Who manufacurers Ribble carbon frames?

springheeledjim

Hello to all,

New to the forum and was wondering would there be any really informed people out there who know who makes the Ribble carbon frames? It's been bugging me for ages and I've not seen anything to clarify the curiousity! Is it an industry secret?

I have looked at other posts and seen a blanket comment along the lines of "made in the same far east factories as others" (Planet X? Dolan? Willier? others?)

So are they in fact inferior (cheap?) quality construction and durability to other company carbon frames?

Or the same (good quality?) frames from the same production lines just with different paint schemes and different company stickers on them? (same type of carbon? same lay-up of fibres? same weight? same resin? etc)

Same frame + more 'prestigious' (eg Italian? Belgian?) company named stickers on them = paying more money for the same thing?

I guess Ribble dont make them themselves?

The shape/geometry on some of the frames look similar to other bikes to my untrained eye (eg Willier Izoard?)

Are they any good?

Who makes them ... anyone know?

Any information would be greatly appreciated to satisfy my long-standing curiousity!

Thanks

crikey

Made in Preston as a by-product of the black pudding industry as far as I know.


More importantly, why is it of concern to you?

DKay

The Ribble R872 is an open-mould Chinese frame made by xpa, which you can buy for around £300 or less direct. Ribble obviously mark-up their price, but it's not as rip-your-eyes-out as De Rosa who also use the same frame on their R838.

AllezAllezAllez

As previous reply Planet X etc buy off the peg frames from a number of Far East makers. Few if any own the rights to the frame, so if you wanted to you can import them and set up your own bike brand. Again as previous post a frame will cost around £300.

I think for the money a bike from Planet X, Dolan make excellent value. But they simply assemble the components rather than design and innovate. There is no investment in design and ensuring the bikes run as well as they can. Not saying they are bad bikes, just not that refined and some of the finer details are lost.

diamonddog

The frames from PX, Ribble and Dolan have been tried and tested over several years and for the money you pay they are the best value for money bikes you can get. Some of the big name brands as mentioned above are made in the same factories and some are the same frame with different paint/logos for which you will pay a premium.

I have a PX Pro Carbon and a Canyon CF SL both of which are excellent bikes and great to ride, they have different qualities ie the PX is a 'livlier' ride than the Canyon but the Canyon wins on comfort.

PX have the Pro Carbon frameset on sale @ £299 an absolute bargain for a good frame IME, it also received a 4 star review from BR when they tested it IIRC.

pastryboy

AllezAllezAllez wrote:

There is no investment in design and ensuring the bikes run as well as they can.

Surely if these frames are off the peg they're already competently designed. They're only bike frames, it's not like there's going to be some huge technological advance that means a Specialized frame will perform much better than a Ribble one. Seeing as they all come out of the same factories I can't see the value in paying three times the price for a brand.

gaffer_slow

Colnago.



















But seriously. I am very interested in this "same frame" argument: it is often sited that the Ribble R872, the De Rosa and one of the Deng Fu frames are the same. Same Mold for sure, but if each were deconstructed (or if it was reliably disclosed - which it wont be) wether the Carbon type / quality is the same, or is the layup the identical?

I don't know the answer, but i certainly wouldn't assume that the frames were the same just because they appear (and likely are) from identical molds.

That being said, it the De Rosa Idol Disc becomes available from Deng Fu I might consider risking my life on it. :oops:

DKay

If the De Rosa R838, Ribble R872 and xpa frames are made using different layups, then you'd think De Rosa would actually set out to prove this wouldn't you? It would certainly be in their interests.

Monty Dog

The different lay-ups is bollox excuse for charging a higher price for the same product. Why would a manufacturer produce different versions of the same product? It ties up cash and inventory - it makes no business sense. From a buyer perspective, standard products means shorter lead times and the cost benefits of volume. As for far-east manufacturers having no design capability - utter disingenuous rubbish - these guys know more about building with carbon than most bike companies who are simply a bunch of sticker-artists and box-shifters!

diamonddog

^^Well said that man

antonyfromoz

Monty Dog wrote:

The different lay-ups is bollox excuse for charging a higher price for the same product. Why would a manufacturer produce different versions of the same product? It ties up cash and inventory - it makes no business sense. From a buyer perspective, standard products means shorter lead times and the cost benefits of volume. As for far-east manufacturers having no design capability - utter disingenuous rubbish - these guys know more about building with carbon than most bike companies who are simply a bunch of sticker-artists and box-shifters!

I don't know about these specific bikes but it seems to me that there might be very good reasons for reusing a mold and getting increased return on the design investment by varying the carbon mix and/or layup depending on what their customers want. After all, this is what many of the larger bike companies do - they use a less expensive carbon mix in the mold of their more expensive bikes to make a cheaper but heavier frame that looks the same. If the orders were substantial enough then why would the other frame manufacturers not do this too?

cougie

Monty Dog wrote:

The different lay-ups is bollox excuse for charging a higher price for the same product. Why would a manufacturer produce different versions of the same product? It ties up cash and inventory - it makes no business sense. From a buyer perspective, standard products means shorter lead times and the cost benefits of volume. As for far-east manufacturers having no design capability - utter disingenuous rubbish - these guys know more about building with carbon than most bike companies who are simply a bunch of sticker-artists and box-shifters!

Oh but they do don't they - all sorts of companies produce infinite variations of things. Car manufacturers, Detergents - countless numbers of varieties to hit different price points and different needs.

I can well imagine that bike manufacturers could swap lay ups and do it very easily.

But a bike is a bike - its the stickers on the outside that command the price more than the CF on the inside.

cycleclinic

The different lay up arguement is how people justify paying extra for the brand.

Manc33

crikey wrote:

More importantly, why is it of concern to you?

Maybe he wanted to know. That's my guess.

sloppyschleckonds

Manc33 wrote:

crikey wrote:

More importantly, why is it of concern to you?

Maybe he wanted to know. That's my guess.

Could you do a poll?

gaffer_slow

thecycleclinic wrote:

The different lay up arguement is how people justify paying extra for the brand.

and equally the 'it's exactly the same' is the argument used to justify paying less for a Deng Fu frame.

i certainly don't like spending money, and would only entertain buying value brands when it comes to bikes .... most likely Canyon and Giant. I do not doubt that the Deng Fu frames are *probably* fine, but I think that (for now) paying perhaps a premium for piece of mind is worth it. When all is said and done, and import duties are taken into account - their isn't much of a premium on Canyon & Giant i dont think (perhaps i am fooling myself)

Lots of people have asserted that X is identical to Y, but noone has proved anything, other than they are from the same mold. One thing that seems to be supported is that there are numerous reports of niggling quality errors with direct from China, unbranded frames and rims.

I would love to be assured, and have certainly not ruled it out.

Manc33

Why worry, China is sending people into space these days. Yeah there's air bubbles coming out of their helmets on their "space" footage but let's pretend that's just funny and not true.

It'll be reet.

CYCLESPORT1

Chung doing the sanding

markwb79

DKay wrote:

If the De Rosa R838, Ribble R872 and xpa frames are made using different layups, then you'd think De Rosa would actually set out to prove this wouldn't you? It would certainly be in their interests.

I have always wondered this as I no one has ever been able to prove or disprove it.

But this just convinced me enough. Thanks

springheeledjim

My great thanks to all contributors who have replied so far.

I ask the question as I am curious, no other reason. Certainly not to critisise Ribble or others.

I have seen a quite a number of Ribbles and Dolan's in my area and a few Planet X's. Also read many magazine/Bikeradar articles/bike reviews of the of the carbon bike market from the 'cheaper'/less expensive end of the market right up to the very expensive prestigious bikes beyond the wallet of most riders.

Interesting reading.

And an interesting point made by some of the Bikeradar community that has replied is if you pay 2, 3, 5 or 10 times the price of the cost of say a Ribble/Dolan/Planet X etc etc carbon frame do you get a frame that is corrospondingly better because it is more exxpensive, if you know what I mean? Or are some companies making massive profit by using the same frame and putting more 'desirable' company named stickers on them. And would the 'average' cyclist know or feel the difference in performance, handling, comfort and durability between the two extremes? Or not as the case may be?

I ask the question because I don't know the answer to that conundrum(?).

The feeling from the replies is that Ribble's etc are made made in China? Interesting. I thought if they were from Asia they were from factories in Tiawan or Malaysia or somewhere like that? High -end factories one would expect of course to produce high-end products from China or wherever.

gaffer_slow

are some companies making massive profit by using the same frame and putting more 'desirable' company named stickers on the

to a large extent that is how branding works. you are buying a "promise" of a certain level of quality, and leveraging their brand reputation / perceived quality set price point. If Ribble had what i wanted i likely wouldn't hesitate. Stupid things like color impact choice, many have waited an extra few months for an identical bike because the color they wanted was on back order, and other than visual branding the possible piece of mind dealing with a big name brand is worth more than color - and that is not taking into account the factor that someone might feel significantly different about riding around on a bike brand with Schenotica (written in italics) VS riding the identical bike with Totallycoolbikes.net in Old Times Roman.

The best advice I have heard when i comes to buying a bike -
is buy the bike that makes you want to go out and ride the most.
I would buy / ride a Ribble, but the De Rosa paint jobs do look great.