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Unboxed: Ribble R872

Ribble's updated version of their hugely popular R872 carbon road bike

The R872 is Ribble's best-selling carbon road bike according to the brand themselves, and the new 2017 version has a stiffer head tube and bottom bracket area to make it a well-balanced option for training and racing. 

13 of the best carbon road bikes

The geometry of the bike remains unchanged due to popular demand, with a short wheelbase and small headtube to complete its racey appearance. The seatstays have an unusual bulge at the back to help with handling and add some stability, and the chainstays are oversized for greater power transfer. The bike comes with full internal cable routing, and clearance for wider tyres to keep up with current trends for increased width.  

The R872 comes Di2-ready no matter which build you opt for, and our test bike comes specced with a full Ultegra Di2 groupset. A carbon seatpost has a budget Selle Italia Flow X1 saddle atop of it, and the Fulcrum Racing Sport clincher wheels are reliable everyday alloy hoops with sealed cartridge bearings for durability. 

As with all bikes from Ribble you can customise pretty much every component on the bike. The recommended build comes in at £1,666, and our version with the Di2 upgrade comes in at £1,966. Electronic shifting and a full carbon frame for under £2k is extremely competitive, and we'll be testing soon to see if the value for money offered by the R872 is backed up by its performance - stay tuned for a full review soon. 

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Arriving at road.cc in 2017 via 220 Triathlon Magazine, Jack dipped his toe in most jobs on the site and over at eBikeTips before being named the new editor of road.cc in 2020, much to his surprise. His cycling life began during his students days, when he cobbled together a few hundred quid off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story) and bought his first road bike - a Trek 1.1 that was quickly relegated to winter steed, before it was sadly pinched a few years later. Creatively replacing it with a Trek 1.2, Jack mostly rides this bike around local cycle paths nowadays, but when he wants to get the racer out and be competitive his preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking - the latter being another long story.  

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6 comments

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skwarczek | 6 years ago
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Any chance you could venture to the South Wales Valleys to do the road test of this? Plenty of fast flat roads and hills galore to test it on........maybe i could have a cheeky ride, see if its worth me spending my own hard earned on it.....Don't ask don't getyes

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Jack Osbourne snr | 6 years ago
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Its my understanding that Terry Dolan was making Ribble frames after he sold off the Cougar brand in the mid 90's. He was doing the signature bikes that eventually became Dolan bikes as it's now known.

I have "ahem" a couple of Cougars... They're great

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vonhelmet | 6 years ago
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Terry Dolan used to work for Ribble until he went off to do his own thing.

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StraelGuy | 6 years ago
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Dolans must be pretty good. I'm only a few miles from where they're based and I see a LOT of them when I'm out on my bike.

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Morgoth985 | 6 years ago
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Good luck with your search and a big welcome to the world of drop bar road bikes.  You won't regret it!  Sorry for adding complexity to your options, but I would check out Dolan Bikes also. Quality bikes, good deals and better customer service than Ribble in my experience.  Don't know about Canyon but I've heard mixed views.

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skwarczek | 6 years ago
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Looking forward to the review of this. My choice for first ever drop bar road bike is down to this and the Canyon AL 6.0. Granted the Ribble will be the 105 groupset, so not exactly the same as this.

 

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