The Ribble Fiasco

MTB_Roadtripper

I am currently caught up in the Ribble Cycles fiasco which essentially means I am just shy of £5000 out of pocket with absolutely no idea when my bike will be built or arrive etc.

Ordered an Endurance SLR with a few upgrades on June 29th with an expected dispatch date of August 6th. So, in the grand scheme of things its not even that late but upon talking to customer service I've been given the "ooh just a week or two" chat a couple of times now. One of the lads fessed up a little and admitted build dates are undecided, "new system" yada yada...

The Ribble trust pilot reviews are appalling right now.

So I am in two minds, I really wanted this bike, do I stick it out and see what happens, maybe it will show up in the next week or two?

OR

There is a Giant TCR at a relatively local bike shop, similar spec and I have been riding a Giant Defy for the past 3 years and im happy with it.

I know, no one can actually answer this question for me but humour me with your opinions.

bompington

You have seen the news this year, right?

oxoman

Personally TCR or Ribble ?. TCR all day long plus it's available from the sounds of it.

mrb123

Yeah, nothing against Ribble but for that sort of money I'd rather have the Giant.

FreddieVonRost

Wow, what is the spec for this pegasus?

kfm2773

Giant all day long, and you'll be supporting your LBS

First.Aspect

I think "Ribble" on the side of a bike looks silly.

oxoman

I think ribble on the side looks old fashioned tbh

darkhairedlord

Oi, I have a wibble. Black lettering on black carbon. But I wouldn't drop 5k on one. Plenty of exotic rides out there for less.

MTB_Roadtripper

bompington said:

You have seen the news this year, right?

What? Has something happened?

Nah look, I get it...but Ribble have clearly been marketing very well and taking huge orders that they cant fulfil in a timely manner, if at all. You can blame Covid for the slow delivery of frames and parts but its imperative at that point that you update your customers, perhaps curtail your orders and generally be honest. Don't tell people 21 days and certainly don't boast about it.

FreddieVonRost said:

Wow, what is the spec for this pegasus?

The SL R frame, integrated carbon bar n stem (all internal), Ultegra Di2, Ultegra Hydro brakes, their Level 5 56 DB Carbon wheels, stuck some Conti's on it. All very black and pretty, to me.


I reckon my mind is made up though, I went to see the TCR today and there are more pros over cons with it than the Ribble. Not to mention I could be on it by Saturday.

fenix

I remember when we were all on custom steel - the delivery dates were a very rough guideline. Worth waiting for though.

gsk82

5k for a Ribble? 😯

me-109

5k for a pedally-bike?!! 😯😮😟😖

bsharp77

Yikes, I like Ribble stuff.....but 5 grand?! Really??
Have you really considered what you can get for that sort of money?

30 seconds of searching has shown a range of S-Works Tarmac or Roubaux frames available at Certini on sale for less than £2500 (depending on your size). Pick up your favourite groupset and a cracking set of wheels and you'll still be under budget and have a seriously amazing bike.

Your choice of course, but for the money you are thinking of spending, you are into the upper echelons of good bikes if you buy smartly.

bendertherobot

While you have already ordered yours it's worth looking at what would happen if you ordered today:

In Stock X-Small: Order today to dispatch to you October 31, 2020
In Stock Small: Order today to dispatch to you October 31, 2020
In Stock Medium: Order today to dispatch to you October 31, 2020
In Stock Large: Order today to dispatch to you October 31, 2020
Pre-Order X-Large: Order today to dispatch to you October 29, 2020

That's the case with very many of their bikes. If they are not allocating build weeks properly then you could be in with a long wait.

Did they give you a build week? When I ordered my CGR SL in April it said build week X (and came the week later).

FreddieVonRost

A man can but dream. Why not have it custom built?

darkhairedlord

Storck have some in their outlet. Full DI2 Durace within budget (ish).

MTB_Roadtripper

I know 5 grand (4899) for a bicycle is a lot of money but I'm surprised people are blown away by that considering S Works, Cervelo etc reach the 10's. I dont really spend money on any thing else other than road cycling and mtb, thems me things.

Bsharp, I very much doubt that at any point before im too old to ride bicycles will I buy a frame and build it up myself, thats not my jam. A bit of maintenance here n there, I enjoy but messing about with all that isn't for me.

censored , there was no build date, it was a preorder with a dispatch date of August 6th, with the workshop to keep in near constant contact (didnt hear a peep). I'm not naive, I expected a delay and then over the weeks I just kept seeing the reviews rolling in on Trustpilot and excitement turned to anxiety and all the cons of online direct selling started to eat at me. Ive had a couple of high end YT mtbs over the years and its been flawless (granted without Covid boom) so Im not against direct sellers either then or now.


Anywaaaaay, I went to see the TCR Advanced Pro 0 Disc at 5pm yesterday, cancelled the Ribble order by 6pm, was refunded by 6:15pm and picked up the TCR at 2:30pm today and have spent the rest of the day setting it up, picking stickers off it and generally fawning over the beautiful blue paint job. Great shop too, naturally a free service but also a Retul fitting (once the government allows) so yeah, done the right thing.

First ride tomorrow. Cheers troops!

oxoman

You should get on well with it, cracking bike. Just make sure you've got bits for repairing tubeless if you've not had them before.

MTB_Roadtripper

oxoman said:

You should get on well with it, cracking bike. Just make sure you've got bits for repairing tubeless if you've not had them before.

Only on mountain bikes, fairly well versed in the use of plugs...if that works on skinny road tyres? Always ride with a tube or two in the saddle bag, anyway.

oxoman

If you know how to use plugs then your ok, but if taking a tube as back up remember you'll need a decent tyre lever to get them off the rim and also a tool to remove the valve.

MTB_Roadtripper

oxoman said:

If you know how to use plugs then your ok, but if taking a tube as back up remember you'll need a decent tyre lever to get them off the rim and also a tool to remove the valve.

Which tool? Valve core or....something else?

thistle_

MTB_Roadtripper said:

oxoman said:

If you know how to use plugs then your ok, but if taking a tube as back up remember you'll need a decent tyre lever to get them off the rim and also a tool to remove the valve.

Which tool? Valve core or....something else?

Probably pliers to undo the lock nut thing. They need to be done up reasonably tight to get them to seal against the rim (on the other side) and especially if they're left for ages the dust/dirt/rain/mud makes them really stiff and hard to undo with your fingers sometimes.

oxoman

As per Thistles suggestion but tbh you should be able to plug most things roadside or at worst a tyre patch internally. If removing the tyre off the rim a Co2 gas tool is best.

MTB_Roadtripper

Cheers folks!

mrb123

Let's have some pictures then...

ibr17xvii

I bought a bike from Ribble 5 years ago now without an issue & used them since with no issues. They are proper getting slaughtered on TrustPilot at the minute but to be fair they aren't the only ones.

Having said that if I had 5k to spend I would go TCR over Ribble all day long.

MTB_Roadtripper

mrb123 said:

Let's have some pictures then...

Waiting on some nicer bottles cages, they're currently mismatched....yes, I am that kinda guy and im cool with it Grabbed a couple KOM's that had been evading me for a while on its maiden voyage. All good aside from the saddle which is frankly sadistic.

oxoman

Giant saddles are a bit marmite for comfort. First thing I changed on my 3 giants.

MTB_Roadtripper

I realise we are all different but what saddles do you go for?

I have the Selle Italia Nekkar from my Defy, getting on a bit, bit of a lump, ugly but it is comfy so will probably stick that on for the time being.

However, not overly happy about putting a scruffy, heavy ol saddle on my shiny new bike.

oxoman

I fitted a bontrager racelite saddle as that's what I found suits me. Certainly not light or blingy but comfortable for me. Gets used for everything from dry commutes to TT,s Sportives, Audax and Duathlons on my best bike.