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Ribble R872 105SE vs Planet X ProCarbon SRAM Rival?

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  • July 24, 2017 at 9:19 pm #27396
    Punches Dragons

    I’ve just started getting into Sportives and am currently riding a 2016 Cube Attain. No problems with the bike but I am thinking of taking advantage of the bike to work scheme to make an upgrade, as it’s the only way my wife will let me spend a £1000 on a bike and spending any more money on significant upgrades is also out. Two options seem to make sense at the current prices:

    • The Ribble R872 105SE which seems to have a very well reviewed frame, albeit with a few complaints of a lack of compliance on longer rides, full 105 groupset and what appears to be a very basic set of Rodi Airline 5 Wheels. I’d guess that Ribble’s thought process is that these would be the first thing to be upgraded but as mentioned above, it’s pretty unlikely I’ll get to upgrade them. another downside is I’d have to pay an additional £100 Admin fee, so save money from the tax man but pay it to Ribble instead.
    • The Planet X ProCarbon is a bit lighter and has a better set of wheels, Vision 35’s, and a more compliant frame but there is just no up to date review available. It has a full SRAM Rival groupset(I am not bothered about if I have Shimano or SRAM). On the downside there are a few mentions on Forum posts that the bike suffers from high speed wobble at speeds over 40mph (I am not sure I’ve even gone that fast yet!) and that the front fork is a little springy when sprinting. 

    I am 40 years old, 5ft10 and currently weigh 14st (that is going down but I doubt I’ll ever weigh less than 13). I am looking to enter short and middle distance sportives next year, with maybe one longer distance one and will probably join a cycle club next year. And of course I’ll be riding it to work!!

    Any constructive advice welcome, particularly if you have experience of the bikes in question. If you do have alternatives to offer please remember I can only buy through the bike 2 works vouchers so please don’t suggest anything that cannot be purchased that way or costs more than a grand, regardless of how brilliant it is.

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  • August 6, 2017 at 8:09 pm #897967
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    Johnnystorm

    Playing Devil’s advocate for
    Playing Devil’s advocate for a moment. You want to buy a certain brand of bike because it’s the best vfm. This is in part because the retailer doesn’t have a huge margin.

    You begrudge them charging £100 extra for the hassle of going through a C2W scheme, something that means they dont get full payment for because the c2w company take a slice for the privilege of doing some admin with your employer.

    Also, right at the beginning you’re quite open that you’re happy to dodge paying tax yourself because you have no intention of actually commuting on the bike (I realise you aren’t the first to do this).

    If you want to have a whinge, have a gp at tour employer for being lazy and not doing the admin themselves and just paying the shop in cash saving younthe admin fee, instead they’ve employed the services of a third party, so your direct sales bike firm has another tier to pay for, the whole thing their business model avoids.

    Frankly, with end of year discounts and 0% finance deals C2W is a waste of time considering the hassle.

    August 6, 2017 at 7:47 pm #897965
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    Roadie_john

    Ribble and PX are great if

    Ribble and PX are great if you know exactly what you want, but the punitive buy-back rates for the C2W scheme for bikes over £400 and the admin fees mean that you’re better off not bothering and just paying cash. Both are generally OK service wise (Ribble have been good on the few occasions I’ve had to go back to them…)

    For C2W, and especially if you want after sales or don’t do your own maintenance, go to an LBS. At about 1k there’s lots out there and the differences are pretty minimal. There’s no practical difference between big brand alu and cheap carbon. Ribble and PX are cheap, but that will evaporate in other costs pretty quickly.

    August 6, 2017 at 6:56 pm #897963
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    Johnnyvee

    I live near ish to planet x

    I live near ish to planet x and have been in a few times.  Last year I test rode a couple of bikes but they really weren’t that interested in sorting me out something that fitted.  Being well over 6 foot it was a case of if you buy the bike and it’s too small fit a longer stem.  I also asked about the admin fee and why it was a percentage and not a flat rate as surely filling in a form for one bike takes the same amount of time as another.  They were pretty unhelpful throughout.

    I went elsewhere and hit an absolute bargain in Evans. They let me test ride quite a few bikes to narrow it down and were great with my c2w voucher.

    As others have said I think you really need to invest in test riding a few rather than buying something that you may not like or regret. 

    There are also some good sites like bikesales.org that can point you towards bargains once you’ve narrowed it down and some sites like pauls cycles iirc do some cracking deals on cannondale and giant. But Evans have price matched everytime I’ve asked them. Worth thinking about.

    Buy what makes you happy but if you bought without trying and found you hated it you’ll have however long you’re paying it off over to regret it and not use it…

    Just my tuppence.. 

    August 6, 2017 at 6:00 pm #897961
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    ibr17xvii

    As the owner of a 2016 CAAD12

    As the owner of a 2016 CAAD12 I would 100% go for that, at £999 it’s a steal. 

    The wheels are the only “weak” point of the bike, upgrade them as I have & you have an excellent bike on your hands for the money. 

    August 6, 2017 at 5:14 pm #897959
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    Punches Dragons

    I did look at the B’twin’s.

    I did look at the B’twin’s. They certainly offer excellent componentry but they need to do that to get the weight down because the frame and fork are relatively heavy. To compare the Cannondale frame is 1098g compared to the 1200g of the Dolan and the B’twin weighs in at 1400g. A similar story with the  forks; CAAD12 is 339g and the B’twin is 550g (I could not find out the Dolan weight).

    That’s not to say the B’twin is a bad bike but the frame is a little limited for upgrading plus I’d doubt the B’twin would hold it’s value if I wanted to sell it on.

    August 6, 2017 at 3:10 pm #897957
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    kieren_lon

    I did post about decalthlon

    I did post about decalthlon Btwin bikes earlier but as a new poster, my comment was delayed for approval, so when it did appear the converation had moved on.

    Have ou considered Decathlon’s BTWIN brand?  The aluminium frame is well reviewed.  I have the £800 with shimano 105 AF 900 on my shortlist and plan to upgrade the wheels with a set of handbuilts form DCR Wheels.   For £1050, they have the same frame with ultergra groupset and mavic cosmic elite wheels.  
    https://www.decathlon.co.uk/ultra-720-af-road-bike-ultegra-id_8331274.html

    If you want carbon, they are also have a £800 carbon frame with tiagra (I think) groupset

    I looked at radon, rose, canyon German bike brands as well as dolan.  I am leaning towards BTWIN as a store is about 45 minutes from me and reports are very good regarding customer service

    August 6, 2017 at 12:11 pm #897955
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    Punches Dragons

    alansmurphy, I am still on

    alansmurphy, I am still on the lookout for a company not charging a 10% admin fee but I am awaiting a reply from an email to Wheelsbase who have the CAAD12 at £999, do the bike2work scheme and don’t mention the admin fee. Hopefully they won’t charge the admin fee which would make the Cannondale a much more attractive choice.

     

    August 6, 2017 at 11:19 am #897953
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    alansmurphy

    Punches, pretty sure you
    Punches, pretty sure you could get the Cannondale at the price you’ve seen with £0 admin and at a shop where you could sit and test for size. Both of these make significant differences to your budget.

    As a Cannondale convert I agree with the assessment above and trawl the Internet, spec for money it wins hands down and that’s at full RRP. However, the paragraph below in your post tells us you don’t love it. Therefore unless you can get a proper test ride and fall in love with the performance, you can’t buy it. You’ll always wonder about “the other one…”

    August 6, 2017 at 10:57 am #897951
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    scousegreg

    It’s a shame you’ve
    It’s a shame you’ve discounted Ribble. Here’s a review I left for them on Trust Pilot :

    Well that’s a real lesson in great customer service completed by Ribble Cycles in Preston. Just returned home from meeting one of their team in Worcester to take delivery of a replacement frame.

    Basically I’ve had a nightmare last two months with the same part failing on my bike (press fit bottom bracket for those who know about these things) causing excessive wear in my BB shell in my existing frame. They initially swapped my frame – which in it’s own right was great service.

    When the part failed again after 100 miles I called them expecting a bit of a battle to correct it. Instead their service manager insisted on swapping the frame over to a different specification frame. This resulted in them having to also replace a number of other parts too.

    Due to me riding towards Bath tomorrow morning to take part in the London 100 this weekend Ben from Ribble insisted on dropping the bike down to me in his own time so I didn’t have my weekend plans ruined! They’ve ensured my future loyalty as a customer by exceeding my expectations and truly going the extra mile.

    I’ve used Ribble since the old shop in Watery Lane in Preston (apart from a gap of 20 years when my cycling bug disappeared) – I’d go nowhere else in future after this episode.

    August 6, 2017 at 7:36 am #897949
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    Punches Dragons
    Grumpy17 wrote:
    From someone who has owned 4 x Ribbles, both carbon and alloy, and a PX carbon, Go for the CAAD12!- just a better bike by far.  Especially at this time of year when it is just as cheap, or cheaper than the Ribble and Planet X offerings , which are as old as the hills in any case.

    Even if they were half the price of the Cannondale I still wouldn’t want them.

     

     

    I think I have pretty much ruled out the Planet X  and the Ribble now. It is looking like a straight up choice between the Cannondale and the Dolan.  According to reviews the Cannondale should be the 1st choice. It’s a lighter frame than the Dolan, and lighter overall and still has a few areas where I could make significant weight savings at a later date but I hate the aesthetics of the bike with that near horizontal top tube, massive seat stays and little seat post showing. It just looks like such an old mans bike! I’m also not keen on the non Shimano Groupset cranks and chainrings just because I have had these on two previous Spesh Mountain bikes and they ended up being nothing but trouble.  (Son of Strongarm cranks rounding out and falling off in a race due to a weakness in the alloy and some chainrings that seemed to take forever to shift) I think I’d getter better customer service from Dolan and a solid bike that fitted me exactly plus something that was a little more unique than the Dale if not quite as good and would be supporting a British bike company rather than a big US/Canadian conglomerate. There is still a possibility that something cheaper comes around as 2017 bikes get cleared so I am keeping on the lookout.

    August 4, 2017 at 8:43 pm #897947
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    Grumpy17

    From someone who has owned 4

    From someone who has owned 4 x Ribbles, both carbon and alloy, and a PX carbon, Go for the CAAD12!- just a better bike by far.  Especially at this time of year when it is just as cheap, or cheaper than the Ribble and Planet X offerings , which are as old as the hills in any case.

    Even if they were half the price of the Cannondale I still wouldn’t want them.

     

    August 4, 2017 at 8:20 pm #897945
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    Punches Dragons

    Planet X replied to my email

    Planet X replied to my email again today but still no definitive answer on the admin fee because they did not know what the voucher amount would be. I have responded it would be the full amount so we will see what they come back with. Interestingly they said it depended upon the scheme and the voucher amount as to what commission the scheme operator charges so the admin fee really is ,at least in part, an additional payment to cover this extra commission cost which is why the percentage charged for the admin fee varies.  I don’t think it affects my decision at all but if I was to by a Dolan with cash I’d think you’d be able to ask for a bit of extra discount since I’d know that they were making a little more profit than they would via a cycle to work voucher.

    Pricing wise:

     Dolan L’etape SRAM Rival at £1049.99:

    • Up front £49.99 to meet the difference in the voucher, £19.99 for delivery, £40 to have a biometric fitting and saddle fit and transpose those onto the bike.
    • 12 monthly salary sacrifice of £56.66 net pay (I am a middle rate tax payer)
    • Final payment of £70 (7% of the voucher) at the end of the lease to own the bike
    • Total cost £859.98
    • Saving of £190 as opposed to a cash purchase (or £230 if you would have had the fitting as well)

    Cannondale CAAD12 on sale at £999.99, there are a couple of retailers now at this price

    • Up front £100 admin fee.
    • 12 monthly salary sacrifice of £56.66 net pay (I am a middle rate tax payer)
    • Final payment of £70 (7% of the voucher) at the end of the lease to own the bike
    • Allowance of £0-80 for geometry/saddle tweaks since no fitting
    • Total cost £850-930
    • Saving of £70-150 as opposed to a cash purchase (Although you could argue that the Cannondale had a much larger SRP but who buys a big name bike at full price at this time of year?)

    The Planet X ProCarbon SRAM Rival at £999.99 is a little awkward to work out because of the fitting. They have retul bike fitting and at £125, or £75 on a Planet bike you already own. it is a relative bargain compared with the costs around here of £200-250. If there was a way of getting the fitting done for £75 it’d be worth it as I’d never spend £200-£250 down here on one. Without the fitting it is basically take a guess on sizing or visit the shop 6 hours drive away for some advice from the sales staff.

    • Up front Admin fee to be determined but £100-125, £15 delivery
    • Bike fitting cost to be determined but £75-125 for a full retul fit, or no fit if I order without visiting or basic fitting advice if I visit and don’t do the retul fit. (to be fair to Planet they are not pushing the retul fit but if I am travelling 5 hours to visit the store then I may as well make sure that what I order is fully fitted.
    • 12 monthly salary sacrifice of £56.66 net pay (I am a middle rate tax payer)
    • Final payment of £70 (7% of the voucher) at the end of the lease to own the bike
    • Allowance of £0-80 for geometry/saddle tweaks if I don’t do the retul fit
    • Total cost £865 best case (lowest admin fee, no retul fit) and £1015 worst case scenario with highest Admin Fee and the retul fit at full price.

    Making my decision on this is harder than buying a car!

    I saw an Old forlorn ProCarbon at work today, fully Ultegra equipped but with a rusty rear mech and a saddle that looked like a dog had attacked it! Somebody loved that once.

    I am still leaning towards the Dolan but if anyone sees an significantly good price reductions on 2017 Carbon frames come along then let me know.

    August 2, 2017 at 11:22 pm #897943
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    Punches Dragons

    I figured I’d probably be a

    I figured I’d probably be a medium on a Planet X frame too. I have  a 31″ inside leg. My current Cube Attain is a 56 which the retailer recommended for someone of my height.  If anything I’d say it was fractionally too big although I think this can be pretty easily resolved by dropping down the stem size on it to an 80mm and maybe teaking the bars up a little.

    It’s one of the reasons I’d like to get a proper bike fit for the new bike. The Cube is great for the money but it needs a few tweaks and a couple of quid spent on it to get it feeling just right. Avoiding those extra costs and getting it near right first time makes a lot of sense.

    August 1, 2017 at 7:47 pm #897941
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    alansmurphy

    Sorry just re-read – at 5’10”
    Sorry just re-read – at 5’10” I’d say you’re likely to be Medium in Planet X unless you’re all leg…

    August 1, 2017 at 7:45 pm #897939
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    alansmurphy

    How tall are you, what’s your
    How tall are you, what’s your inside leg and do you generally want a tall or short bike (tall being slightly higher front end, short meaning showing a fair bit of seat post)?

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