The Ribble Ultra-Road is the Lancashire-based company’s newest entrant to the endurance bike segment, combining an aero-optimised frame with a comfortable, less racy riding position – a bike for the people, if you will.
Ribble reckons a large portion of the cycling demographic rides the wrong bikes and adopts fits more akin to professional road racers. As a result, the Ribble Ultra-Road’s more upright riding position offers an all-round platform for long-distance epics but can also handle fast group rides, crit races and adventures in the mountains, too.
Despite its endurance focus, the ‘Ultra’ moniker places it among the Ultra-Race, Ultra-Aero, and Ultra-Grit, making it the brand’s flagship performance endurance bike. This idea, however, is nothing new: the Canyon Endurace, Cannondale Synapse, Pinarello X Series, and Specialized Roubaix follow the same blueprint, but Ribble has added more value and made it more accessible.
(Image credit: Aaron Borrill)
Design details
With a blueprint inspired by the Ribble Ultra-Race, the Ultra-Road utilises the very same aerodynamic learnings and carbon-fibre layup. This comprises Toray M46 and T1000-grade carbon fibre, presented in a tidy, aero-informed design package, and employed exclusively for its low weight and propensity to minimise road buzz and vibration. The aero-look carbon seatpost has been included for its fatigue-resisting properties.
Latest Videos FromCycling Weekly
While it’s a beautiful-looking bike, its silhouette is generic and follows the now-standard dropped seatstay configuration used across the industry. The wide-set fork and profiling along the head and downtube, however, add some semblance of individuality, with shaping and aero bottle-cage integration borrowed from the Ultra Race.
The Ultra Road comes in three colourways, slate grey metallic (pictured here), damson metallic, and iridescent white metallic, each of which looks appreciably posh and neutral (custom colours are also available but at an extra cost). The Ribble wordmark on the downtube and fork is finished in a brushed aluminium-look treatment, complementing the grey metallic paint of our test bike quite superbly.
Despite the aerodynamic credentials, the Ultra-Road adopts a shorter reach and higher stack than traditional race bikes for improved comfort and a less cramped riding position. According to Ribble, the idea lets the rider “sustain an aerodynamic position and maximum power for longer, along with improved feel and handling”.
Tyre clearance is pegged at 38mm – ample for this segment but drops to 32mm if you opt to pair the bike with mudguards.
(Image credit: Richard Butcher)
Specifications
Specification-wise, the Ultra-Road is available with a host of electronic groupsets from Shimano and SRAM. Our test bike arrived with a SRAM Force AXS groupset, complete with a power meter, 48/35T, 10-36T chainset, and 170mm cranks. There’s a lot of carbon-fibre components on offer, including the Ribble integrated bar and stem, and seatpost.
It also has a neat-looking downtube storage compartment (compatible with the Ribble Rift Tool Wrap) and a UDH dropout, ensuring compatibility with all current and upcoming groupsets. Mavic Cosmic S 42mm wrapped in 32mm Vittoria Corsa Next tyres and a Selle Italia SLR Advan Superflow saddle round out the build.
Our test bike weighed 8.04 kg, spot on with the claimed 8kg and in line with endurance-themed rivals with similar specifications.
(Image credit: Richard Butcher)
Performance
Ribble has made sure not to segregate riders with the Ultra-Road and has designed it to cover an impressive spread of riders’ heights, starting at 4’11 for the XXS to 6’4″ for the XL model. This has been achieved by keeping the angles fairly consistent across the geometry chart.
It’s a very impressive bike overall, difficult to fault and easy to praise. It feels surefooted in the corners and agile when changing direction. Straight-line speed is good, too, with the Ultra-Road reacting well to pedalling inputs and out-the-saddle accelerations, allowing it to get up to speed quickly. While aerodynamics are impossible to quantify without a wind tunnel, it doesn’t particularly feel like an endurance bike. It feels very comfortable, but it still conveys a strong sense of speed, and the position isn’t as upright as you’d expect.
(Image credit: Richard Butcher)
At 8kg, it’s neither light nor heavy, but I do feel the industry places too much emphasis on system weight. Unless you’re traversing double-digit gradients for long periods, you’re never at a disadvantage, especially in the UK, where shorter, punchier terrain is the order of the day. As a result, it’s light enough to dispatch the ups without much bother and weightier enough to ensure you sail down the other side at speed.
The handling is neutral and confidence-inspiring, letting the rider trust the front end on turn-in and enabling the bike to flow through corners with no twitchiness or vagueness from the handlebars or underpinnings. The Mavic Cosmic wheels, shod with 32mm Vittoria Corsa Next, were surprisingly good. Mavic is not a common OEM rolling-stock option these days, but the wheels did the job. If anything, upgrading the tyres to something lighter and more supple would do wonders for the tactile communication and maybe even improve grip and rolling resistance.
That said, the tyre configuration performed decently throughout the test and also helped soften road buzz and vibration thanks to lower tyre pressure. You can boost comfort even more with wider tyres, but this will also increase weight by a smidgeon.
(Image credit: Richard Butcher)
Value
The endurance segment is a tricky space to navigate, with options at both ends of the spectrum. Ribble, however, has made a concerted effort to balance value with performance, and the Ultra-Road echoes this with a formidable range boasting builds to suit a variety of price points. There’s even a £2,599/$3,480 Shimano 105 option for those who still prefer the tactile and deliberate shift action of mechanical actuation.
While the range-topping Zipp-wheeled models are far from the priciest in the segment, they top out at £6,999/$8,700 and £6,499/$8,100 for SRAM Red AXS and Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, respectively (both models are cheaper with Mavic Cosmic wheels); the £4,599/$6,400 Force AXS build is a more appealing option, as is the £4,199/$5,500 Ultegra Di2 version.
You’ll also need to consider its closest competitors from Specialized and Cannondale, the £6,999/$8,499 Roubaix SL8 Pro and £6,995/$7,499 Synapse Carbon 2 SmartSense, neither of which can match the homegrown British theme and impressive pricing.
Scoring breakdown
|
Design details |
The visuals are premium and Ribble has put a lot of effort in to achieve this look. The slate-grey metallic and brushed-aluminium-style logos help the bike stand out among the rabble of mediocre offerings in the segment. |
10 |
|
Specifications |
While there’s no top-tier parts here, the SRAM Force AXS groupset is superb, boasting a power meter and 170mm cranks. The Mavic Cosmic S wheels are a real strong point of the build as carbon-fibre is often ditched for cheaper, alloy equivalents. |
10 |
|
Weight |
Ribble has managed to balance this build impressively and the result is a 8kg system weight. As I mentioned in my review, I feel the industry places too much emphasis of this attribute – 8kg is not heavy. |
10 |
|
Performance and handling |
It’s a fairly balanced package, offering good top end matched to predictable handling. At this price point, it punches above its weight. |
10 |
|
Value |
At £4,599/$6,400, the Ribble Ultra-Road Force AXS offers incredible bang for buck. Set your brand snobbery aside, and you’ll be rewarded with a solid and reliable package that also gets a lifetime frame and fork warranty. |
10 |
|
Overall |
Row 5 – Cell 1 |
100% |
Tech spec
- Price: £4,599/$6,400
- Brand: Ribble
- Frame: Ribble T1000 and M46 carbon-fibre construction
- Fork: Ribble T1000 and M46 carbon-fibre construction
- Weight: 8.04kg (small)
- Sizes: XXS, XS, S, M, L, XL
- Levers: SRAM Force AXS
- Brakes: SRAM Force AXS
- Rear derailleur: SRAM Force AXS
- Front derailleur: SRAM Force AXS
- Crankset: SRAM Force 48/35T
- Cassette: SRAM Force AXS 10-36T
- Chain: SRAM Force
- Wheels: Mavic Cosmic S 42mm
- Tyres: Vittoria Corsa Next tyres 32mm
- Bar/stem: Ribble integrated bar and stem
- Seatpost: Ribble Comfort-Flex Carbon
- Saddle: Selle Italia SLR Advan Superflow
