Ribble CGR

Cross, Gravel, Road, that's what the CGR initials stand for on Ribble's latest all-rounder. A disc brake-equipped, mudguard-shod 'do a bit of everything' machine that makes a lot of sense for the rider who doesn't always want to stick to the tarmac. Thankfully, this jack of all trades is no master of none.

Ride

The CGR is a very easy bike to ride thanks to some neutral and balanced handling. This might make it sound dull but it's far from it, especially when you go off-road.

With a long wheelbase, mounts for mudguards and racks plus being designed for disc brakes, the Ribble is likely to see a lot of use in the wet and cold of winter where the road surface is often less than ideal. A bike that's dependable and trustworthy when it comes to the handling.

Over the last few weeks we've seen the temperatures drop down here in the South West and the main roads have been covered in that post-salt greasy sheen that'll happily whip your tyres out from underneath you if you aren't too careful.

Even if the Continental Ultra Sport tyres do break traction (which they often do as their winter grip isn't the best), the CGR lets you know what's happening before it's too late, as the geometry and frame materials pass plenty of information through to the rider, making things easy to correct.

This might, to some, sound a little dull – road bikes are supposed to be the thoroughbred machines of the cycling world – but while the CGR might not be the most responsive or snappy to chuck down an Alpine descent, it is bloody good at what it does, while delivering a ride that'll still keep you on your toes when the conditions are less than perfect.

If you like to chuck your bike through a twisty descent then this is probably the only place you'll find the CGR lacking, as one downhill I attacked highlighted the Ribble's weakness here.

I'd come down it a couple of times in the daylight but on a little night-time light-testing ride, I decided to push things a bit on the singletrack road. Traffic is minimal because it takes you up to an army byway, so you can afford to take a few risks, but on a tight left-hander midway down I'd never noticed the drain sitting about a foot out from the left-hand verge.

It was wet so I sat the bike up a touch to go round the outside of the drain, but at 45mph the CGR just didn't have the steering speed to bring it back into line before I ran off the road on the right-hand side. Nothing major, I touched the grass verge but manged to make it round. I even got the Strava KOM too, with an adrenaline-induced grin on my face.

It's not a major criticism of the CGR, I'm just highlighting the limits. It's not a winter bike to replicate the racing traits of your summer steed, nor is it trying to be.

The Ribble likes to cruise, it's a great mile-muncher perfect for those winter base miles. Likewise on climbing and acceleration – the Ribble doesn't excel but it delivers competent performance. I found the best way to ride it was to stay in the saddle and tap things out through the pedals.

It is stiff, though, so when you do really need to get a shift on you aren't going to be disappointed about a lack of power transfer.

Taming the terrain

We know the Ribble CGR is designed to take on various terrains but other than what I've touched on above, how does it perform specifically on each of those?

Cross: The CGR isn't as tight and nimble as a dedicated cyclo-cross bike, due to its slacker geometry and longer wheelbase, but there is no reason why you couldn't use it in anger if you wanted to dabble in the knobbly tyred world.

Part of my testing took the CGR into the woods after fitting a pair of 35mm cyclo-cross tyres, and the CGR dealt with the terrain much better than I was expecting.

The track wasn't too technical, but there was plenty of soft mud and puddles mixed in with gravel and leaves. Plenty of surface changes to push the CGR off line, especially at speed, but again you always knew where the Ribble was going to slide, so a simple tweak of steering lock was all that was needed to straighten things up as you powered on. Even for the novice off-roader (which I am) the Ribble is unbelievably easy to control.

There's plenty of clearance too, so if the conditions are particularly claggy you won't find yourself having to keep stopping to clear mud and grass out.

Smack a hidden obstacle like a covered tree root under the leaves and, again, the Ribble rarely gets so far out of shape that you can't keep the tyres in contact with the ground.

Gravel: Within two miles of my front door I have access to miles and miles of hardpack gravel tracks up on Salisbury Plain, known as the Imber Range Perimeter Path. It skirts the vast army firing range and its rock-strewn, pot-hole-covered surface can be unforgiving and punishing on your muscles.

But three to four-hour rides up there weren't an issue, even though the Ribble is very stiff, similar to that of the Wilier Jaroon in fact, but without any of the harshness.

The neutral handling I have already mentioned plays its ace card on this surface, which can be quite unpredictable at times. In terms of controllability I'd say the CGR is just as good as many of the pure adventure bikes I've ridden, especially on the sections of track where small pebbles cover the surface like glass marbles. This can make any bike skittish when you hit them at speed, but the Ribble dealt with it all admirably with a bit of body weight and steering adjustment.

Road: When I was commuting in rush hour traffic for two hours a day, a Ribble Winter Audax was my weapon of choice through the cold months and on rainy summer days too. It was easy to ride and dependable, plus it could take a knock or two. The CGR mimics all of that but gives you the added bonus of extra tyre clearance, up to 35mm with guards, and disc brakes for consistent stopping in all conditions. It's not the quickest or sharpest handling bike out there, but it is very good at what it's designed for.

It's comfortable, too, which makes it a welcome companion for those long, steady, endurance-building rides through the off-season.

As you can see, the CGR covers every base rather well.

Frame & fork

The frame itself is actually pretty simple. I don't mean that in a derogatory way at all, it's just that in a world of various bottom bracket standards, thru-axles versus quick release and all the rest, the Ribble looks like a bike you could have been riding five or ten years ago, apart from the hydraulic disc brakes on a road frame, obviously. To me this means that the CGR is a tried and tested formula.

Ribble has chosen 7005 grade aluminium for the CGR, which is used on many bike frames thanks to impressive stiffness for its weight, and its ability to take plenty of knocks and abuse – ideal for the style of riding the CGR is likely to see.

The top tube looks to have been hydroformed, with its curved shape creating a compact style frame, allowing a bit more flexible seatpost to be exposed for a little extra comfort. The front end of the tube has a larger cross sectional area where it joins the tapered head tube, a two-pronged attack at adding stiffness to help with steering and braking forces.

Ribble has kept things pretty traditional at the bottom bracket too, with a frame designed for threaded bearing cups, Shimano's Tiagra model in this case. Bottom brackets like these are easy to fit for even the novice home mechanic compared to Press-Fit options, and the threaded versions are less likely to creak once you've been riding in the wet and mud.

A lot of designers slim down the seatstays or add curves to promote some flex and comfort for the rider, but Ribble hasn't done that here at all. The seatstays are quite chunky in fact, but like I mentioned, further up the frame isn't overly harsh so gets away with it.

Up front the fork uses carbon fibre legs with an alloy steerer, and again it all works well. The carbon brings a decent level of shock absorption while being stiff enough to resist the braking forces of the discs, even from high speed. In the pictures you can see Ribble has used the upper mounts to fit the mudguards but there are also more traditional ones down by the dropouts. I say that, as the selected mudguards don't offer much in the way of protection for your feet or riders behind, and the actual fit isn't the best either.

As far as the cabling goes, it has all been left to run externally with both the gear cables and hose routing travelling underneath the down tube. It does mean the cables will get hammered by all the mud and spray if you are running without guards, so a decent cleaning and maintenance regime might be the order of the day.

It's good to see plenty of guides for the rear brake hose to be located into, both here and on the chainstay; everything is then held in place with small cable ties.

Finishing kit

Thanks to Ribble's online Bikebuilder, you can pick and choose how you want to specify your machine. The cheapest available Shimano Sora model comes in at just £799.

The model we've got here is specced with Shimano's excellent new Tiagra 4700, a groupset that is a near replica of its mid-range 105 group but without the extra gear; Tiagra is 10-speed rather than 11. Shifting is pretty much identical, with a crisp selection even under load with the Tiagra gear levers, but sadly this is lost here with the RS505 levers required for the hydraulic disc brakes. The gear changes just aren't that positive, and to be honest neither is the braking when compared with Shimano's higher level ST-RS685s that I was using on another test bike at the same time.

I'm a big fan of the ST-RS685 levers and Shimano's Ice-Tec rotors as a complete setup; it's something I've run on my own bikes with excellent results. The braking is solid, predictable and very powerful, which you can have real confidence in at any speed or weather conditions. The setup on the CGR uses the same callipers but a different Shimano rotor: a 160mm front and back, whereas with the setup I've just mentioned I was always more than happy with 140mm. The CGR build doesn't have the bite or feedback through the lever, and a few times I was caught out as the Ribble just didn't slow or stop as quickly as I was expecting.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what causes the difference, but the slightly less direct feel at the lever could be down to some flex somewhere. The braking isn't bad – it's much better in the wet or off-road than a dual-pivot calliper – it's just disappointing compared with the slightly more expensive levers.

The groupset specced does give a decent spread of gear ratios for on and off road, with a 34/50 chainset and 11-32 cassette. When things are slippery off road it's great to have the extra teeth on the cassette to remain seated and get weight over the rear wheel compared with a more road standard 28 or 25-tooth largest sprocket.

Our CGR also has an upgraded stem from the standard selection to a Deda Zero 2. The Deda stuff is decent finishing kit too, and brings a top end look to the overall bike. The whole build comes in at £1,046.49 at the time of writing but prices do seem to fluctuate on the website.

Wheels and tyres

Shimano also provides the wheels – its RX010 hoops are as strong as an ox. I literally smashed these off-road into pot-holes, tree roots and sharp rock edges and they didn't budge a millimetre. They are as solid as they come.

They also saw one hell of a lot of mud, grit and water without any issues in the hub department. I purposely didn't clean the bike over the test period to accelerate wear and tear on all parts, and there hasn't been the slightest grumble.

Tyre-wise, the CGR's 25mm Continental Ultra Sports are decent enough entry-level rubber, in a wire-rimmed setup. They staved off punctures throughout this hedge-cutting test period with ease, and are surprisingly quick rolling.

The only downside is their grip isn't the best, especially when the roads are damp or wet. It's mostly down to a mix of how hard the rubber compound is and the low thread count in the carcass, which makes for quite an inflexible tyre. Something more supple would adapt to the road surface better, adding grip.

Value

Using Ribble's online Bikebuilder means you can spec the CGR exactly as you want depending on your needs and budget. You can upgrade the wheels, for instance, and down-spec on the gearing, giving loads of flexibility. The price changes instantly as you make the tweaks, so you can play about with various builds before clicking to buy.

As I've said, the cheapest model is a Shimano Sora build which comes in at £799.99, while a Tiagra model with mechanical disc brakes is £975, putting it squarely in competition with the alloy GT Grade at £949.99 with a very similar build (we've been big fans of the carbon model).

> road.cc Adventure and Cyclocross Bike of the Year 2016-17

Other similarly priced bikes we've tested in this genre are the Norco Search and Raleigh's Mustang, which show how 'in the ball park' the CGR is with its competitive pricing and kit levels.

The Ribble, though, is aimed primarily at the road, where it is very adept, and if you were never to show it a muddy trail you wouldn't be disappointed – it makes an excellent winter trainer. The added value comes from just how good it is off road. It hasn't just had a few tweaks to make it fit with current trends, the CGR really does work across the board. Unless you specifically want to race cyclo-cross at a high level, the Ribble is giving you practically three bikes in one, living up to its name well.

Verdict

Versatile winter trainer or commuter bike that'll easily take on the rough stuff as well as the road