Ribble Sportive Racing Disc

The rim-braked Sportive Racing model has been in Ribble's line-up for a while, but the new Sportive Racing Disc gives you even more options if you're after a quick mile-muncher for those long summer jaunts or a year-round commuter. Not only do you get disc brakes, you also have the option of fitting full mudguards and larger 28mm tyres, though our test bike came with 25s; 28mm tyres might help tame the firm ride.

• Pros: Clearance for 28mm tyres and full length mudguards
• Cons: A firm ride for a sportive-monickered bike

Just over a year ago I tested the Ribble Sportive Racing Special Edition and pretty much everything I said there stands for this disc version, because it is virtually the same frame.

There have been some tweaks to the rear triangle to accommodate the wider hub spacing and brake callipers, but little else. Well, apart from the 12mm thru-axle, a now near-industry standard for frames running disc brakes.

The fork is brand new with larger legs in terms of their cross sectional area to resist the braking forces, plus it uses a thru-axle and has internal routing for the brake cable or, in this case, hydraulic hosing.

The ride

The biggest issue I had with the Sportive Racing, and it's a pretty fundamental one, was the ride quality; it was just too firm for the style of riding intended. And I have to say, little has changed with this new model. A bike with Sportive in the name is presumably intended to cover big miles, and after rides of three to four hours I really knew I'd been on the Ribble. There doesn't seem to be much compliance manufactured into the frame or fork through the design and carbon fibre layup.

It's not just the big hits that can take their toll on your contact points, but that constant buzz from poor road surfaces just tapping away at the nerves and muscles in your arms and wrists; it can be quite a fatiguing bike to ride, especially on unknown roads.

It is fast, though. With this much stiffness you certainly don't suffer any feeling of power loss at the bottom bracket when you really want to get a shift on, whether that's accelerating hard or monstering the bike up one of those short, sharp power climbs.

Press-fit bottom brackets are quickly going out of favour thanks to creaking and movement issues, but they do create a wider and larger bottom bracket shell to fit the oversize diameter down tube and chunky chainstays into.

The Ribble seems to belie its 8.64kg weight too, feeling much lighter than that, especially once you've got it moving. Changing pace to deal with traffic, conditions or other riders around you is easy and smooth.

Up front the head tube, as you'd expect, is tapered, with the bottom diameter being larger than the top. This in turn allows for a larger diameter fork steerer and crown for increased stiffness under braking and steering loads. You certainly notice this on technical descents where you are braking hard into a tight bend.

The fork works well too with its larger, stiffer legs giving an ever-so-slightly sharper turn in than the rim brake-equipped bike.

This Disc model still suffers from the same handling issues as I mentioned in the rim brake version's review, though. The stiff frame mutes any delicate feedback from tyres to rider, making it difficult to put in little adjustments to your body position or braking to tweak your line mid-bend.

It's still a decent enough descender, but you just have to work a little bit harder to keep it flowing through the corners, with the frame and fork bouncing about over small road imperfections and the like. There is a lot of clutter in the feedback and having to decipher it feels like you are on a small time delay, so you just miss the entry to the apex, for example.

With a tall 176mm head tube on this medium size you are quite high up at the front, which means you can't quite stretch your body out to get a low centre of gravity to help flick the bike from side to side.

I'm not trying to make out that the Ribble has an uncomfortable or bad frameset, in fact when you put everything together it is a decent performer. It's just that it's a bit on the aggressive, stiff side for the style of bike.

The frame has some pretty racy geometry, with steepish angles at the head (73 degrees) and seat (73.5 degrees), but with a stack of 585mm and reach of 385mm you get a ratio that sits somewhere between an endurance bike and a race steed, exactly as the Sportive Racing name would have you expect.

The frame

The frame itself is made up of a mixture of Toray's T700 and T800 grade carbon fibres and it looks good to the eye. Obviously under a layer of paint it's difficult to see imperfections, but there was nothing I could feel or hear that would suggest anything other than this being a good frame.

It's followed the latest trend of flat mount brake callipers for the discs, and as I mentioned earlier you get thru-axles at both ends which is a neat touch as they resist the twisting forces under really heavy braking, especially at the fork.

You also get internal cable routing with a removable cover under the bottom bracket for access, which keeps road spray and gunk away from the cables, plus there are entry and exit ports for electronic groupsets.

There is also a full complement of bosses for fitting full length mudguards, although these aren't found in the usual position at the dropouts, so there might be a little bit of fiddling and fettling when it comes to fitting more traditional guards.

This Disc model being able to take 28mm tyres is another plus, because that is one way you can go to reducing the harshness of the frame by running lower pressures. Another place would be to use a shim to drop the 31.6mm diameter seatpost down to a 27.2mm for a little added flex.

Spec as you like

The great thing about buying a Ribble is the sheer number of options available to you thanks to its Bikebuilder. You can choose from entry-level, which could be a £1,280 Tiagra Hydro build with the same wheels as this one and entry-level Deda components, not bad for the money, or if you really want to go custom you can enter the Advanced Bikebuilder and the world is your oyster.

Ribble always offers a 'recommended build', a specification that sits about right with the frame level and offers a good value for money build, and that's what we've got here. For your £1,604 you get a full Shimano 105 Hydro groupset, Fulcrum Racing Sport DB wheels and mid-range Deda finishing kit.

Shimano's 105 is a great groupset pretty much appearing on the majority of bikes at this price point. The shifting is slick even under load and it's tough as old boots. For an in-depth look you can read our review of the mechanical version here. Our setup came with a compact 50/34t chainset and an 11-28t 11-speed cassette, offering a pretty decent spread of gears for most occasions. This is something you can obviously tweak at the point of sale, though.

On the hydraulic side of things, the RS505 shifters don't have the same defined click as their mechanical cousins when it comes to the gear changing, plus I don't find their shape as comfortable to use.

The braking was pretty good though, using the 140mm rotors front and rear with the BR-RS505 callipers, especially once everything had bedded in. They certainly aren't the best or most powerful brakes I've used, but they are consistent.

Fulcrum's Racing Sport DB wheelset is seen on quite a lot of bikes at this price point and I've always found them to be a solid, dependable set of hoops. They aren't the lightest but are absolutely fine when it comes to spinning up to speed. I can't really see any reason to upgrade them unless you spend a lot of time in the hills.

They're shod with a pair of Continental Ultra Sport wire bead tyres, so you could definitely shave some weight there, but again, these are good performers with plenty of grip and puncture resistance. Rolling resistance felt fine as well.

Up front, the cockpit comes from Deda, its Zero 100 bar and stem, and they bring a touch of class to the bike as the Italian brand manages to make even its cheapest kit look decent with smart branding and logos. You can also pick and choose your stem and bar length.

The Selle Italia X1 Flow saddle sits atop a Superleggera carbon seatpost and it's a reasonable seat for not much money, even if it does take a bit of bedding in to soften it up a bit.

Value

When it comes to value the Ribble is playing quite a hand. For instance, Canyon's closest model, the Endurace CF SL Disc 7.0, comes in at £1,799 excluding P&P for a very similar build. The Endurace is renowned for its excellent ride and handling, plus it is a little more aggressive than the Ribble so that could swing it for you.

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Or what about a Giant? This Defy Advanced 3, for example, that Mat tested a while back, is heavier at 9.5kg and has Tiagra for its £1,549 price tag, but again it also has a very nice ride quality.

And that, really, is what it will come down to. The deciding factor on whether you plump for the Ribble Sportive Racing Disc or not: how appealing is that firm ride quality to you?

Verdict

A quick bike for long distance rides, as long as you're a fan of the firm ride