First road bike - Ribble Bianco

Totem

Hi guys this is my first road bike. I'm using the cyclescheme to get this, so I thought I may as well get as much bang for my buck.

Ive spec'd this out:

Ribble Sportive Bianco Carb Road Frame M (52cm C to Top)
Ribble Sportive Bianco Carbon Road Forks 1 1/8" ITS
Ribble Headset Branded Ribble 1 1/8" Hidden (ITS) 45 x 45
Shimano Tiagra 4600 10 Spd Double Groupset
Shimano 4600 BB Cups (34/35/4500 double/triple) Eng
Shimano Tiagra 4600 Brakes
Shimano 10 Spd Tiagra 4600 Cassette 12-28
Shimano 10 Speed 4601 Tiagra Chain
Shimano Tiagra Double 4650 10 Chainset Compact 170 34/50
Shimano Tiagra 4600 10 Double Front Gear Braze-on
Shimano Tiagra 4600 10 Spd Rear Gear Short
Shimano STI Levers Tiagra 4600 with cables Double
Shimano Pr Whls R501 Bladed Spoke Clincher Black 9/10 Shim
Deda RHM 01 Bars White 42cm
Deda Zero 1 Stem White 100mm
Trivio Headset Spacers Alloy 1 1/8" Black 10mm
Selle Italia X1 Saddle (BIKE) White
Deda RSX 01 Seatpillar White 31.6 350mm
Continental Ultra Sport Rigid Tyre White/Black 700x23mm
Yaw Butyl Inner Tube 700x18/25 SV42mm
Deda Cork Ribbon Handlebar Tape White
No Pedals currently selected.

Total comes to £1002.40 which should be doable on the scheme. Do you think this would be a good start. I'm unable to spec the 105 groupset sadly and I've gone for the entry wheels and tires which i can hopefully upgrade when I'm not the limiting factor. Pedals I'm not sure yet, maybe just basic flats to start with as I've not used much else before apart from what came on my MTB.

Initially I was going to go for the Merlin Maven but was talked into carbon for future upgrades.

Any pointers?

Cheers.

Anonymous

I am not a Tiagra fan and think I would get the Campag Veloce option for £1012.
Ideally I would want to change the wheels but that would really go over budget.
Campag Khamsim wheels would make it £1057. Is that still do-able?

Totem

Hiya, I've not really heard of the campag stuff, not that I would but I've only seen shimano or sram. With the campag I would be over budget as I want it all white (its gotta match!). I guess as I've never had anything else I won't know what I'm missing compared to the 105 but I've read on here that wheels make more of a difference compared to the tiagra 105 compromise.

I think the budget is quite strict. Ribble has hinted topping up if my employer will allow but I don't think my nhs trust will allow. I'm hoping they sign off on the £2.40 and the fact that no pedals are selected.

Anonymous

Well you said bang for buck, not bling for buck lol.

Can you not just give Ribble some cash to make it a straight grand on the scheme?
Surprised they do not do £999.99 bikes like Boardman do.

Anonymous

The Veloce comes in silver and looks better (IMO) The chainset looks better and the cables are not sprouting out of the hoods (like Tiagra), which looks and feels better.

Seems odd that Ribble and yourself cannot get around the £12/57. They are building the thing out of bits.
What about the £20 delivery charge?
Can you not just post them a stem so they are only selling you the other bits at less than a grand?

Totem

I had asked Ribble if I could spec a bike to £1000, get the voucher then add some additional upgrades after they received the voucher. This is basically what I've done anyway, so the only difference between what I've spec'd and what I want is the 105 groupset.

The reply was: Unfortunately, we cannot agree to this, as technically we would be committing fraud. Under the terms of the cycle schemes, we can only supply the bike we have quoted for.

Which is fair but implies that they would allow over the voucher amount if the employer agreed. They went on to say they would go up to £1300 if the employer signed off on it, mentioning that an employer with a consumer credit allowance could issue a voucher over £1000 etc but most were capped to £1000.

I'm waiting to hear back from my employer as I don't see the £2.40 making much difference but you never know.

Is there much of a performance gain on the Compag stuff over the Tiagra or are they all much the same just with different style shifters?

Regarding the postage and admin fee - I've been told by employer that this doesn't count in the voucher and needs to be paid by myself.

smidsy

If you want to get better components and still be within the £1k budget why not get them to build it without tyres/tubes bar tape/saddle? That should give you £100 or so to updgrade other bits.

You can get those and fit them yourself locally.

Anonymous

I guess it is because you technically do not own it at first.
Do they not have any really cheap wheels they could put on for purpose of a new quote?

They should be more on top of this. Its still your £1000 bike and you should not have to have a lesser group set IMO.

I would say Veloce was comparable, if not preferable to 105.
I just could not do Tiagra personally and would get a different brand or an Aluminium frame to avoid it.

declan1

Can't you just not buy the inner tubes? Surely that would bring it under £1000?

Also, you must have heard of Campag? I would definitely get that over 105...

Anonymous

I think the thing is that they have to supply a complete bike with all parts supplied by them at under £1000.

Either most firms are happy to sign off on ones between £1000-1300 or a lot of people are not fussed about spec.
Seems odd that a company that builds to order does not have means of getting around this.

The easiest way in the OP's case (IMO) would be if they had super budget wheels that were £12+ less than the normal ones, the bike would be specced with silver Veloce, and he then buys whatever wheels he wants.

The OP would get a much better specced/looking bike, the NHS/employer is happy, and Ribble probably sell a second set of wheels. Win,win,win

richard_farrant

declan1 wrote:

Also, you must have heard of Campag? I would definitely get that over 105...

Not certain a mountain biker will have heard of campag as much as shimano or sram, I certainly hadn't when I moved to road

shoddy

Tried to reply earlier but my post isnt showing
Have you considered the pro evo carbon model. It is one of their 'special edition' bikes on the website. I got one last year on c t w scheme and it has 105 fitted.

Totem

Hi guys, just got an email from the cyclescheme person who said that i could top up but the voucher would only be fore £1000, so with that in mind i went for the 105:

Ribble Sportive Bianco Carb Road Frame M (52cm C to Top)
Ribble Sportive Bianco Carbon Road Forks 1 1/8" ITS
Ribble Headset Branded Ribble 1 1/8" Hidden (ITS) 45 x 45
Shimano 105 (5700) Silver 10 Spd Double Groupset
Shimano 105 5700 BB Cups (105 10 Double/Triple) Eng
Shimano 105 Silver 5700 Brakes
Shimano 10 Spd 105 5700 Cassette 12-27
Shimano 10 Spd 5701 105 Chain
Shimano 105 Silver Dbl 5750 10 Chainset Compact 170 34/50
Shimano 105 Silver (5700) 10 Dbl Fr Gear Braze-on
Shimano 105 Silver (5701) 10 Spd Rear Gear Short (SS)
Shimano STI Levers 105 Silver 5700 with cables Double
Shimano Pr Whls R501 Bladed Spoke Clincher Black 9/10 Shim
Deda RHM 01 Bars White 42cm
Deda Zero 1 Stem White 100mm
Trivio Headset Spacers Alloy 1 1/8" Black 10mm
Selle Italia X1 Saddle (BIKE) White
Deda RSX 01 Seatpillar White 31.6 350mm
Continental Ultra Sport Rigid Tyre White/Black 700x23mm
Yaw Butyl Inner Tube 700x18/25 SV42mm
Deda Cork Ribbon Handlebar Tape White
No Pedals currently selected.

Happy days, just waiting for my voucher to go through. The price came in at £1159.

Totem

The bike came in the post yesterday, opting for the 49cm frame: