RIBBLE ENDURANCE SL ULTEGRA DISC

£2709 › Our best value road Bike of the Year 2019 earns its commuter stripes

Like many of you, I let our expert test team – Warren, Simon and Robin – put in thousands of hard miles during the wettest and coldest months of their year and then pick my next bike from our massive Bike of the Year test. Of course, I do have a slight advantage in that I can make a quick call to the brand whose bike most tickles my fancy and ask them if I can hang on to it for a bit.!

This year I’ve opted to keep hold of a bike that a) re"ects what I could actually - just about - stretch to if I were to take advantage of interest free #nance and b) genuinely impressed me during testing.

So, for the next few months I’ll be seeing if my #rst impressions, and Warren’s more extensive testing conclusions, of the Ribble Endurance SL Ultegra Disc are borne out by, hopefully, almost daily use. In our BotY test, Warren was impressed by a ride that he said could be “described as luxurious”. That comfort was the #rst thing that struck me about the Endurance – it felt like the sort of bike that I could happily sit on for long days. And that’s ideal as I’m riding really slowly at the moment so even short rides mean that I’m spending a lot of time in the saddle!

I was also impressed with the equipment levels – I’m no tinkerer so a bike that comes with full hydraulic Shimano Ultegra and hill-friendly Mavic Kysrium Elite UST wheels [1] that I won’t need to upgrade suits me perfectly. I’ll likely change the Fizik Arione R5 saddle as although I’m many things, the "exible ‘snake’ this seat is designed for isn’t one of them.

It’s early days and the Ribble is in commute mode – hence the Cycliq Fly 12 [2] and Fly6 light/HD camera set (gulp, £395), Upgrade Discreet Mini Bell (£10) and Ass Saver ’guard (£10) – and as a daily ride it’s proving a perfect companion.

A comfortable, highly specced and easy-to-ride bike that fits within most riders’ budgets