Fossyant's Ribble (Training Bike)

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fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Following on from the Herety, here is my training bike. It's a Ribble 653 with full Ultegra groupset and dura-ace hubs (hand me down from the Herety)

Some bits (cranks, brake pivots) are 20 years old, but still work faltlessly. The frame is probably 10 years old or so...... Trusty machine that weighs about 9kg's

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John the Monkey

Frivolous Cyclist
Location
Crewe
Another nice bike indeed - downtube shifters too :biggrin: I guess they're indexed though?
 
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fossyant

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Yes..indexed - just haven't got round to STI on either road bike. The MTB is STI though.

Don't find them a problem in use though. Just not a big fan of the cable routing that Shimano use on STI levers, much prefer Campag's hidden cables. This Ribble is still on a 7 speed block (8 speed hub) though !

A couple of more pics....

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John the Monkey

Frivolous Cyclist
Location
Crewe
fossyant said:
Don't find them a problem in use though. Just not a big fan of the cable routing that Shimano use on STI levers, much prefer Campag's hidden cables. This Ribble is still on a 7 speed block (8 speed hub) though !

Reaching down for the shifters isn't a problem, I find - although I'm tempted by an indexed system because I just can't hit the right place on my rear derailleur with my friction levers at all. Should probably practice more, I guess.

I guess the STI levers only work with 8 speed and up then?
 
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fossyant

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
You may be able to find new/old school lower end STI shifters that do 7 speed - e.g. tiagra or possibly 105. When Shimano went STI nearly all the upper groups were 8 speed, although my MTB is Deore LX equipped 7 speed STI !
 

DaveM

New Member
That's a nice bike mate, my road bike is also a ribble 653 with down tube shifters, but when I got some new wheels I put a 8 speed block on so I could have a 26 cog to help me get round the Forest of Bowland, I was going to get some 8 speed shifters but thought sod it I'll use the 7 speed one's on friction mode and save myself a few quid
 
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fossyant

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
It's a 3TTT Status stem - they aren't overly expensive but are quite 'nice' and are currently available - bought it a year ago as my previous stem had seized - couldn't undo the bars - a trusty hacksaw soon saw to that.....

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Peter

Senior Member
Really nice bike - but looking at the bars - are you comfortable at such a long reach?
 
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fossyant

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Yes - it's a 130mm like my other bike - I have a longer upper body, plus like being stretched out - I'm a bit "old skool" as in both my road bikes were set up according to Bernard Hinault's book ... Road Racing Techniques and Training
 

Peter

Senior Member
All I can say is that you must be a lot younger than me :biggrin: but hey - if you're comfortable, who am i to argue?
 

mcd

Well-Known Member
John the Monkey said:
I guess the STI levers only work with 8 speed and up then?

When the 105 STI first came out this was the case - but my road bike (a Dave Russell - only gets the very occasional ride now) was built for 7 speed. So I got an 8-speed block, took the 3 pins out and removed the largest sprocket & spacer, and re-assembled it v.carefully with the pins from the 7 speed block. A bit of a phaff, but it fitted (almost perfectly), shifting was spot-on and saved me from getting a new wheel & straining the frame.
 
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