qwe

I've been a casual rider but looking to get more into biking, so I'm shopping to upgrade my bike from an around town MTB/hybrid. Can someone help me figure out if this bike would be appropriate for going on longer rides (~20-30 miles) and what the fair price should be?

Awesome commuter!

Thanks!

Andy_K 

If it fits you it would be suitable for longer rides. If you're around 5'7" to 5'10" there's a pretty good chance it will fit you. The price seems reasonable if it is in good working order.

qwe

How would you compare this with other road bikes?

Darth Lefty 

Ribble is a UK mail order shop so they are unusual to see in the States. I seem to recall @tsl has one

Andy_K 

It's hard to say. As Darth Lefty notes Ribble is a UK online shop. They sell bikes with their name on them, but they aren't really known as a bike manufacturer (a term which is usually a misnomer anyway). I would guess the frame is probably a fairly basic copy of common road bike designs, very possibly even built in the same Taiwanese factory that produces the frames for better known brands. The "7005" almost certainly refers to the specific aluminum alloy used for the frame tubing. It's nothing spectacular but can be built into a solid frame at a reasonable weight. Nobody is going to see you on the street and think "ooh, wow, look at that Ribble bike" but it will probably perform as well as an aluminum framed bike from Trek or Specialized.

The components are entry level Campagnolo stuff and not the latest generation (also not all Veloce as the seller states), but even entry level Campagnolo stuff is very good. The sellers' claim that the parts alone are worth what he's asking for the bike is pretty much accurate if they aren't too worn. Hardly any mass produced bikes come with Campagnolo components, so it's hard to find something to compare it to directly. Also Campy, Shimano and SRAM all function and feel different, so comparisons between their product lines are always dubious at best, but if you pressed me to make such a comparison I'd say this group is on par with one of Shimano's 10-speed 105 groups or SRAM Rival. Bike nerds might see your bike and say "ooh, wow, look at those Campy components."

The wheels look pretty nice, and are likely quite light. If you weigh over 200 pounds or so and are prone to hitting curbs, potholes or rocks they might give you some trouble because of the low spoke count, but if you are lighter or are in the habit of lifting yourself off the saddle before hitting things they should be fine (and they might be OK anyway -- I've read good reports about Campagnolo wheels).

The one thing you should be aware of is that Campagnolo parts are less common and not compatible with SRAM and Shimano parts that you can get for cheap. For instance, if you ever need to replace the cassette you'll need a Campy-compatible cassette which generally means spending more than you would for a Shimano or SRAM cassette. Of course, if you keep the chain clean and replace it every 2-3000 miles you probably won't need to replace the cassette for a long time. Campagnolo tries to pretend that you need to buy their chains too, but I don't think that's true. If you ever wanted a second wheelset, you'd need something compatible with Campagnolo cassettes, but those can be found at reasonable prices.

tsl

I sure do. I bought mine as a bare frame only, then built it up myself, from components I had.

I think it compares favorably to both my Trek Portland (also aluminum), and amazingly enough, my titanium Litespeed Classic.

I've had mine for three years now. It's a nice bike. Nothing wrong with it at all, unless you're a steel fetishist. It's full name is the Ribble 7005 Winter/Audax. Audax is British for what we in the States call a Randonneuring bike. Randonees are rides the last 200, 400, 600 or 1200 kilometers, so you really want something that's comfortable over the distance, and this bike is.

As a commuter, it's also happy. It has eyelets in the back for a luggage rack, and it will fit full fenders at both ends.

You'll see on the Ribble web site that it says it will only fit full fenders over 23mm tires. This is a very conservative estimate. In fact, I run 28mm tires on mine under full fenders. The trick for this is to mount the rear fender with Reacharounds Fender Brackets. If you look closely at the rear brake on mine, you'll see them. (EDIT: I know nothing about Campy brakes, so maybe there's more clearance, or maybe less. I put Shimano BR-R650 brakes on mine.)



I think the price in the ad is a bit ambitious for a five-year-old rig, but I also don't keep up with pricing on Campy components. Maybe they don't depreciate as fast.

qwe

Thanks for all the info. How ambitious do you think the price is?

tsl

I can't say for certain. I don't buy or sell used bikes enough to be able to say.

(I've never visited let alone posted in C&V before, and I wouldn't have known about your post had it not been for Darth Lefty mentioning me. For the record, this bike is neither Classic nor Vintage.)

When I bought mine, the frame was $130, the fork $115, headset $25 for $270, plus trans-Atlantic air freight $80, $350 total. (Remember that I built mine up with components I already had.)

At current prices and exchange rate (remembering that the GBP has just tanked against all foreign currencies due to the Brexit vote, and it remains volatile), frame, fork and headset are $185. (Hmmm... Maybe I should pick up a spare...)

A Ribble build with a Campy Veloce compact double groupset (yours is a triple which would be a bit more) and the same Campagnolo Khamsin ASY G3 clincher wheelset, tips the scales at $860 plus shipping, which last I checked was still $80. For the record, that build includes Campy brakes, not Tekro as shown on yours.

This is a cheap bike to begin with. Not to be confused with shoddy or POS, but it's by no means high-end. Reasonable entry-level about says it. "Seems ambitious" is as far as I'll venture, given my inexperience with the used market.

If you do buy this one, please do the world a favor and either get a second bottle cage or move that single one to the downtube, where God intended single bottle cages to be.