Ribble prime?

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OP
OP
Leaway2

Leaway2

Lycrist
Well I have bought one, so I guess I will find out.
 

russ.will

Slimboy Fat
Location
The Fen Edge
I'm no expert, but £374 for an alloy/carbon frame/fork and Claris? Unless the wheels are made of cheese (and even then) it seems like a lot of bike for the money. look forward to hearing your thoughts. :smile:

Russell
 
OP
OP
Leaway2

Leaway2

Lycrist
I'm no expert, but £374 for an alloy/carbon frame/fork and Claris? Unless the wheels are made of cheese (and even then) it seems like a lot of bike for the money. look forward to hearing your thoughts. :smile:

Russell
That is what I thought. The thing that bothers me is there is no weight shown on the website. Just hope the courier isn't wearing a truss when he delivers it.
This is intended to be my winter commute bike.
 
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gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
Nice looking for the money. It'll be interesting to see wht you think of it in the flesh and how it rides.
Even if, as russ.will says, IF the wheels are made of cheese, a pair of R501s or similar won't break the bank in the future.
 

steve50

Disenchanted Member
Location
West Yorkshire
Just been scouring the web for weights of these bikes but no joy, however the reviews are all good, great value bike for the £££££££££££££'s
 

alecstilleyedye

nothing in moderation
Moderator
weight is about 10kg without pedals, bottle cage or any other usual frame/handlebar clutter. it's almost £1000 less than I paid for my ribble r872, and about 4kg heavier; so it seems to be that it costs about £250 for each kilogram lost.

the prime hasn't been tested yet (other than on the stand) as it's a birthday present for my son (13 in a week and a bit), who has been making do with an old carlton with dodgy old fashioned brakes and a bottle cage held on with gaffa tape and cable ties. it seemed to shift nicely, i also took the liberty of removing the pie plate from the back, that added nothing other than a rattly noise.

quality wise, it feels better than most bikes around that price point; itm finishing kit, jagwire cabling and swalbe lugano tyres that are about £50 a pair (normally you get really bog standard tyres with a ribble unless you upgrade). the claris groupset does the job; it's probably as good if not better than the 10 year old 8 speed sora on the carlton. the wheelset looks ok, and seems to run smoothly enough. the black spokes are a nice touch.

least important (and also most important) the bike is really easy on the eye. from a distance it looks like a carbon frame as it is sculpted rather than round tubes welded together. the top tube has, at the size i bought, a pleasing slope that makes it look very modern, and the top tube itself has internal cable routing, which tidies things up a tad.

you can see a few places where replacement components would make an improvement, but these are small things like headset spacers and bottle cage bolts that are cheap enough to buy or that can get donated from other bikes when they get upgraded…

halfords are currently doing some really good deals on the carrera range that are certainly worth looking at (especially the sub-£300 virtuoso), but none are as nice to look at as this one…
 
OP
OP
Leaway2

Leaway2

Lycrist
Well it had arrived yesterday when I got home form work. I built it up and after tea, took it out for a quick spin. I only did flat 6.5 miles as it started to p1ss down.
First impressions. It looks really nice. Nice little touches like little rubber sleeves on the cables to stop them rubbing the frame and a spare gear hanger in the box. I like the white stripe Luganos. I have not ridden 23c tyres for a long time, and those seem fine. The spoke protector disk was particularly poor quality, but I generally take those off anyway, so that went.
I weighed the bike and I reckon it is 11 kilos with the pedals and Garmin on :okay:
This morning did the first commute. The gears will need a bit of a tweak and I am back to the "thunk" of the Claris rather than the click of the Tiagra on the other bike. I went for the upgraded Superlegger saddle, which feels OK
Will I like it? well it is a bit early to say, but so far so good.
ribble_prime.jpg
 

GlenBen

Über Member
Well it had arrived yesterday when I got home form work. I built it up and after tea, took it out for a quick spin. I only did flat 6.5 miles as it started to p1ss down.
First impressions. It looks really nice. Nice little touches like little rubber sleeves on the cables to stop them rubbing the frame and a spare gear hanger in the box. I like the white stripe Luganos. I have not ridden 23c tyres for a long time, and those seem fine. The spoke protector disk was particularly poor quality, but I generally take those off anyway, so that went.
I weighed the bike and I reckon it is 11 kilos with the pedals and Garmin on :okay:
This morning did the first commute. The gears will need a bit of a tweak and I am back to the "thunk" of the Claris rather than the click of the Tiagra on the other bike. I went for the upgraded Superlegger saddle, which feels OK
Will I like it? well it is a bit early to say, but so far so good.
ribble_prime.jpg

Sorry to bring back an old thread. I was just looking at these. Hows it riding one year on? Certainly tempting me for when the winter comes.
 
OP
OP
Leaway2

Leaway2

Lycrist
Sorry to bring back an old thread. I was just looking at these. Hows it riding one year on? Certainly tempting me for when the winter comes.
It has been great. I would recommend it esp if you can get it at the discount price. It looks good (if you like black).It rides well. I commute on it every day.
With it being Claris, the chains and cassettes are cheap.
 

GlenBen

Über Member
And now Im even more tempted. I think it looks great for the price, like the black, like the frame, like the spec. Just was wondering if I was missing something obviously wrong with it, but it seems not. Thanks for the reply. ^_^
 
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