RIBBLE ENDURANCE AL DISC
£999 Lancashire's finest follows up its well-respected Audax frame
You won’t be surprised to hear that the last of our foursome is made from… 6061 T6 aluminium again, double-butted to keep the weight down without compromising strength. The kit is largely 10-speed Shimano Tiagra, which sits one level above the nine-speed Sora on the Pinnacle and Boardman and one below the Triban’s 11-speed 105. It’s mechanical disc braking for Ribble, in the form of Tektro’s MD510s, which are very similar to those on the Boardman.
We chose the standard Tiagra spec Endurance AL Disc at £999, but Ribble’s online bike builder lets you upgrade some of the kit and go for a totally customised colour scheme, at a price. You can upgrade bar, stem, wheels, tyres, seatpost and so on. Upping to a carbon post will add just £20, while speccing Zipp 303 wheels will see your wallet take a £995 hit. The choice is yours, but this degree of customisation sets the Ribble apart from its three competitors here – as well as from most £1000 bikes.
The Ribble’s aluminium frame has all the features we’ve come to expect on road bikes these days – a gently sloping top tube, a much chunkier down tube for maximum power transfer and dropped seatstays for rear-end comfort. The Ribble is the only one of our three disc-braked bikes to boast thruaxles, rather than quick release skewers, to maximise the power of the disc brakes. Its threaded bottom bracket (BB) shell makes this test a pressfit BB-free zone, which is good news for the home mechanic (or your local bike shop’s spanner-wielding crew). There’s clearance and fittings for mudguards, although the front guard screws into the lower face of the fork crown, so you may have to drill your mudguard in order to fit it.
The Ribble’s geometry hits a sweet spot between racy and endurance. The frame angles – 72.5-degree head angle and 73.6-degree seat – are the steepest here and its 995mm wheelbase is the shortest, which makes the handling pretty sharp on the flat and on descents. Its 388mm reach is just the longest here and the 551mm stack the lowest – and by a fair margin. But, at 550mm, its top tube is barely any longer than the Triban’s and its shorter than those of the Boardman and Pinnacle. It results in a very balanced riding position that’ll let you sprint when the spirit takes you, or sit up and ride at a more leisurely pace on longer days out.
The wide gearing range of the Endurance AL helps you to cope with its roughly 10kg weight, and with 10 speeds rather than nine there are smaller gaps between gears than on the Pinnacle. We stayed with the 11-32 cassette, but you could plump for 11-34 depending on your fitness and the severity of your local hills. Tiagra’s shifting action isn’t quite as light as 105’s, yet it’s still swift and accurate.
I’ve no complaints about the wheels either. Mavic’s Aksium Discs aren’t that light and, at 17mm, the inner rim width looks narrow these days, but they’re smooth runners, tough and durable – and will take tyres up to 35mm wide (though the Endurance is limited to 32mm or 25mm with mudguards). Continental’s 25mm Ultra Sport III tyres are decent, balancing reasonable rolling resistance with toughness, though I’d be tempted to upgrade when they’re worn out.
The one area I was disappointed in was the braking. The Ribble has very similar brakes to the Boardman and I have the same criticism: the Tektro cable-actuated disc brakes are okay, but you do really need to bed them in and they aren’t the equal of the Tektro’s dual-piston Spyres. They require much more effort from your hands and fingers to bring you to a halt, but they coped with everything I could throw at them. I still found the Ribble lived up to its Endurance name, however, tapping out the miles comfortably, and while its weight slows it down on hills, its well-balanced handling and comfort come into their own as your mileage adds up.
THE VERDICT
Comfortable, well-balanced ride for fast fitness riding and long days out
Abalanced riding position lets you sprint when the spirit takes you, or ride leisurely on long days out