New here and my Ribble R872 self build. Part 1

[i hate hills]

Mike, very nice looking bike

You are a poet and you do not know it, Rocky.

 

[i hate hills]

Welcome Mike thats some intro and some bike . All the best MIke.

 

[Mike Watson]

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.

It's strange but I think it's the angle I took the photo. It does look really forward doesn't it but it is actually horizontal.
Thanks for the tip with the crankset. I'll make sure I remember to do that.
It's a standard 50/34 front with 12/28 rear. I can work fine with an 11/25 round here but it's specifically to drag my arse up the Joux Plane and Ramaz in France so I'm giving myself plenty of room. The Force 22 is also an 11 speed, although I'm not convinced it adds anything to the ride.

 

[Mike Watson]

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.

Another issue for me was that I wanted to avoid upgrading again in 6 months, so the parts are all ones that I would choose to upgrade to if I had a stock bike.

 

[Blue]

 

[SteCenturion]

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.

Hi Mike & .
Lovin' the R872 BYO.
I so nearly went for the same frame/fork but the sizing confused me & the shop guy on the phone didn't fill me with confidence !
The large frame (normal for me) seemed to be a 52/54 ??
I am 6ft nothing & 13 stone to 13st 4lb & medium build.
Interested to know your height/frame size.
Might do my own build in none to distant future. I spotted a great deal on tinterweb instead on a full bike.
I bought a Sintesi Z2 with full 10 speed Sram Force 2012 model a few months back reduced by 1k & I have stripped it to add my own cockpit/saddle/wheelset.
Bars & stem 3T Egonova team in white & red.
Seatpost 3T Doric Team white/red.
Wheelset American Classic Aero 3 (2011) in white - red & black decals.
Saddle - Specialized Toupe Team in - you guessed it. (Old model but new).
Did you ever weigh the frame/fork naked ??
Not you - the bike !
That would be just tooo weird !!
Well done by the way.

 

[SteCenturion]

Hi Mike & .
Lovin' the R872 BYO.
I so nearly went for the same frame/fork but the sizing confused me & the shop guy on the phone didn't fill me with confidence !
The large frame (normal for me) seemed to be a 52/54 ??
I am 6ft nothing & 13 stone to 13st 4lb & medium build.
Interested to know your height/frame size.
Might do my own build in none to distant future. I spotted a great deal on tinterweb instead on a full bike.
I bought a Sintesi Z2 with full 10 speed Sram Force 2012 model a few months back reduced by 1k & I have stripped it to add my own cockpit/saddle/wheelset.
Bars & stem 3T Egonova team in white & red.
Seatpost 3T Doric Team white/red.
Wheelset American Classic Aero 3 (2011) in white - red & black decals.
Saddle - Specialized Toupe Team in - you guessed it. (Old model but new).
Did you ever weigh the frame/fork naked ??
Not you - the bike !
That would be just tooo weird !!
Well done by the way.

Hi again.
Forgot to mention - as I live in Manchester it's not to far to drive to Ribble shop & try the fit.
I have heard about many differing flaws in the R872 frameset too but glad to hear that they offered to remedy this for you - I think Ribble have quite a bad rep for customer service but this bucks the trend.
Merry BikeMass.

 

[Stebo]

Interesting reading. I just ordered the R872 bike builder version as my first step up from a newly, so can't wait till its ready next week.