Talk me out of a Ribble Ultra SLR

[oldguy00]

Oh jeez, I just looked at the price and specs of that ribble bike. I would never ever go for what most would consider a 'no name' bike when for the same, or lower price, you can get something like a Specialized Tarmac SL7 Comp also with 105 di2 . No brainer really. Can prob get the same sort of price on a Giant bike too.

[benb]

Originally Posted by oldguy00

Oh jeez, I just looked at the price and specs of that ribble bike. I would never ever go for what most would consider a 'no name' bike when for the same, or lower price, you can get something like a Specialized Tarmac SL7 Comp with 105di2 for the same or less money. No brainer really. Can prob get the same sort of price on a Giant bike too.

Yep.. learned this lesson the hard way. If I bought a Giant I can walk to the nearest dealer to get help/small parts. For Big S and Big T they are both within 1 mile of my office.

"Sorry we can't get you that seatmast topper part that broke, let's try to hack something together" sucks when you bought a wicked expensive frame that looks cool but doesn't have good local support.

No big deal IMO to support a smaller brand that's less local if it's something very standardized like a steel frame/fork with standard BB, headset, seatpost, etc.. where a) stuff is way less likely to break b) Even if the company goes out of business it's super standard

[Dude]

I kind of have my answer already, though to clarify, Ribble isn't a fly-by-night operation. They're big and have been selling bikes for a long, long time mostly in England.

[Baron Blubba]

So now that everyone else is doing a fine job of talking the OP out of it, I'll try to talk him into it, which actually seems what he *really* meant by 'talk me out of it'.

The difference in climbing ability between a 15 lbs bike and an 18 lbs bike, all other things being equal, is negligible. If his fit was good, TP (not Pidcock, not Charmin, the other TP) would have won on the Ribble just as well as he won on the Colnago. According to Tom Boonen, he might have done even better!
I have no scientific data to confirm this, all I know is that my Ritchey weighs 18 lbs with pedals and cages and my former TCR weighed 15 with pedals and cages, and most of my best times on my most common climbing route (50 miles, 6000 feet) were set on my Ritchey. Fitness accounts for a lot of that, but if the difference was vast then there's no way. Best overall time on the Ritchey: 18.1 and repeatable. Best overall time on the TCR: 18.5.

"Climbing Bike" "Aero Bike" "All Around Bike" are largely the industry's way of selling you three bikes. If all you care about is performance, getting fit and riding any *good* bike is going to do the trick, and no *good* bike is going to up your speed by enough to justify its price tag.
However, I would pay for a better overall riding experience --that perfect road feel, intuitive handling *for your preferences and skill level*, comfort, an exciting ride that *feels* fast, even if it's not necessarily faster than the other one. Oh, and it's got to look so good that when you come home from riding a different bike, totally pooped, and see that one hanging on the wall, you think 'I've gotta go for another ride later today on *that* bike.'
That's what I'll pay oodles for.

If the Ribble seems like it might tickle enough of those boxes to justify the purchase, go for it.

But you'll be happier with a TCR Pro 1.

[oldguy00]

Originally Posted by Dude

I kind of have my answer already, though to clarify, Ribble isn't a fly-by-night operation. They're big and have been selling bikes for a long, long time mostly in England.

I've bought from Ribble many times, as well as other UK online shops. I have no doubt they would deliver a good product and prob offer as good of support as possible given the location. The issue is you would be paying the same amount for what everyone considers a 'generic' bike. The obvious downside is that the frameset will have a resale value of next to nothing, literally.
So why not get a well proven name brand instead for the same price.

[Baron Blubba]

Because, to be fair, that Ribble bike does look FAF. At 37-going-on-84, I'm not sure what FAF stands for, but the kids say it whenever they behold a bike that looks like the Ribble.

[robt57]

Originally Posted by Baron Blubba

So now that everyone else is doing a fine job of talking the OP out of it, I'll try to talk him into it, which actually seems what he *really* meant by 'talk me out of it'.

[SonicBoom]

Originally Posted by Baron Blubba

So now that everyone else is doing a fine job of talking the OP out of it, I'll try to talk him into it, which actually seems what he *really* meant by 'talk me out of it'.

The difference in climbing ability between a 15 lbs bike and an 18 lbs bike, all other things being equal, is negligible. If his fit was good, TP (not Pidcock, not Charmin, the other TP) would have won on the Ribble just as well as he won on the Colnago. According to Tom Boonen, he might have done even better!
I have no scientific data to confirm this, all I know is that my Ritchey weighs 18 lbs with pedals and cages and my former TCR weighed 15 with pedals and cages, and most of my best times on my most common climbing route (50 miles, 6000 feet) were set on my Ritchey. Fitness accounts for a lot of that, but if the difference was vast then there's no way. Best overall time on the Ritchey: 18.1 and repeatable. Best overall time on the TCR: 18.5.

"Climbing Bike" "Aero Bike" "All Around Bike" are largely the industry's way of selling you three bikes. If all you care about is performance, getting fit and riding any *good* bike is going to do the trick, and no *good* bike is going to up your speed by enough to justify its price tag.
However, I would pay for a better overall riding experience --that perfect road feel, intuitive handling *for your preferences and skill level*, comfort, an exciting ride that *feels* fast, even if it's not necessarily faster than the other one. Oh, and it's got to look so good that when you come home from riding a different bike, totally pooped, and see that one hanging on the wall, you think 'I've gotta go for another ride later today on *that* bike.'
That's what I'll pay oodles for.

If the Ribble seems like it might tickle enough of those boxes to justify the purchase, go for it.

But you'll be happier with a TCR Pro 1.

This is a wonderful real-world answer.

[deluz]

Personally I find the Ribble bike looks ugly with the thick heavy frame sections, YMMV. You can get a Tarmac SL7 Comp with the same components as the Ultra SLR R Sport for slight more $4500 vs $4060.
Not sure what the shipping cost is on the Ribble.