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Sorely tempted by Ribble's deal on their Gran Fondo, £1400 with Shimano electro-whatsit shifting.
Seems to have limited, but overall positive, reviews.
Any personal experiences on here?
I'd save yourself £400 and get teh mechanical version, thats a great price and perfectly adequate bike for a first time roadie.
Although its your money and obviously £400 quids worth of bragging rights for having electronic shifting 😉
No personal expereince bar spending far too much time agonising over a new road bike build in recent months. It'll be a fine, no, very nice bike and is very good value. The finishing kit is a bit low rent and the wheels are pretty average but you're getting a solid if unspectacular frame and Di2 for under £1500 which is a bargain. Ribble frames are re-badged, open mould stuff, no bad thing at all as you'll undoubtedly get a very good frame for not much.
Obviously, usual caveats of "it's your first road bike, go to an LBS and get it fitted properly" also apply.
I have a carbon Ribble, it's not the most refined frame but it's stiff and comfy and the geometry is nice and sharp for a "sportive" bike.
If £1.4k is your total budget I'd consider mechanical Ultegra and a decent wheel upgrade instead.
I have a Ribble Alu frame and given they are mass produced and it has Superstar wheels on it and fairly basic 105 groupset I was pleasantly surprised to find it weighs 8kg on the dot....it'll probably crack soon but for the price (given I don't road ride all that often) I can't fault it.
If/when it breaks, or I just fancy a treat I'll definitely get one of their carbon bikes. I used the custom bike builder part of the website and they kept in touch via email every step of the way during the build and even phoned when the bars I'd specced were out of stock and gave me the choice of waiting or choosing upgraded bars for the same price as the lower end ones I'd originally chosen....the bike now has a lovely set of Ritchey WCS bars which were unexpected, great customer service.
BTW, rode a mate's Ultegra equipped Trek at the weekend and genuinely couldn't feel any improvement over my 105, not sure if this is normal?....I suppose Ultegra is only one rung up from 105 so to speak or maybe I'm not a sensitive enough rider?
On that basis I wouldn't spend Ultegra money on something that didn't shift any nicer than my 105 stuff....or I'd go the whole hog and get electronic Ultegra and hope there is a noticeable difference.
Either way, enjoy and post some pics when you get it!
Road bikes are awesome on the right day/road and cover ground so much faster than a MTB which will feel like a tractor when you get back on!
I have the exact bike the OP is agonising over, even including the Di2!
It's great, but then I'm coming from an alu Ribble so I know the bike would fit me as I could compare geometries.
A lot of bike for the money and it is very pretty in a brash, sportive, kinda way. The only criticism I would have is that the wheels are really heavy, circa 2.2kg without tyres. Luckily for me I had just built up a set of Open Pros on 105 hubs so they went on instead.
105 and Ultegra are the same, though Ultegra is made from slightly lighter, fancier materials. 105 is the gold standard in value for money.
I rode with a lad on Saturday who had a new Planet X RT-58. They might also worth be checking out, it looked very tidy.