Ribble Allroad Carbon Ultegra Di2 Carbon

The Ribble Allroad Carbon Ultegra Di2 Carbon is aimed at riders who want a fast but comfortable machine for long rides and gruelling conditions. It’s a dependable if unexceptional ride with a few choices that limit its versatility.

Tempting as it is to copy and paste my review of the Ribble Ultra Road I looked at recently, I’m not going to do that. But the bikes are remarkably similar and Ribble specced them almost identically, which means I’ve been able to focus on the differences.

The most noticeable shift here is in posture – completely unsurprisingly. While the Ultra Road has a tighter wheelbase and longer stack and reach, the Allroad increases the wheelbase while decreasing the reach and upping the stack, resulting in a more upright riding position. It’s not sit-up-and-beg style (and I don’t think dogs should be riding bikes anyway), but in theory it should be much more comfortable over longer distances.

This did indeed prove to be the case. While a 100km ride left me feeling a bit sore on the Ultra Road, I was eager for more on the Allroad. The downside is that it lacks the confident, firm acceleration that made the Ultra Road such a blast, feeling just a little muted and dull.

The Allroad will handle just about everything you can throw at it, and it’s a natural climber, but it can feel unresponsive when cornering on fast downhills, like the frame is snaking through them rather than maintaining a positive stiffness. You have to scrub speed a little to maintain your corner entry angle.

It’s a fine bike so long as your ride is long, flat, and slightly boring, but it does take a bit of fun out of cycling’s most exhilarating moments.

Frame and finish

Ribble’s colour choices here are silver, metallic blue, or any colour you want for an extra £350. We were sent the silver one, and I always question why you’d want carbon fibre to look like cheap, unfinished aluminium, but it does have a certain advantage when locked up in urban environments.

As a frame, the Allroad is fairly feature-free. There are few concessions to aerodynamics here over a standard frame, the seatpost bolt features a collar, and there’s no hatch behind the bottle cage for you to stash your stuff. It’s nice to see that it does at least pack discreet mudguard mounts, making it a solid option for winter training rides.

Our review unit was specced with Shimano’s Di2 groupset, and its crisp shifting has really grown on me — although I still find myself looking at the front chainrings to see if I’m going up or down. The hydraulic braking is punchy and squeak-free, which is testament to Ribble’s engineers as much as Shimano’s design.

The Di2 system is complemented with a 68mm external bottom bracket plus a Universal Derailleur Hanger which, if anything, are easy to maintain and replace.

Wheels and tyres

While the frame doesn’t feature much in the way of aero, the wheels supplied here do: Mavic’s Cosmic S 42 carbon wheels make sense as hoops that offer just enough aero gains where you need them most without being too vulnerable to crosswinds. They’re happiest on tarmac, but robust and responsive enough to take on the occasional canal path or gravel track.

The Vittoria N.EXT 32mm tyres fitted here are fast becoming a firm favourite on road bikes, delivering confident speed and handling on tight corners, and the ability to handle looser, canal-path style terrain. The only time they became a bit washy was when I swerved into a gateway to get out of the way of a maniac in an SUV – but at least the driver gave me a little wave, and all was well with the world.

Ribble fitted the bike with TPU tubes as standard (apparently they do this with all carbon wheels now) and while it makes more sense than a tubeless setup out of the box, my experiences with TPUs were … mixed. I won’t go into all the gory details, but after a puncture I found myself wondering if TPU is ready for primetime, or if it’s just that Henry isn’t ready for TPU. One word of advice either way: definitely bring a spare butyl tube with you.

The Allroad also includes leeway for tyres up to 35mm, opening options for exploring off-road. You won’t be able to get chunky 40mm or 45mm gravel tyres in here though. It’s definitely more of a most-road than all-road bike.

Contact points

The SLR saddle did initially cause reservations — an almost Pavlovian fear response in my nether regions — but I actually ended up finding it just right, with a nice combination of firmness and surface area to ensure that I barely noticed it on longer rides.

The handlebars were a different matter though. It was great to have the same integrated bars I had on the Ultra Road for comparison purposes, and I’m sure the aero gains are a real thing (it feels like you’re clinging onto a mini stealth bomber), but the flattened, untaped area in the middle is uncomfortable to rest your hands on for long periods.

If you’ll be using the bike for shorter rides it makes sense, but for the Audaxes and all-dayers that are this bike’s raison d’etre, the extra hand positions of traditional rounded bars provide respite for tight elbows and shoulders. The aero bars add £700 to the price tag, but my recommendation would be to avoid them unless you feel the need for speed.

Value

The Allroad Carbon starts at just £1,799 for a Tiagra build. While this ships with lower-spec wheels and handlebars, it represents really good value for money and a perfect transition bike for MTBers looking to move into road riding via gravel.

The build we were supplied with, however, was a bit more pricey, coming in at £3,699. This puts it squarely in the all-road price bracket, alongside Giant’s Defy Advanced 1, which is marketed as an endurance bike rather than an all-roader, despite having a bigger max tyre clearance (40mm). We haven’t tested more recent versions, but back in 2023 John adored it as a do-it-all bike that could take on road rides and easier trails with equal aplomb.

At £4,299, the Canyon Endurace CF SLX 8 Di2, which Stu looked at very recently, is almost the same bike for a little more cash – although Canyon includes more bells and whistles, including an aero seatpost and a clever frame storage system. However, as with the Ribble Allroad, Stu found the ride feel unexciting.

Like the Allroad, Merida’s Scultura Endurance maxes out at 35mm for tyre width and will also take mudguards. It offers excellent ride quality and Stu found the geometry well judged. The cheapest version with a carbon frame is the £2,250 Endurance 4000, which comes with 12-speed mechanical 105.

Conclusion

I count myself relatively lucky to have been able to spend quite a big portion of the summer with the Allroad. I took it on all manner of adventures, and it proved to be perfectly adequate in the majority of situations. It was light enough (about 8kg in XL) to sling over my shoulder as I stumbled down a vertiginous path to a Devon beach, and it performed well enough to bag a few PBs on local roads.

There are areas for improvement, though. Wider tyre clearance would make this a more versatile bike that actually lives up to its name, and there’s a slightly lifeless feel to the ride. As it stands, it’s utterly solid but ultimately forgettable; a great entry point to road riding, but you might find yourself wanting to upgrade after a little while.