Canyon ultimate AL SLX or Ribble R872 frameset

over15degrees

Hey guys, just looking for some advice. I'm looking to buy a new frameset at the end of the month, i have had a little look around and quite like the Canyon ultimate AL SLX frame set or the Ribble R872 frameset.

Canyon: https://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3309

Ribble: http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-track-bike/frames-frames-road-ribble-r872-carbon-road-frame/ribbfrar970

So just wondering if anyone has any experience with any of the above framesets?
Also feel free to reccommend any other frames Budget is about £500-£700

Cheers guys!

Camcycle1974

I have a Ribble 872. Bought as a complete bike. Look on cycle chat for a thread about a guy who built one up from scratch. Includes photos.

over15degrees

I managed to find one that someone had built up with a duraace/ultegra groupset, it does look very sweet! quite a fan of the stealthy look on those ribble frames. Have got any other bikes that you would compare it to, how do you find it?

styxd

Get the Canyon

charlie_potatoes

I don't know anything about the Ribble frame but a general rule of thumb is to buy quality aluminium over cheap carbon.
I spent my hard earned on the Canyon and don't regret it. It's a great bike.
If you have a race licence then Canyon will discount the frame if that helps?
https://www.canyon.com/_en/service/sponsoring.html

banman77

Ribble for sure built my one up from bare frame built it up with di2 deda 35 bars stem 50mm carbon tubs very stiff bike but love the look very comfortable too afraid can't comment on canyon have never been on one but ribble all the way for me.The price with building it myself is half the price of a comparable spec delivered built.

over15degrees

Hmm, the racing licence with the canyon is good to know. I dont have one however i might see if someone else would buy it for me, who has one...right now im leaning more towards the Canyon even without any discount.

charlie_potatoes

over15degrees wrote:

Hmm, the racing licence with the canyon is good to know. I dont have one however i might see if someone else would buy it for me, who has one...right now im leaning more towards the Canyon even without any discount.

A race licence is £35

cswitch

Canyon hands down. Amazing frames of which I've had several and about to receive another.

Plus I find ribble is a bit 'budget' / 'pedestrian' as far as image - though a respray would sort that

rolf_f

Charlie Potatoes wrote:

I don't know anything about the Ribble frame but a general rule of thumb is to buy quality aluminium over cheap carbon.

There is that rule of thumb but so far nobody has ever actually backed it up with any factual based justification. The best anyone has come up with on here as far as I am aware is "Yeah, the Caad9 is a fabulous alloy frame" - but that's hardly the same thing!

Anyway, alloy leaves me cold so it would be the Ribble for me in this case.

cswitch wrote:

Canyon hands down. Amazing frames of which I've had several and about to receive another. Plus I find ribble is a bit 'budget' / 'pedestrian' as far as image - though a respray would sort that

To be fair, so is Canyon - that's a sort of upmarket budget image! I mean, undoubtedly great bikes and exceptional value but it's still an Aldi sort of product. The difference is, with Ribble you'd probably not go beyond Chorus whereas you would on a Canyon. Except, afaik, you can't spec Campag on a Canyon which is part of the problem - I want to spec my bike, not have the manufacturer do it for me. That's the area where Ribble actually beats Canyon.

cswitch

Rolf F wrote:

Charlie Potatoes wrote:

I don't know anything about the Ribble frame but a general rule of thumb is to buy quality aluminium over cheap carbon.

There is that rule of thumb but so far nobody has ever actually backed it up with any factual based justification. The best anyone has come up with on here as far as I am aware is "Yeah, the Caad9 is a fabulous alloy frame" - but that's hardly the same thing!

Anyway, alloy leaves me cold so it would be the Ribble for me in this case.

cswitch wrote:

Canyon hands down. Amazing frames of which I've had several and about to receive another. Plus I find ribble is a bit 'budget' / 'pedestrian' as far as image - though a respray would sort that

To be fair, so is Canyon - that's a sort of upmarket budget image! I mean, undoubtedly great bikes and exceptional value but it's still an Aldi sort of product. The difference is, with Ribble you'd probably not go beyond Chorus whereas you would on a Canyon. Except, afaik, you can't spec Campag on a Canyon which is part of the problem - I want to spec my bike, not have the manufacturer do it for me. That's the area where Ribble actually beats Canyon.

Canyon are race machines that ride fantastic, progressive technology, in house design. Look at the Speedmax CF. Comparison to Aldi shows you know zero about the products.

charlie_potatoes

Rolf F wrote:

Charlie Potatoes wrote:

I don't know anything about the Ribble frame but a general rule of thumb is to buy quality aluminium over cheap carbon.

There is that rule of thumb but so far nobody has ever actually backed it up with any factual based justification. The best anyone has come up with on here as far as I am aware is "Yeah, the Caad9 is a fabulous alloy frame" - but that's hardly the same thing!

Anyway, alloy leaves me cold so it would be the Ribble for me in this case.

I can't offer anything fact based. My first road bike (now my winter hack) had to be carbon as it is the 'in' thing.
My Al Canyon is streets ahead of it. It's a real flying machine and not too far behind my expensive carbon bike.
I accept that it is only my opinion though and as such is probably little value to the OP.

rolf_f

Charlie Potatoes wrote:

I can't offer anything fact based. My first road bike (now my winter hack) had to be carbon as it is the 'in' thing.
My Al Canyon is streets ahead of it. It's a real flying machine and not too far behind my expensive carbon bike.
I accept that it is only my opinion though and as such is probably little value to the OP.

I don't think many of us can! Not to any great extent. My experience is the perfect counter to yours - my cheap carbon bike is not too far behind my expensive one. The logical conclusion from that is that crap frames are crap frames whatever they are made of - which takes me back to my original point!

cswitch wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Charlie Potatoes wrote:

I don't know anything about the Ribble frame but a general rule of thumb is to buy quality aluminium over cheap carbon.

There is that rule of thumb but so far nobody has ever actually backed it up with any factual based justification. The best anyone has come up with on here as far as I am aware is "Yeah, the Caad9 is a fabulous alloy frame" - but that's hardly the same thing!

Anyway, alloy leaves me cold so it would be the Ribble for me in this case.

cswitch wrote:

Canyon hands down. Amazing frames of which I've had several and about to receive another. Plus I find ribble is a bit 'budget' / 'pedestrian' as far as image - though a respray would sort that

To be fair, so is Canyon - that's a sort of upmarket budget image! I mean, undoubtedly great bikes and exceptional value but it's still an Aldi sort of product. The difference is, with Ribble you'd probably not go beyond Chorus whereas you would on a Canyon. Except, afaik, you can't spec Campag on a Canyon which is part of the problem - I want to spec my bike, not have the manufacturer do it for me. That's the area where Ribble actually beats Canyon.

Canyon are race machines that ride fantastic, progressive technology, in house design. Look at the Speedmax CF. Comparison to Aldi shows you know zero about the products.

Lol - and you know zero about reading English! Or Aldi for that matter.

over15degrees

Rolf F wrote:

Charlie Potatoes wrote:

My Al Canyon is streets ahead of it. It's a real flying machine and not too far behind my expensive carbon bike.
I accept that it is only my opinion though and as such is probably little value to the OP.

Not at all my friend! I have had a few people saying high end Aluminium over carbon, it sounds like you do as well, thanks for the info!

Miles253

Do people say high end aluminium over cheap carbon because the kit you get on a high end alluminium bike is better?

alihisgreat

First point is that Cheap carbon can be good, and expensive aluminium can be bad. We should be talking about poor quality carbon vs. high quality aluminium.

Second point is that i'm not sure the Ribble counts as poor quality.. its supposed to be a decent frameset -> certainly better than something like the Planet-X Pro Carbon.

and the Ribble is significantly cheaper.. so that should definitely be a factor in this decision.

over15degrees

So i worked it out with the discounted price with a race licence and shipping cost, i save about £100. Its about £20 - £30 more than the ribble so im not overly bothered about it costing a little more. A lot of people have said that the ribble is a real performer, so evidence shows it must be a really nice frameset. Thanks for the advice all the same!

cswitch

over15degrees wrote:

So i worked it out with the discounted price with a race licence and shipping cost, i save about £100. Its about £20 - £30 more than the ribble so im not overly bothered about it costing a little more. A lot of people have said that the ribble is a real performer, so evidence shows it must be a really nice frameset. Thanks for the advice all the same!

does the cost difference take into account the seatpost and stem that come with the Canyon bikes? It may actually work out cheaper than the ribble if you haven't accounted for that.

chanjy

And the accessory pack, free torque wrench etc. they are currently providing?

Slo Mo Jones

cswitch wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Charlie Potatoes wrote:

I don't know anything about the Ribble frame but a general rule of thumb is to buy quality aluminium over cheap carbon.

There is that rule of thumb but so far nobody has ever actually backed it up with any factual based justification. The best anyone has come up with on here as far as I am aware is "Yeah, the Caad9 is a fabulous alloy frame" - but that's hardly the same thing!

Anyway, alloy leaves me cold so it would be the Ribble for me in this case.

cswitch wrote:

Canyon hands down. Amazing frames of which I've had several and about to receive another. Plus I find ribble is a bit 'budget' / 'pedestrian' as far as image - though a respray would sort that

To be fair, so is Canyon - that's a sort of upmarket budget image! I mean, undoubtedly great bikes and exceptional value but it's still an Aldi sort of product. The difference is, with Ribble you'd probably not go beyond Chorus whereas you would on a Canyon. Except, afaik, you can't spec Campag on a Canyon which is part of the problem - I want to spec my bike, not have the manufacturer do it for me. That's the area where Ribble actually beats Canyon.

Canyon are race machines that ride fantastic, progressive technology, in house design. Look at the Speedmax CF. Comparison to Aldi shows you know zero about the products.

Nah. Canyon is for pikeys playing at being a cyclist.

over15degrees

does the cost difference take into account the seatpost and stem that come with the Canyon bikes? It may actually work out cheaper than the ribble if you haven't accounted for that.

Good shout! Obviously there included in the price, but the seatpost had had some good reviews with the composite of materials used has a sort of elastic quality, sounds sweet

alanholden

I have a R872 frame which I built up with a mix of 105, Ultegra and Dura-Ace. I don't have a modern aluminium frame to compare it to, yet it seems much much better than my old Giant OCR 0T from 2003

alihisgreat

over15degrees wrote:

does the cost difference take into account the seatpost and stem that come with the Canyon bikes? It may actually work out cheaper than the ribble if you haven't accounted for that.

Good shout! Obviously there included in the price, but the seatpost had had some good reviews with the composite of materials used has a sort of elastic quality, sounds sweet

I stand corrected about the price then! My point about the Ribble frame being 'cheap', but not 'poor quality' still stands though.