I was taking a bike ride on my old Schwinn a few weeks ago when I was passed by a man and his two daughters. They all had shiny new baby blue bikes. They were a brand that I had never heard of. They were Ribble bikes. These are not sold in the American Midwest. I caught up with the man and asked about the bikes. He explained that brand is from England and for the money gives better value than famous US brand bikes. Your review lends credibility to his story.
Welcome to the CGR 725 club. Steel is indeed real. 💪 I agree, it's fine on the road and I used it for a full winter when I first got it with Schwalbe G One tyres. It was heavy but made for good winter training. I tried it with 28mm tyres for a few rides and reckon it was only 1kph or so slower on average than my carbon road bike. Mine arrived in good shape and the paint has held up well on the whole although I have heli-taped a few sections. I see yours has the silver chunky bottle cage bolts on the top tube. Mine had some slimline black bolts in the fork mudguard eyelets which was odd so I swapped them out for the ones on top, meaning the top tube bosses are a bit more discreet. I also lost the Union Jack I'm afraid - clashes with the beautiful orange! 😉 One thing I find quite annoying with the bike is the position of the mudguard mount on the fork crown - it points downwards from under the fork, which is a pretty stupid place for it. It meant I had to drill some SKS guards, all but making them useless for any other bike. You need a massive spacer or the guards sit miles from the tyres. All could be avoided with standard mounts on the front or back of the fork. The rear one is much the same. The faffy guards is one of the reasons why mine has gone from being a 105 do-it-all mile muncher to 1x GRX permanent gravel basher. The Mavic Allroads were replaced with some Hunts, rolling on Goodyear Connectors, which I like. They have recently been exposed as about the slowest rolling gravel tyre known to man, but they go up and stay up, which is the main thing. I think if someone really did want a 'quiver killer' the Ti one would be the one to go for, but like you say I wasn't a massive fan of the dropped seatstays, and it was of course £££! Assume yours is a medium? At 5 10ish I find the reach a little long with a 100mm stem (as the Shimano brifters are mahoosive) so you were prob right to go shorter. Anyway, I win the prize for longest comment. Enjoy your winter beast... and your new bike. 😜
Love your fantastic babble. Thumbs u p for the Ribble, I bought an Endurance TI Ultegra with carbon wheels, it's certainly a race bike with tyre clearance. Love it, would certainly get a CGR if I was in the market. Great video
I bought the CGR SL (i.e. carbon) a couple of years ago. in short, I won't buy another Ribble. In slightly longer, the bike rides fine (even though it was poorly assembled by them and 'pre-scratched' too, albeit in a minor way), but the paintwork is too easily chipped (I'm now at 'to buggery' level), the chain has come off the small ring too many times and damaged the frame in doing so, and post-sales service is the exact opposite of the buying process, which was very positive, like yours. I hope that you get more fun (i.e. less anxiety and buyer's regret) from yours and going for steel was, IMHO, a good choice. Plus, you paid at least £1500 less than I did, so there's that.
I am considering the CGR SL and interested in your comments as you are not the first to say this about the paint or delivery scratches. Perhaps I will still with Giant bikes!
@@charlesboundy5355 It doesn't appear that my poor experience (from pick up on) is isolated I'm afraid. Now it is fettled "it'll do fine" but honestly, I won't be going back and, as an aside, for endurance I don't think I'll go carbon again - probably titanium. Enjoy your bike hunt and good luck!
Very nice Monty. A common theme I've heard from ribble bikers...the bikes are great, their customer service sucks. I have done a handful of gravel rides (next one planned in couple of weeks) but I use it on the road during the wet months or when I want a less spirited and more comfy ride. I have a cannondale topstone and my only regret is getting a carbon fibre frame.
Do you have experience riding titanium? If so, how would you compare it to the 725 steel. Comfortability, performance, weight? Been riding aluminum and all these years and I want to try a different material. Not interested in Carbon right now.
I went with size Small. Generally I do like to go smaller if there is a choice of two frame sizes that could potentially fit. I don't play a bike fitter on the internet though so I'd take advice from Ribble - you can video call them.
Absolutely hilarious while also being informative!
The chatter is great, just make a video on anything & we will get a bunch of laughs! Thoroughly enjoyed it, keep them coming.
I have the earlier rim brake version with 105 mechanical and white paint job, love it.
Love your videos, always have me grinning the entire way through!
I was taking a bike ride on my old Schwinn a few weeks ago when I was passed by a man and his two daughters. They all had shiny new baby blue bikes. They were a brand that I had never heard of. They were Ribble bikes. These are not sold in the American Midwest. I caught up with the man and asked about the bikes. He explained that brand is from England and for the money gives better value than famous US brand bikes. Your review lends credibility to his story.
I have yet to meet another Ribble rider in my area of Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada. I'm riding their Endurance SL. Great value for money.
@@flflam Look like they make good bikes. I think they are rare here in Michigan too.
hahaha, great review! Shout out to Shania Twain and your winter beast!
Welcome to the CGR 725 club. Steel is indeed real. 💪 I agree, it's fine on the road and I used it for a full winter when I first got it with Schwalbe G One tyres. It was heavy but made for good winter training. I tried it with 28mm tyres for a few rides and reckon it was only 1kph or so slower on average than my carbon road bike.
Mine arrived in good shape and the paint has held up well on the whole although I have heli-taped a few sections. I see yours has the silver chunky bottle cage bolts on the top tube. Mine had some slimline black bolts in the fork mudguard eyelets which was odd so I swapped them out for the ones on top, meaning the top tube bosses are a bit more discreet. I also lost the Union Jack I'm afraid - clashes with the beautiful orange! 😉
One thing I find quite annoying with the bike is the position of the mudguard mount on the fork crown - it points downwards from under the fork, which is a pretty stupid place for it. It meant I had to drill some SKS guards, all but making them useless for any other bike. You need a massive spacer or the guards sit miles from the tyres. All could be avoided with standard mounts on the front or back of the fork. The rear one is much the same.
The faffy guards is one of the reasons why mine has gone from being a 105 do-it-all mile muncher to 1x GRX permanent gravel basher. The Mavic Allroads were replaced with some Hunts, rolling on Goodyear Connectors, which I like. They have recently been exposed as about the slowest rolling gravel tyre known to man, but they go up and stay up, which is the main thing.
I think if someone really did want a 'quiver killer' the Ti one would be the one to go for, but like you say I wasn't a massive fan of the dropped seatstays, and it was of course £££!
Assume yours is a medium? At 5 10ish I find the reach a little long with a 100mm stem (as the Shimano brifters are mahoosive) so you were prob right to go shorter. Anyway, I win the prize for longest comment. Enjoy your winter beast... and your new bike. 😜
Love your videos! I too have a Trek Domane and your Token BB video changed my life for the better - Thanks!
Great funny review as always
More sarcastic one-liners per minute one than any other RUclipsr
Love your fantastic babble. Thumbs u p for the Ribble, I bought an Endurance TI Ultegra with carbon wheels, it's certainly a race bike with tyre clearance. Love it, would certainly get a CGR if I was in the market. Great video
Bike review [cough] aside > Humorous Rambling = A+
Love the bike and your quirky presentations 😂 What camera are you using for recording your rides?
I bought the CGR SL (i.e. carbon) a couple of years ago. in short, I won't buy another Ribble. In slightly longer, the bike rides fine (even though it was poorly assembled by them and 'pre-scratched' too, albeit in a minor way), but the paintwork is too easily chipped (I'm now at 'to buggery' level), the chain has come off the small ring too many times and damaged the frame in doing so, and post-sales service is the exact opposite of the buying process, which was very positive, like yours.
I hope that you get more fun (i.e. less anxiety and buyer's regret) from yours and going for steel was, IMHO, a good choice. Plus, you paid at least £1500 less than I did, so there's that.
I am considering the CGR SL and interested in your comments as you are not the first to say this about the paint or delivery scratches. Perhaps I will still with Giant bikes!
@@charlesboundy5355 It doesn't appear that my poor experience (from pick up on) is isolated I'm afraid. Now it is fettled "it'll do fine" but honestly, I won't be going back and, as an aside, for endurance I don't think I'll go carbon again - probably titanium. Enjoy your bike hunt and good luck!
Very nice Monty. A common theme I've heard from ribble bikers...the bikes are great, their customer service sucks.
I have done a handful of gravel rides (next one planned in couple of weeks) but I use it on the road during the wet months or when I want a less spirited and more comfy ride. I have a cannondale topstone and my only regret is getting a carbon fibre frame.
Why do u regret the carbon
@@thedownunderverse I think steel or titanium is more suitable. Carbon isn't as flexible on the terrain.
Do you have experience riding titanium? If so, how would you compare it to the 725 steel. Comfortability, performance, weight? Been riding aluminum and all these years and I want to try a different material. Not interested in Carbon right now.
Very entertaining, as ever :-)
I have discovered Yorkshire Bike Clarkson (an improvement in all regards) 🎉 hopefully more ameniable to irish men.
what size of yours? do you recomend go smaller?
I went with size Small. Generally I do like to go smaller if there is a choice of two frame sizes that could potentially fit. I don't play a bike fitter on the internet though so I'd take advice from Ribble - you can video call them.
Nope! Definitely no repetition, hesitation or deviation! 😂
Gravel bikes are naff off road and on road. Just an hybrid with drop bars