I was taking a bike ride on my old Schwinn a few weeks ago when I was passed by a man and his two daughters. They all had shiny new baby blue bikes. They were a brand that I had never heard of. They were Ribble bikes. These are not sold in the American Midwest. I caught up with the man and asked about the bikes. He explained that brand is from England and for the money gives better value than famous US brand bikes. Your review lends credibility to his story.
I have this bike for the exact reason of having a winter commuter that can play at forest and gravel. I specced it as a 1 by with 42 tooth up front and with Ribble’s carbon gravel wheelset to balance some of that steel weight. Since then I’ve upgraded some of the Apex bits with Force bits. For road use I’ve added a set of Schwalbe’s absolutely sensational G-One RS gravel tyres. I also, just like you thought about, got myself a more MTB/Gravel oriented wheel and tyre set (WTB 47s). The result is a bike that I absolutely love. In road guise, (it’s a large frame) it weighs in at exactly 10kgs and the ride is absolutely glorious. I have 3 road bikes if including this one and I can honestly say this is the one I love riding the most. It easily keeps up with winter club rides and is straight up fast for a winter commuter with the G-one rubber. I wouldn’t ride a slick tyre road bike as fast as I can ride this on rubbishy greasy surfaces because the CGR just feels gloriously secure and planted thanks to its long wheelbase and ample clearance and superb feel of the 725 tubes. Brilliant brilliant bike. Main complaint is the paint - chips too easily. Ordered Ribble’s touch up kit. Will set to work on it soon!
Welcome to the CGR 725 club. Steel is indeed real. 💪 I agree, it's fine on the road and I used it for a full winter when I first got it with Schwalbe G One tyres. It was heavy but made for good winter training. I tried it with 28mm tyres for a few rides and reckon it was only 1kph or so slower on average than my carbon road bike. Mine arrived in good shape and the paint has held up well on the whole although I have heli-taped a few sections. I see yours has the silver chunky bottle cage bolts on the top tube. Mine had some slimline black bolts in the fork mudguard eyelets which was odd so I swapped them out for the ones on top, meaning the top tube bosses are a bit more discreet. I also lost the Union Jack I'm afraid - clashes with the beautiful orange! 😉 One thing I find quite annoying with the bike is the position of the mudguard mount on the fork crown - it points downwards from under the fork, which is a pretty stupid place for it. It meant I had to drill some SKS guards, all but making them useless for any other bike. You need a massive spacer or the guards sit miles from the tyres. All could be avoided with standard mounts on the front or back of the fork. The rear one is much the same. The faffy guards is one of the reasons why mine has gone from being a 105 do-it-all mile muncher to 1x GRX permanent gravel basher. The Mavic Allroads were replaced with some Hunts, rolling on Goodyear Connectors, which I like. They have recently been exposed as about the slowest rolling gravel tyre known to man, but they go up and stay up, which is the main thing. I think if someone really did want a 'quiver killer' the Ti one would be the one to go for, but like you say I wasn't a massive fan of the dropped seatstays, and it was of course £££! Assume yours is a medium? At 5 10ish I find the reach a little long with a 100mm stem (as the Shimano brifters are mahoosive) so you were prob right to go shorter. Anyway, I win the prize for longest comment. Enjoy your winter beast... and your new bike. 😜
I bought the CGR SL (i.e. carbon) a couple of years ago. in short, I won't buy another Ribble. In slightly longer, the bike rides fine (even though it was poorly assembled by them and 'pre-scratched' too, albeit in a minor way), but the paintwork is too easily chipped (I'm now at 'to buggery' level), the chain has come off the small ring too many times and damaged the frame in doing so, and post-sales service is the exact opposite of the buying process, which was very positive, like yours. I hope that you get more fun (i.e. less anxiety and buyer's regret) from yours and going for steel was, IMHO, a good choice. Plus, you paid at least £1500 less than I did, so there's that.
I am considering the CGR SL and interested in your comments as you are not the first to say this about the paint or delivery scratches. Perhaps I will still with Giant bikes!
@@charlesboundy5355 It doesn't appear that my poor experience (from pick up on) is isolated I'm afraid. Now it is fettled "it'll do fine" but honestly, I won't be going back and, as an aside, for endurance I don't think I'll go carbon again - probably titanium. Enjoy your bike hunt and good luck!
Love your fantastic babble. Thumbs u p for the Ribble, I bought an Endurance TI Ultegra with carbon wheels, it's certainly a race bike with tyre clearance. Love it, would certainly get a CGR if I was in the market. Great video
Very nice Monty. A common theme I've heard from ribble bikers...the bikes are great, their customer service sucks. I have done a handful of gravel rides (next one planned in couple of weeks) but I use it on the road during the wet months or when I want a less spirited and more comfy ride. I have a cannondale topstone and my only regret is getting a carbon fibre frame.
Do you have experience riding titanium? If so, how would you compare it to the 725 steel. Comfortability, performance, weight? Been riding aluminum and all these years and I want to try a different material. Not interested in Carbon right now.
