MikeOK

Has anyone dealt with ribblecycles.com in the UK? I’m building a new road bike and they have a smoking deal on a Ritchey carbon fork. I haven’t received a reply from Ritchey asking if they were an authorized dealer. There are Chinese knockoffs of about anything these days, especially high end items.

mcours2006

Ribble is pretty good. I placed many orders with them. Haven't done it lately just because it seemed the last few orders had duty charges.

Oldguyonoldbike

I have ordered several things from Ribble and have no complaints. Good prices, fast delivery.
Sometimes packages come through customs with no duty, other times they don't. I'm sure that depends on the customs service this end, though, and not on Ribble.

Lazyass

I doubt Ribble is selling knock off stuff.

MikeOK

Thanks guys. I had never heard of them so I’m just being cautious. They certainly look legit, and they have very good prices.

Steve B.

There's a bunch of UK based shops - Ribble, Merlin, Glory, Chain Reaction among others, that really got going a while back when the Euro/US Dollar exchange rate made prices from them pretty good. Plus they were doing free shipping to the US and stuff got here pretty fast. I got some Conti GP4S tires a while back, something like 3 days.

Prices not as good past 2 months, so pays to check the US vendors as well. Plus a place like BikeTiresDirect will price match right on the web.

Western Flyer 

Only good fast service. I've gotten great deals on Campy hardware.

Tape2012

Bought a bike from them in May 2017. Full carbon CX5 cyclocross. Their bike builder site is awesome. You choose about everything on the bike and see the effect on final price immediately.

Took about 10 days to get on the build schedule, 1 day to build. Delivery was 1 week. Good communication from them all thru the process. Bike was well packaged, took me almost an hour to unpack with minimal assembly (handle bars, front wheel, air tires up, minimal adjustments required)

Bike arrived at post office, had to pay $150 in duty when I picked it up.

Blew a tube within the first mile, but have had zero issues since. Would def buy again.

Wileyrat

I bought some Shimano wheels, new rotors, and a new Deore drivetrain from them last year with no problems.

MikeOK

Wow built in 1 day? They must have the frame in stock. I ordered a custom ti from Waltly and they have a build time of 35 days, and that’s just the frame.

realyfishy

Ribble is straight up. I've ordered quite a few times from them without any issues.

Tape2012

I don't think they put it into their build schedule until they have all the components on hand. They email if the build date changes. I ordered a stock frame, they emailed me before the build date saying that they had discontinued that frame and ran thru their existing stock and gave me options. I chose an upgraded frame (at no extra cost to me) plus they sent me a complimentary full kit for the trouble.

The only downside I saw was that once you pick a frame, you have at most 2 or 3 color schemes (sometimes only 1)

The 'all in' cost was very close to a similar Giant I found locally, but mine has all 105 components instead of Tiagra. But you can specify a mix of components if you wish.

I probably spent 8 hours over a week on their bike builder site picking and choosing. I must have virtually built about 50 bikes. Very addictive.

taz777

I recently bought a full brake set from them. Sadly the rear set had the wrong brake pads (i.e. not as advertised) and the front was not in retail packaging so was missing some small parts. I sent an email to them and Ribble sorted things out very quickly for me. So, overall a positive experience for me in terms of value for money which nobody else could even come anywhere near to but a slight issue with the original delivery of the parts. Ribble customer service was excellent in sorting things out for me.

MikeOK

Okay they replied to me and they are an authorized Ritchey dealer, so I ordered the fork. Even with the outrageous shipping I still saved $40.

Tape2012

Cool. Let us know what the duty is , if any.

MikeOK

I’m not familiar with this duty. If I have to pay who am I paying to? Or is it tacked onto my total in the checkout?

MikeOK

I got a reply from Ribble:

Providing the website is showing the correct national flag and currency for your location in the top right of the home screen when you access the website, all the duties will be calculated and charge appropriately before the order is shipped. There should be no extra to pay at customs when you order arrives.

Tape2012

Interesting. When my bike arrived at the post office here in Fresno, I had to pay $150 in duty before they would release it. I paid the post office, have no idea where the money ended up. But I have also bought components, clothing etc. where there was nothing to pay at this end. Perhaps I missed something when ordering. I do know there is no charge marked 'duty' on my original invoice.

Beach Bob

Duty is paid to the gov't. Given that you're in the USA, it's paid to Uncle Sam. Basically,governments charge a tax on imported stuff (i.e. "duty"). Normally, you have a minimum amount that you can import without tax (just like if you travel somewhere and bring stuff back) and after that you get taxed on it. Stuff coming through the mail can be hit or miss depending on a lot of things. Sometimes you might be better off by splitting one big order into two smaller ones, etc....

Also of note... pretty much everything produced in a different country gets taxed when it gets imported, just at the distributor side, not at the retail end. You've been paying duty all your life, you just didn't know it.

jitenshajin

I have bought a few things from Ribble Cycles over the years, when the price was cheaper that their competitors. They are a legitimate and long established company, with a good reputation. Probably one of the oldest in the UK? Apparently, they have been trading in Preston, Lancashire, since 1897 in one form or another. (Of course, they are well behind Pearson Cycles in Sutton, London, which is the oldest bike shop in the world. Pearson's was founded in 1860). They are named after the river which runs through Preston, Lancashire. Ribble also do business in Australia, Germany and internationally. They used to have a store in Preston until 2009, from which they did business. However in 2004, with the shift to e-commerce, they purchased a large warehouse near Preston, from which they currently trade. And no, I do not have any connection with them.

DynoD500_SR20-d

I am addicted to Ribble. Their Sale Prices and shipping cost and times are incredible. I even bought my road bike from them. Much better than anything I have seen on the net.

CGR SL

I have a CGR SL TIAGRA 7400 on order,
I ordered it the 26 of December, First build date was the 13th February cos of previous lockdown put back build dates , But with the new lockdown it got changed to the 19th of march, Then parts got stuck at the port because of Brexit build date changed to the 22nd of March, I have been in contact with them via the on line chat service and and they have been very helpful, They have sent update email saying the build will be done by the 26th March .
So for me under the present circumstances that all businesses are going through not just RIBBLE they are doing there best with what is currently happening in the world.
I can't say about other people's experiences with them in the past.
But for me good things come to those who wait.

CGR SL

I ordered using their on line bike builder wich was fun and made me think more about my build type, So done some research on the type of riding i would be doing so the Tiagra 4700 suited me for mainly road cycling, Only went for mechanical disc breaks and lower priced wheels wich made the build cheaper, Can always up grade later on wich is a nice thing to be able to do with the way the frame is made, So look into your riding style first don't necessarily need the fancy stuff to start with.