Ribble

[joosed]

My new Ribble Sportive arrived last Wednesday. Happy with it - seems a bit quicker than my Boardman Comp.

But I would say that, like others have reported on this thread, the headset was loose. And, being a complete technical dolt I managed to overtighten the headset mechanism as I struggled in vain to sort the looseness up front.

Had to take it to the LBS to get the headset screw back out of the mechanism. They tightened everything up...and it's all good now.

Wish it had been tightened up in the first place tho.

 

[MajorMantra]

Well, I've ridden it!! Not far mind as I'm rather short of sleep but I couldn't wait.

It still needs some dialing-in but first impressions are good. It's very light and nippy and really looks the business. I parked it just inside Edinburgh Bike Coop and I could see lots of people giving it drool-filled looks.

Apart from a quick test ride on a Wilier, this was my first time with Campag. I was impressed with the shifting performance which was faultless (bear in mind I've never owned a brand new bike before, so to have everything work from the get-go is really nice). I'm not sure I like the 'lumpiness' of the part of the hoods that your fingers wrap around (below the thumb lever) but I expect I'll get used to it. Also, I did find that to operate the thumb lever from the hoods I needed to shift my hand back slightly from the normal position. It's no big deal, but it's a noticeably different to using STIs where you can shift with your hands all the way forward. One thing I did like is that you can operate the thumb lever with anything - I can swig from my water bottle and then use it to move up a gear by bumping the lever down - the action is very light.

I was annoyed to find that I can't seem to get a full sized water bottle in and out of the cage on the seat tube (52cm frame) but this is probably partly down to my choice of cage - I got some of those generic carbon ones off ebay. They look good but they aren't as flexible as metal ones so you can't really wiggle a bottle in from an odd angle.

The Rubino tyres are a bit bargain basement but they are ok. I might move them to my fixed and skid them to death because I'd like some PR3s for the 'special' bike.

I'll probably think of something else to comment on, but that's enough for now...

Matthew

 

[ShinSplint]

Hi Matthew and Joosed,

Get some pics up lads

I've read a lot of comments on the headset now, and its obvious Ribble just arent being thorough enough when putting the bikes together, which is a shame, as they're cracking bikes ! I'm loving mine.

Its a great incentive to get out and clock plenty of miles up

 

[mr-marty-martin]

i orded mine at the end of febuary, so they must of run out of the alloy centuar stuff and put carbon on... how lucky's that !!!!!!

although i dont like the carbon rear mechs, as the pins wear out a bit to easy, and affects shifting down the line ( but i love the carbon shifters : )

 

[Ben M]

Why are these so sexy?

it's terrible that I'm considering a new bike after only having mine 3 weeks...

 

[Breedon]

Dam more shiny ribble's dont you just love them, just come back from a week in norfolk took my bike of course, bloody lovely to ride in the country lanes.

Think i need to tinker with the gears though just not getting into last gear.