I am looking at maybe getting one of these on the C2W scheme….
Ill top up the difference as well for the build kit I want, but Im after some real world experience of them ?

Its a first proper road bike for me, I have a Specialized Langster Monaco fixie, but I`d like a proper road bike and really like the look of the Ribble ?

All experience / opinions gratefully recieved as always
Cheers
Dom

I’ve got the ribble carbon racing sportive, and when deciding between the two I found out there is nearly no difference between the two frames. So I went for the sportive as I think it looks better.

Its a fantastic bike, and I love it.

I think the Grand fondo is very similar to the old sportive. I have the older Sportive (only by months 😉 ) and its great VFM – Done a few sportives on it now and bar a little crack in the lacquer (6 months old now) its been fantastic – Did the devon prostate cancer ride on it last summer and I was knackered but the bike wasn’t 😉 (176Km)!

Lots of people have had good service from Ribble, lots and lots and lots of people have had truly poor service from Ribble, i suggest you Google them, have a read and make your own decisions…..

As for the bikes, they are good value, but so are a lot of other bikes.

I can’t understand the bashing Ribble get – I have used them for parts and bikes (over the last few years) and they even said send the frame back for replacement if I wanted to wait till after the summer season d.t. the small lacquer crack?

I personally think its some people have had bad service whilst most people have had good enough services of very good service considering the size or the company. You only hear about very good service or very poor service on forum IMHO!

Who is bashing them, i only pointed out that they can be variable with their service ?

I have been on the poor service end of things first hand, i wont say any more than that, if people want to use them then that’s fine.

I have nothing of interst to say about Ribble, except that they once had some money of mine, then they gave it me back and they have a probability of never of ever getting any more of my money.

lots and lots and lots of people have had truly poor service from Ribble,

Not bashing then? 🙄

Hmm tiz funny that I have been using online bike shops (and bike shops with online services) for hmm quite a few years (CRC, Ribble, Merlin, Wiggle, Pro Bike Kit, UKbikestore, Shiney Bikes, Winstanleys, Evans, Noahs Arks, erm… the list goes on and I can honestly say I can’t remember any of them giving me “shocking service” – TBH not even bad service – yeh some things wern’t in stock and I had to wait a bit, some were never going to be in stock and re-ordered somewhere else but ?

lots and lots and lots of people have had truly poor service from Ribble,

Not bashing then?

🙄 OK, but thats not all i said is it ?

If you think that is bashing then you really need to get out more…

If you think that is bashing then you really need to get out more…

Now your bashing me? I think your the one who needs to get out a bit more and maybe loosen up a bit! Take a chill pill!

OK, but thats not all i said is it ?

No it wasn’t however don’t think the OP would buy anything from Ribble after the first statement would you? Sure you felt you had bad service from Ribble once and you probably did but I think your statement was a little way off the mark.

And no I’m not cruzing for a fight – just my opinion 🙂

And no I’m not cruzing for a fight

Neither am i !

Just my opinion

Ditto

Now your bashing me?

Bashing ? Really, what are you talking about ?

I give up……

OP, go to Ribble, maybe get messed about, maybe not get messed about, report back, good luck.

To add insult to injury my order from Ribble has just been despached – no fuss, no issues….

Oh Tragically you obviously have a different translation of bashing to me then? Nevermind – OP just make up your own mind as Tragically says……

Not to start a fight or anything, but my experience when ordering my ribble was less then satisfactory, and took a few months to get properly resolved. Doesn’t stop the bike being fantastic though.

They did go though an issue with stocking the Sportive IIRC at that time Realman as it was so popular but I know their communication was a bit pants a year or so ago? I remember that Realman when you got your and the delay – mine was similarly delayed for 2 months IIRC 🙂 Glad I waited though 🙂

Perhaps I live in a world of rose coloured spectacles or my memory is fading 😉

Actually the bike was delayed, apparently the delay happened in shipping the bikes from china or whatever. That I didn’t mind. What I did mind was the fact they sent me the wrong cassette, and then refused for about a month to send me either the one I wanted or to reimburse me for the cassette and it be returned back to them. Had to go through several people in their company, and send loads of emails. Was very annoying.

Thanks for all the responses, what kind of issues are we talking about ?

Is it in terms of bad products ? or bad customer service / warranty issues ?

And that sportive racing is looking rather nice too 😕

I couldn’t say anything about warranty, and it was about 6 months ago I had this problem. Maybe they have changed.

When I dealt with them though the customer service was quite poor, but don’t let that put you off buying the bike. I’d buy it again.

I have one.
I bought mine on CTW and upgraded to ultegra. It is my first road bike so i cant offer any indepth advice except to say i love it. Great value in comparison to some of the others i was looking at. The ribble service was faultless, the only problem is there was a build time of a few weeks and that doesnt start untill they have the CTW voucher. But it was worth the wait and the finish and set up of the bike was very good.

I am not a Ribble Fanboy but I did have to investigate their warranty on my Ribble Sportive and they were faultless – I had a crack in the the lacquer at the BB/Chainstay interface (didn’t know that at the time). They offered a replacement frame even though they knew a few of the frames had done this and they were 99% happy it was just cosmetic – the Manager said I could keep it for the rest of the season if I wanted to and then swap it in the Winter – can’t say fairer than that – that said the crack is cosmetic and has not worsened in 6 months of fairly intense riding 🙂

I bought a Gran Fondo last month.1st proper road bike I’ve had in years and I love it.

Rides really well, feels light.cant help but grin when I look at it.
Took about 2 weeks to arrive.Called them up mid way as I wanted to change a few components, which they did right away.

100% for the company and 100% for the bike.
Based on my experience get the bike!

Don’t wish to hijack the OP, but can anyone recommend an alternative to Ribble for buying framesets from?

the Manager said I could keep it for the rest of the season if I wanted to and then swap it in the Winter – can’t say fairer than that

One could think they might offer that as they know the replacement might suffer the same again?

cant help but grin when I look at it.

+1 😀

wallop, try planet x.

One could think they might offer that as they know the replacement might suffer the same again?

Don’t think so – a rare report from what I could find out – I opted to keep it and still very happy with it for the money I paid for it. I Can’t find anyone else with this (very minor) problem or find other people with this on the net and TBH now I’m really not bothered. Love the bike 🙂

I’ve had one complete bike, two other frames and various bits from Ribble, and had no problems – think I had to chase the bike build up but I had ordered it when they had a big offer on and they got a week or two behind the advertised delivery date. So what – great value bike even it was a little than I’d hoped.

I’ve also had a couple of things from Dave Hinde without any bother!

I’ve never had problems with Ribble, but always, always picked stuff up rather than have it sent.

(which nearly killed me off, doing an 80 mile road ride in a snowstorm)