New here and my Ribble R872 self build. Part 1

[Mike Watson]

Hi. New here and thought that I would share my first ever self build with you. (A bit of self gratification I suppose but as many have discussed Ribble's frames, specifically the R872 I thought I'd share this;

A few weeks ago I set about putting together my own bike. A bike that I wanted and not one that I was steered towards by what the manufacturer considered best for me.

I wanted a bike that I had a full say in which components were used, how it looked and how it performed. Most of all I wanted a bike that I was able to set a weight limit to.

I live in Cornwall, and I’m lucky enough to be able to go to the French Alps each summer with friends for some truly spectacular riding and some truly challenging climbs, so this bike was going to be as light as my money could make it but within the UCI legal limit of 6.8kg and without spending stupid amounts of cash.

I’m not a light man, but at 13st I’m not overweight ether but my physique puts me on the border between ‘athletic’ and ‘well built’ I suppose. I’m fairly fit with a resting heart rate of 45 and a fairly decent VO2 max for my 43 years. (Yes I had that tested properly in case anyone asks.) These were all considerations when I chose the components and coupled with my riding style (a fair amount out of the saddle) I knew that a carbon cockpit wasn’t the best option as it needed to hold my weight well.

So I started with the frame. I looked at a number of options but settled with the Ribble R872 carbon frame. This has had some excellent reviews and I had no reason to question them. So with this as my starting point I set about building around it.

 

[Mike Watson]

Part 2

I had the wheels already. What I find are a superb set of Mavic Kyserium Elites. At just over 1.5kg they are light, taught, and climb superbly. Not a great deal of fun in the wind and occasionally twitchy downhill but once you get used to that they perform (at least for my style) excellently.

The next major part was the saddle. I, like all of us, have tried many over the years. I’ve got about 10 hidden away in my garage but have found the most comfortable saddle is the one that you sit on when you’re set up correctly! I spent a long time chopping and changing saddles and spending far too much money on them when I should have looked at my set up instead. I did this and by simply lowering the bars 10mm I changed the entire feel of my current ride. So I knew that saddle choice wasn’t a problem and opted for a very light Sella Italia SLR carbon.

So a 3T carbon seat post followed, along with a 3T alloy handlebar and stem. I chose these as they were light, at a decent price and preferred alloy over carbon on the front end for better control, over what were already twitchy wheels, and strength.

Other parts such as BB30 bearings, headsets etc were chosen for quality with weight being a secondary consideration. But we then came to the part that caused me weeks of research and trips to and fro to my LBS. The groupset.

 

[Mike Watson]

Part 3
I’d used Shimano all my cycling life. Sora, 105 and for the last 5 years Ultegra. I’d had no complaints with any of them. They all did and do the job they are designed to do and do it very well. But weight was the issue as well as colour. I wanted a black set, or as dark as possible without being noticeably grey. It had to fit the bike.

105 is black. Perfect, but a tad heavy compared to other groupsets such as Ultegra and SRAM Force. Ultegra I liked but two things made me reluctant to go there. The colour options this year are light grey or dark grey. But not dark enough. I’ve never been a fan of the ‘chunky’ chainset either. That right side just looks too big and bulky for me despite what the scales say.

Campag was an option but before I looked too much into it, my LBS let me ride a bike with the new SRAM Force 22. I was immediately taken by the double tap system and really felt it was more natural for my short fingers. I got used to it very quickly and on climbs the Force 22 made no complaints when I crossed the chain or changed under load. I really liked it, but at that cost (nearly £250 more than the Ultegra) could I justify it?

Well I took the plunge and opted for the SRAM and started the build. I deliberately took a few days to do it to make sure it was all lubed and torqued to exacting specs and taking a step back, here was 1st ‘draft’ of the final bike.

The full specs are detailed below.

Ribble R872 carbon frame and forks
Ribble R872 hidden headset
3T ErgoNova Pro Alloy Road Handlebar
Selle Italia SLR Carbonio Flow Saddle with Carbon Rails
3T TEAM Handlebar Tape
3T Dorico carbon seat post
3T ARX Pro stem
FSA Carbon Headset Spacers
BBB BBC-31 Carbon SpeedCage Water Bottle Cage
SRAM QuickView Computer Mount
SRAM BB30 Standard Bearing Assembly
SRAM Force 22 Groupset
M Part Carbon Fork Bung
Mavic Kyserium Elite wheelset
Mavic Yksium powerlink/powergrip tyres

Total weight (without bidons) : 6.5kg

 

[Mike Watson]

Part 4

But after a few rides out and about I made a few tweaks.

The bike was too light but the front end was a bit too sluggish. Up the hills it was a rocket. I found myself initially thinking that my regular hill was harder than I thought it would be until near the top I glanced down and noticed I was still in the big ring!

But going down was a struggle. I had to keep pushing as any breeze would just slow me down. On hills where I knew I could top 45mph on my heavy commuter I was struggling to reach 35 on this one.

So I changed the stem from 110 to 90mm to quicken the steering and swapped the wheels for my Cosmic Carbone with some Schwalbe Ultremos and took it out again.

I now think I’ve hit the perfect balance between a great climbing bike with excellent straight line speed, a planted but responsive downhill machine with all day comfort. It now feels incredibly natural and provides real confidence when faced with any terrain.

And here is the 2nd ‘draft’ of the final bike! It now weighs in at 6.76kg

The frame though did show a few signs of poor workmanship. The bottom bracket housing had some aluminium shavings still in there and the cover screws underneath simply spun in the holes without biting. I also found the rear wheel sits askew by about 3mm at the top which is annoying. But these are issues that I can rectify and to Ribble’s credit they did offer to take the frame back with everything I fitted still attached, swap the frame and rebuild the bike for me, so I can’t complain.

All in all I just have to take the bike out a dozen or so more times over the winter in dry weather to sort out any little issues and ‘bed’ it in, but by July when I head out to the French Alps I think I’ll have a bike that will do me proud.

 

[Mike Watson]

Thanks. I now hope it's a bike that I won't need to tinker with and spend extra cash upgrading. But we all know that by the summer I'll change something!

 

[helston90]

Welcome to the forum, there are a few of us from this wonderful part of the country.
Bike is looking stunning, hope it all beds in well and you get miles of pleasure from it!

 

[mark st1]

Welcome mate thats a cracking looking bike another member has an equally quality example of that bike ping to @Pedrosanchezo

 

[Mike Watson]

Thanks guys. Appreciate the comments. I just need the right weather to take advantage of it now

 

[Biker Joe]

Hi and a warm to you Mike.
I enjoyed your post very much. I also liked the reasoning behind why you did what you did.
That's a very nice bike you've ended up with and I hope it gives you much pleasure.

 

[Venod]

Nice bike, I like the look of MK 1 rather than MK2 I find the Cosmic wheels a bit too much, but understand your reasoning for the change, enjoy the ride,

 

[ScotiaLass]

Cracking bike - I'm very impressed!

 

[Mike Watson]

Again, thanks for the comments. But today it's back to the reality of looking longingly at the bike while slowly pedalling away to work on my trusty alluminium Trek. Hopefully the weather will stay fine enough to get her out of the garage.

 

[Globalti]

Lovely job, well done. You must be feeling very satisfied. What's the gearing?

Don't forget to re-torque that crankset bolt; they do work loose when first installed.

Do you think the saddle ought to be flatter? If that was on my bike it would be throwing my weight forward onto the bars.

 

[Bryony]

Wow lovely looking bike . Welcome to the forum.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Mike.

Nice bike and I like your reasoning for the build. It's nice to build a bike up to your own spec rather than what some marketing guy thinks you should want.