Hi,

Have just let go my ten year old road bike and now looking for something new. Whilst looking at the obvious price point variations between premium brands (Colnago / Pinarello etc.) and bikes like Specialized / Cannondale, I cant help but be a bit amazed at the specs you can get for a lot less from uk shop brands like Ribble or Planet X.

How do these bikes compare? are there any downsides to them other than just branding? Ribble do a full carbon bike with Sram Red groupset for only £2k. Is there a catch that i’m missing??

Cheers

hi
I have a cannondale supersix 105
And I totally love it!!!
I bought it as a last years model for £1400
Total bargain!!!
i have upgraded the wheels to Mavic Ksyrium Elites.

Id take a look at Canyon too if I were you.

My Ribble (R872) arrived on Friday. around 1400 with 105 and fulcrum 5 wheels, personal choice of finishing kit down to handlebar width and great customer service. Ridden twice so far and I am a big fan!

What do you want from a road bike? Pure thoroughbred race geometry or something with slightly raised bars (ie no spacers for most of us)? If your budget is 2K, it’s hard to see past the Giant Defy Advanced – bike of the year for 2013. Buy the best frame you can afford. Even relatively cheap groupsets like Tiagra shift as well as Ultegra 6600 these days. More money buys less weight and that’s about it. Big brands have more buying power from Shimano, so can push prices down. Smaller companies such as Ribble then follow by sourcing frames as best they can to compete.

For the budget, there are no bad choices, just decide what suits your needs best. And be honest about the riding you’ll do.

Disclaimer: I have a Giant Defy Advanced SL (and a TCR). And it is a fantastic do it all bike, race, club rides, commute – well in the dry, anyway!

Been riding a Planet X Nanolight for a few years now. I think it’s a better (faster, more comfortable, better handling) bike than the S-Works Roubaix it replaced and the titanium Litespeed before that too. Just my 2 cents 😉

I guess as a few have said, work out what you want from it, where your priorities lie and unless its something the big / boutique brands can only offer; Ribble, PX, Kinesis etc do seem to deliver.