd recomment Conti Gatorskin or similar anti puncture efforts as this will save a lot of effort fixing punctures in the rain....

Cleat Eastwood

I'd stick with the sora - you can get a 12-27 which is more than enough for a hilly commute. The gatorskins are fine -

centimani

Most of the specced items are fine (bars, tape, seatpost etc) , tyres are definitely worth upgrading, the standard ones are poor, I always use Gators as well. SKS guards are good, I've had a pair on my winter commuter for about 5 years, they're still going strong. The only other thing is the wheels...Rodis get mixed reviews. They're heavy, but some say the perform fine, some say they break spokes/ buckle easily. I've not ridden mine enough to know, but they roll fine and feel ok on the road. Sora is fine BTW.

Very well regarded bikes , very good value.

jthef

I have one of these and went for tripple 105 with mavic wheels.
But for tyres get punture resitant, I use gator skins and no problems.
But I my next winter bike will have disk brakes!
I know ribble don't do that but for winter use I want to go for them.

flappymcflappypants

Thanks BigLights, Cleat Eastwood, centimani, jthef.

I will probably go for something around the basic spec. Definitely getting puncture resist tyres!

jthef: How have you found the bike since you've had it? Worth the money?

jthef

yes.
done nearyl 19000 miles on it.
Its fallen of the roof rack on the motoryway and came off ok.
I'm a big guy about 100 kg and use 1 pannier bag so have had to upgrade the rear wheel to cope with the roads/winters and me. Front wheels no problem.
hth

thegibdog

Have you looked at the special edition bikes? Less to choose from (maybe a good thing!) and a fair bit cheaper, Tiagra and their much nicer levers from £579.95.

flappymcflappypants

Cheers jthef. It sounds like you and I are a similar size/weight maybe. Thanks for the info anyway, much appreciated!

thegibdog: I hadn't really paid too much attention to the special edition ones, but now you mention it, they do look like they might be a good deal. As you say, less choice is sometimes better, so I'll see if one of those fits my needs.

zx6man

the SRAM equipped (+ 32T rear) is 100 quid more than basic spec....for me that would be better for an hilly area

jae-so

Get the special edition Audax, I bought mine and it has been brilliant, spent about £650 on it, but I believe the base Tiagra 10 speed can be specced for about £600. Highly recommended. Note it will say Tiagra 9 speed in the special edition description but it is a 10 speed

passout

I'd go for either Tiagra or Apex myself. If commuting puncture resistant tyres are worth it.

zx6man

And I would try the apex from somewhere if you can, the double tap shifters can be a bit of a nightmare if you are used to "normal" shimano STI

twoshots

If it's just a cracked frame then why not just swap out the frame? Or get your LBS to do a frame swap for you whilst providing new cables, pads, chain and cassette?

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/FRP ... _frame_mk2 £139

I'm assuming that your going to dismantle the bike when it arrives and reinstall your tried and tested bars, stem, saddle, pedals etc anyway.

Obviously, this might not be as exciting as getting an entirely new bike...or give as good a result as you haven't said what you were riding before.

SRAM took me about 5 minutes to get used to when I changed to it from Shimano, but some people just can't change habits. Each to there own. But I will say that I have been impressed by Apex on my old bike, sharp shifts with a positive feel. A cut above Tiagra in my humble opinion.

n4th4n007

I swapped out my old winter trainer frame for the Dolan Preffisio. Frame, forks, seatpost, seatclamp, headset costs 200 squid !!! plus has mud guard eyes front and rear. Swapped all the parts over myself, super easy. Rides really nice, great handling, V short Headtube ! The winter bike got a great write up last week,

http://www.dolan-bikes.com/Dolan%20Preffisio%20Frameset