2012 Ribble Evo-Pro Carbon

[enkei]

In terms of bang for buck, this might be my best score ever. From a quoted £1,000 new in 2012 to £200 yesterday.

CF frame appears to be in excellent condition, especially given the fact that it's 11 years old now. Only a few minor scratches here and there.

Tiagra 4600 10x2 groupset, Ribble-branded rim brakes, Shimano R50 wheels, Deda alu bars/stem, Cinelli alu seat post and a rather unglamorous Selle Italia Gel saddle. The Gatorskins look to have plenty of life in them. Even came with Boardman pedals that I discovered to my surprise are Keo-compatible. WINNING!

Gave it a bath, re-seated the wheels properly in the dropouts, carefully unsiezed the brake pivot bolts and re-centred the brakes. I'm actually impressed with the bite and power of the brakes, at least at the low speeds I 'achieve'.

My cheap luggage scale claims the bike weighs 9.2kg all-in. I'd love to get it into the 8s. I assume I can shave off quite a bit by dipping into the 105/Ultegra parts bin for crankset (I'd like to go shorter than the 172.5 arms fitted anyway) and brakes. I had already ordered a fancy-schmanzy 3D-printed CF saddle from AliExpress (recommended by Trace Velo here).

I suppose some 'nicer' wheels wouldn't go amiss, either.

Just need to give the bike some fresh cables and fettle the shifting a tad but it's already been a blast on today's shakedown ride.

   

[Painkiller]

Looks good, all business

[enkei]

(07-06-2023, 05:05 PM)Painkiller Wrote:  Looks good, all business

Cheers, Painkiller!

[Jesper]

Wow! Great price on a nice complete ride there. I am surprised that the brand new price was that low for Ribble CF bike even 10 years ago. I guess it was due to it having a lower tier Shimano group on it.
You should have no problem dropping some weight with some component changes. It would look outstanding with a CF post and crankset.

[enkei]

(07-09-2023, 08:42 PM)Jesper Wrote:  Wow! Great price on a nice complete ride there. I am surprised that the brand new price was that low for Ribble CF bike even 10 years ago. I guess it was due to it having a lower tier Shimano group on it.
You should have no problem dropping some weight with some component changes. It would look outstanding with a CF post and crankset.

Thanks!

I've already put an Ultegra 6500 rear brake calliper on it cuz the Ribble calliper's QR cam wasn't behaving. Oddly enough, the Shimano callipers a few grammes heavier than the Ribble, LOL.

I researched the relative weights of the Cinelli alloy seat post vs CF options and there didn't seem to be much difference. Maybe I'm wrong?

After an hour of futzing with the rear shifter, I still couldn't get it to shift right. Acting on a hunch, I figured out that yes, a previous owner has fitted a Tiagra 4700 rear derailleur — the only generation of Shimano 10-speed groups set that doesn't play nice with other Shimano 10-speed, LOL.

Still very ridable though, just have to click the brifter twice to change up/down around 3rd gear and can't get onto the biggest sprocket at the back.

So, the next question is: do I stick with 10 speed or replace the entire groupset with something newer, lighter and 11 speed? This would force a new rear wheel, too.

Decisions, decisions...

[Jesper]

I'm not too knowledgeable on newer indexing. I use the early Shimano indexing groups as friction since it does not bother me and I was not big fan of the brifter
aesthetics (I think old style brakes look better and sleeker). Indexing is nice for racing and city riding if shifting a lot. I tend to stay in a 3 gear range unless in the hills where I have a separate bike with old style bar end shifters.
I would think that if you are happy enough with the rear wheel and cluster range that you should just swap out the RD for one that indexes properly.

[enkei]

(07-10-2023, 04:21 AM)Jesper Wrote:  I'm not too knowledgeable on newer indexing. I use the early Shimano indexing groups as friction since it does not bother me and I was not big fan of the brifter
aesthetics (I think old style brakes look better and sleeker). Indexing is nice for racing and city riding if shifting a lot. I tend to stay in a 3 gear range unless in the hills where I have a separate bike with old style bar end shifters.
I would think that if you are happy enough with the rear wheel and cluster range that you should just swap out the RD for one that indexes properly.

As someone who started cycling in the 70s & 80s, I appreciate the old downtube & bar-end shifters, as well as not having to having to faff about setting up indexed shifting.

However, I also really enjoy the crisp performance of more modern gear, as well as the vastly superior braking from well-engineered, stiff callipers )to say nothing of disc brakes.)

---

Did another round of tuning/servicing/riding-position adjustment, which gave me some more weights:

1. The Boardman KEO-compatible pedals weigh 260g for the pair. I fitted a spare pair of proper KEO pedals, which are 6g heavier but reduce the stance width by several mm compared to the Boardmans.

2. The Cinelli alloy seatpost (31.6mm) weighs 298g so clearly, there's scope to shave off 50-100g by going to a CF seatpost. Alas, decent CF seat posts seem to cost at least half of what I paid for the bike, LOL.

3. The saddle is a Selle Italia X-Race. So far, I've found it less than comfortable. Also, it weighs 368g so hopefully, my new Chinesium CF saddle turns out to be comfortable and durable while saving around 200g.

4. will install a 'new' Dura-Ace 7800 short-cage bought on the bay. If it ever shows up... (after nearly 48 hours, vendor apparently still hasn't shipped it. Seriously, who doesn't ship within 24 hours? sigh...)

[Jesper]

(07-12-2023, 09:07 AM)enkei Wrote:  

(07-10-2023, 04:21 AM)Jesper Wrote:  I'm not too knowledgeable on newer indexing. I use the early Shimano indexing groups as friction since it does not bother me and I was not big fan of the brifter
aesthetics (I think old style brakes look better and sleeker). Indexing is nice for racing and city riding if shifting a lot. I tend to stay in a 3 gear range unless in the hills where I have a separate bike with old style bar end shifters.
I would think that if you are happy enough with the rear wheel and cluster range that you should just swap out the RD for one that indexes properly.

As someone who started cycling in the 70s & 80s, I appreciate the old downtube & bar-end shifters, as well as not having to having to faff about setting up indexed shifting.

However, I also really enjoy the crisp performance of more modern gear, as well as the vastly superior braking from well-engineered, stiff callipers )to say nothing of disc brakes.)

---

Did another round of tuning/servicing/riding-position adjustment, which gave me some more weights:

1. The Boardman KEO-compatible pedals weigh 260g for the pair. I fitted a spare pair of proper KEO pedals, which are 6g heavier but reduce the stance width by several mm compared to the Boardmans.

2. The Cinelli alloy seatpost (31.6mm) weighs 298g so clearly, there's scope to shave off 50-100g by going to a CF seatpost. Alas, decent CF seat posts seem to cost at least half of what I paid for the bike, LOL.

3. The saddle is a Selle Italia X-Race. So far, I've found it less than comfortable. Also, it weighs 368g so hopefully, my new Chinesium CF saddle turns out to be comfortable and durable while saving around 200g.

4. will install a 'new' Dura-Ace 7800 short-cage bought on the bay. If it ever shows up... (after nearly 48 hours, vendor apparently still hasn't shipped it. Seriously, who doesn't ship within 24 hours? sigh...)

I do have some indexing systems on newer bikes (late 90s plus), and I do like them when properly set up so i can see the reasoning behind it. I have one CF post (used Campy). I do not use it. It is scuffed, but not damaged. I think it is 32.? something. I need to check. If interested PM me, it will be fairly inexpensive aside from postage to the UK.

[enkei]

(07-12-2023, 10:20 PM)Jesper Wrote:  I have one CF post (used Campy). I do not use it. It is scuffed, but not damaged. I think it is 32.? something. I need to check. If interested PM me, it will be fairly inexpensive aside from postage to the UK.

Thanks for the offer. The Cinelli alloy seat post currently fitted is bang-on 31.6mm, so any replacement needs to be exactly that.

[enkei]

Saddle arrived from China in just 8 days. Nicely packaged and looks well made. My scales say it weighs 166g.

Bike now weighs in at 8.88kg. Time will tell if the saddle is durable and suits my derrière.

   

   

[enkei]

Done a few hours of riding on this saddle now. It seems to suit my rear end. #winning

[enkei]

Received my first lot of the TPU tubes I'm planning to try on this bike. You can read the update here.

[enkei]

First order of tubes (two 2-packs) arrived as one 2-pack of tubes and some other useless piece of plastic from China. So, I ordered 4 more tubes from another supplier (AliExpress refunded me 50% of the cost of the first order). Those just arrived, so when I head out on my pioneering TPU trial, I'll have a few spares just in case.

Just replaced the butyl tubes in the bike with TPU tubes. Bike now weighs 8.65kg including saddle and pedals. Let's see how much air is still in the tyres tomorrow morning...