Matt Bostock’s Ribble Ultra SL R Disc

Race bike that makes an art form out of aero

With a custom paintjob that looks as though it’s come straight from the brush of Roy Lichtenstein, Matt Bostock’s Ribble Ultra SL R is hard to miss.

The Ribble Rebellion rider’s performance at the recent Eddie Soens Memorial, where this photo was taken, was equally impossible to ignore. The Manxman animated the handicap race in the final few laps of the Aintree circuit, closing the gap on the leaders on several occasions before being pipped at the line in a sprint by Jack Hartley.

Beneath the striking colours – the bars and forks of each Ribble Rebellion rider’s bike are unique to them – Bostock’s Ultra SL R is the quintessential modern aero bike. The frameset is a monocoque design built using a combination of Toray T1000 and T800 carbon. Its deep tube shapes are born from computational fluid dynamics as well as both wind-tunnel and real-world testing.

“The power transfer you get through both the frame and the cockpit is noticeable straight away,” Bostock told Cycling Weekly. “It’s the fastest road bike I’ve ever ridden, and paired with the Mavic SL 65 wheels, it honestly just feels better the faster you go on it.”

The crit racing focus of the new Rebellion team is evident in many of Bostock’s component choices. The Shimano Ultegra Di2 R8100 groupset features 56/44 Rotor aero chainrings, with the deep-section Mavic rims shod with grippy Grand Prix 5000s. But it’s not all about straight-line speed.

“We’ve recently been on a training camp in Girona, putting the bikes to the test, and not only are they unbelievably fast but they still climb extremely well for an aero-focused bike,” says Bostock.