Ribble HT725 vs On One Big Dog

Hi All,

I have decided to get myself a new bike. My kids are growing up and I want to go back to cycling to support my ‘getting back to shape’ plan. Have been working out quite intensively for the last three months, so my upper body (except my daddy’s belly) looks much better, but my lower body needs some extra work ;) I was thinking about steel frames as I am still quite heavy (103kgs), so I need something durable for light trails, with good spec and something that looks nice as well. ;)

I was browsing around and decided to stick around £1000 budget, but as usually I have found bikes slightly over that I really like.

First of them is https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-ht-725-sx-eagle/
It looks amazing, has slightly worse spec than the other one, but visually is something I really like. As a bonus they accept cycle to work schemes which would drop a price by £200-250.

THe other one would be https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBOOBDGX/on-one-big-dog-sram-gx-mountain-bike
Better spec as far as I am aware, but looks less attractive, same price (taking cycle to work scheme out of equation).

Would you guys have any advises, any other ideas or thoughts to help me with my choice?

Clearly I am not an expert, not even remotely close, but I always like to buy stuff that is great in regards to value for money.
I am so excited to browse around, but more I do, more difficult it is to make a decision so I was hoping for few words of wisdom from you. :)

Thanks and stay safe :)

If ones available on the c2w scheme I’d probably go for that one if they are the same price.

Ribbles prices are normally stable so that’s the price you would have paid prior to the covid bike boom. But px prices go up and down. The big dog is at its highest price so based on that I’d probably go for the ribble or wait to see if the px price machine does a £200 discount in the next few weeks as we hit September and some bad weather.

Nothing worse than buying a px bike at full price then receiving one of the many emails they send with your bike reduced by the random number generator.

Not a lot between planet x and ribble. Normally for that budget I’d suggest some others but there’s not a lot of stock around at the moment.

Are you in a rush to buy now? Or can you wait a few months for stock to arrive?

At that price I’d be looking at used on here and PinkBike. Should be able to get a nice hardtail for your budget if your patient. From the two you mention I’d also go for the Ribble. The Sonder Signal might be worth a look too.

That’s a tricky choice – and I’m not sure which fork the Big Dog comes with as in one place it mentions a Jusy Silver TK (not a good fork) but in another it lists a 35 Gold which is much burlier and has better damping.

The frame on the Ribble sounds and looks better and the recon has at least 32mm stanchions so is better than a Judy.

Wheel wise the Ribble is an unknown, but the ones on the Big Dog have solid if slightly heavy rims, but Formula hubs which aren’t great. Cheap tyres on the Big Dog too.

Gx is listed on the Big Dog but if you look closely they’ve downgraded the chain and also the cassette – it’s not the 10-50 GX one with an Xd driver but a much heavier 11-50 one – so I think the same as the Ribble.

Brakes are listed as two different things in the Big Dog – either a Guide R or Guide RE. Both are better than the Level T on the Ribble.

I think in terms of customer support and frame quality I’d just about take the Ribble over the Big Dog – but I’d be looking over enviously at the brakes on the Big Dog. But if you find the levels not up to the job then you could probably pick up some Guide RE or Code R’s from eBay. I’m building a hardtail for my nephew at the moment and I’ve picked up some 4 pot Clark’s M4’s which seem quite burly for £90 all in (both ends plus rotors) – that might be a cheap ungraded option.

I am not in rush at all, maybe just excited to get something new and a bit impatient that it is not here yet. ;)
Got a green light from my wifey, money ready, sort of narrowed choice so simply cannot wait. I will however even if I make a decision now as delivery times are November (for Ribble) and end of September for planetx. ;)

Got my old mondraker to enjoy sunny days, but weather has been rather bad in the last week or so..
So I can wait if I need to. ;)

Thanks a lot for all your opinions, it is really helpful. :)

They aren’t really comparable. The Dog is optimised for 120 to 130 forks which Stanton, Sonder, One One, and Cotic appear to think is optimum for a bike that has to go up as well as it goes down.
The Ribble runs smaller wheels and doesn’t have a dropper seatpost at your price point.
Both the Ribble and the Dog appear to come out of the same factory. I think the Sonder is likely made there too.
The Ribble is optimised for a 150 which puts it in Cotic BFE territory ie burly downhill orientated.
The higher Dog spec comes with mostly GX and a 35 fork. The Ribble is lower specced in the drivetrain and the fork at 32mm for a 150 is risking feeling twangy at your weight. I have the GX Dog. I swapped the fork to a Z2 though there’s not much difference in most of the riding I do. You should spec the best tyre option and my wheels needed some tightening.
From what I’ve read both the Sonder Signal and the Ribble frames come in a touch heavier than the Dog which is pretty close to a Cotic Solaris. The bigger the fork the stronger the frame has to be and the Signal has that seat stay top tube bridge and a few other nice features that inevitably push it’s weight up.

The On-one ribble equivalent would be the Hello Dave I think.

I just bought a big-dog to build up, it’s a bit rough and feels heavier compared to my old solaris, but it’s sturdy and should be a fun bike.

Yeh I think the last two Solaris frames went stiffer/heavier to cope with the geometry.

Look at sonder as well. Aluminium has been fine under my 100kg.

Do you want a mountain bike or verstsile bike for a bit if everything?

Check out the Norco Torrent as when on special offer & would also be on C2W

Definetey mountain bike, I was thinking to get spare wheels for my mondraker to make it closer to commuting friendly.

I have checked cotic and it’s completely out of my price range. Sonder seems to be similarly specced to that Ribble, but a lot heavier. Fork with less travel may be a good thing and I also like how it looks.

Mentioned Norco costs now around 1800, so no way I can stretch budget that much unless there is some mega sale on and with current situation I sort of doubt it. :)

I’ve dropped an email to planet x before weekend to ask about fork on their big dog as I have noticed difference between description and spec as well, so far they haven’t get back to me.

Decisions, decisions. ;)

I’ve got a first edition big dog, so I only got SX level components, but I did get a reverb and the Gold35s for the same price as the gx model above.

They also do an SX model which has the Judy…

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBOOBDSX/on-one-big-dog-sram-sx-mountain-bike

For what it’s worth, I like it – it doesn’t feel especially heavy, and it can handle the rough stuff.

I don’t get on with sram triggers so I’ve converted to XT with a sun race cassette now.

If it’s £1200 for the big dog and it has a 35 Gold rather than a Judy then that seems pretty ok value. If it’s a Judy then it’d be no deal for me. I think they’re quite noodly and have steel stanchions and turnkey damping. At least the 35 gold has 35mm alloy stanchions for stiffness and moco damping. Most of the other kit is solid stuff.

Not a big fun of sram myself, but I used it only briefly on my wife’s bike with x5 mech. Wasn’t impressed at all, but hopefully sx/nx/gx would be a completely different experience.. I would however prefer shimano as I have more trust there. ;)

Gear change seems pretty much the same as my old LX , smooth up and a hard clack down. Indexes really well, no skipping.
Website was clear when I last looked but it’s as well to be sure; GX build gets 35s and dropper RS brakes 200 and 180. SX gets steel judys,….. I uprated as soon the GX build reappeared. Early frames came with 165 on the back.

I’m going to be no help whatsoever but the ribble does look nice.😎

One thing I will add – the paint on my big dog is pretty fragile.

There are multiple dings in it from general riding, I even managed to take a chunk out of it being clumsy with a d-lock.

I’m not precious about it, but if that sort of thing is important to you, put some frame protection tape in your budget…

Thanks a lot for everyone who contributed. Because I was thinking about it for the last 2-3 weeks and would like to tick it off ;) and move on, I have requested a c2w voucher for 1559 today. ;)
I have worked out that it will cost me still less than 1200 taken from Ribble on cycle2work scheme, so upgraded groupset to GX, fork to 35 gold and grips..
Should be in overall better than on one and because I loved the way it looked, I went with Ribble.

Waiting for certificate now and then over two months for delivery.. I was considering picking it up in Birmingham instead, will think about it.

Thanks again for all your help and stay safe. Once I’ve got my bike will share some pictures and thoughts. :)

Good luck with it. Hope it works out well

Here it is. 5 weeks of waiting for certificate, around 8 weeks for a build and it arrived two days ago.
Didn’t take it for a spin yet, but looks fantastic. :)
Apologies for background, but with two kids.. my house looks like a battlefield. At all times. :)

In the end went for revelation fork and GX drivetrain. Hopefully once weather changes I will have plenty of time to enjoy it.

Stay safe!

👍

Now that I really like – how tall are you and what size did you go for? Revelation seems a better plan than 35 – should be lighter and if you want to you can always upgrade the damper to make it a Pike at a later date. Also looks like you went for Guide RE brakes – that’s a pretty decent brake with plenty of power. Hope you enjoy it!

Funny enough when I was ordering, bikes were coming with SRAM T brakes, on invoice it says SRAM R brakes and I have RE. Not bad at all compared to what it supposed to be I guess because I haven’t paid extra for it. ;)

I am 178 and went for a large frame. Normally I am in between M and L if it comes to sizing. According to Ribble I should go for medium, but my previous bike was size M and seemed slightly too small for me, on the top of that medium frames were available in Feb next year, so.. Large it is. :)
It looks considerably bigger though.

I will probably order some pedals now (was thinking about Crank Brothers Stamp 1 in blue that hopefully will match nicely) and then take it for a ride. Should have black DMR V8s still in the shed and I guess they would do for time being, but I am in no rush at all now.
With pedals again, I am size 9 and in theory should go for smaller platforms according to sizing, but not too sure if it is a good idea (small platforms recommended for up to size 9 on their chart).

All in all I am super excited, especially that two weeks ago I’ve received an email, that due to another lockdown and Covid-related delivery issues I should expect delays (new estimated delivery date was given – 01.01.21). Still, I’ve received it a day after initial built date which is amazing.

Merry Christmas everyone. :)

I’m 5’9 and if I were buying it I’d be torn between small and medium based on the reach figure 😝

Pedal size really isn’t a thing – I’m a 9 and use Superstar Nano Evo’s which are pretty big. Grip is excellent. Just buy what you like the look of, is quite big, quite thin and has decent pins.

That looks a lot more hardcore hardtail than my Big Dog – looks choice though :)

Love those bikes, great choice – now get out and enjoy it!