The new CGR Ti is the latest bike from Ribble to get the dropped seatstay treatment. They claim that they’ve boosted front end stiffness while keeping the ride quality of this “dream metal.”
Hot on the heels of Ribble announcing that titanium had made its way into their Endurance range with the Ti Disc, Ribble has revealed a few subtle changes to their go-anywhere all-terrain bike, the CGR Ti.
What are dropped seatstays actually good for?
The CGR Ti is one of the few bikes that we, (well, off-road), have had in as a test bike for a longer period of time. Rach has been using the older model of the CGR Ti frameset as a rig for testing all sorts of gravel and adventure components, putting in some seriously muddy miles.
For the new model, Ribble has stuck with triple-butted 3AL/2.5v titanium tubes for the frame, joining them together with their seamless welds. Ribble says that they have created “an exacting geometry, handcrafted to perform on or off-road and in a multitude of uses.”
Find out what happened when we were given free rein on Ribble’s Bike Builder
Ribble describes the CGR Ti as a “thoroughbred racer with speed coursing through its veins.” The claim that the versatility is “provided by the addition of rear pannier mounts for any luggage carrying needs and discreet mudguards mounts for full wet weather protection.” One bike then, that could be capable of both weekend adventures and the weekday commute.
The new frame features a move to dropped seatstays which we’ve seen across a number of Ribble’s other bikes. This, Ribble claim, enhances “the balance between torsional stiffness, compliance and comfort.”
While Ribble is aiming to add rear-end compliance, they’ve beefed up the headtube to 44mm, claiming “further stiffness when riding out the saddle along with increased handling confidence”. Head of Product at Ribble, Jamie Burrow says that “this detail is a personal favourite of mine, bringing a beautiful touch of class to a very elegant bike designed to perform at every level”.
12 of the best titanium road bikes—should you buy a titanium bike?
Ribble is obviously happy with the tyre clearance from the older frameset as this has been kept to 47mm tyres with 650b wheels and 45mm with 700c wheels. The carbon fork also returns with flat-mount disc brakes for a clean look.
The new CGR Ti also keeps the fully internal cable routing of the outgoing model and adds proper Di2 compatibility that should make GRX Di2 builds easier. The bike is available on Ribble’s Custom Bike Builder with prices starting at £2,299. You can get the new frame on its own for £1,799. Shipping dates are currently set for 7th August 2020.
For more info head to www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-cgr-ti/
15 thoughts on “Ribble’s Titanium CGR adventure bike gets a refresh with a claimed improvement in compliance and stiffness”
hate Ribble with passion for
hate Ribble with passion for killing their winter audax.
?
?
How can you hate a company because it stopped selling something?
did Rache ever write her
did Rache ever write her review of the now-previous model? I read a “first look”, and then – nada.
Hey, I haven’t reviewed my
Hey, I haven’t reviewed my older version – was using it as a test bed for other parts. I really like riding it though, the position is pretty upright owing to that tall head tube and I’ve found it super comfortable. I’ll probably swap it for the new frame and review that with reference to the old one, seems the most sensible way of doing things!
Looks like an opportunity to
Looks like an opportunity to test the marketing guff. Any way to set the two frames up side by side and test them for “compliance and torsional stiffness” a few times over without being able to know which is which?
Dropped stays on a titanium
Dropped stays on a titanium gravel bike!?
I hate dropped stays at the best of times, but on a titanium frame? Unnecessary.
streetboy wrote:
It’s the current fashion.
Quite a clever marketing ploy
Quite a clever marketing ploy. Most Ti frames look pretty similar to each other. Dropped stays make.s this one stand out from the others
With any luck the previous
With any luck the previous (non-dropped stays) model will be on discount as they clear stocks to make way for this ugly thing, which they can keep.
But the old model won’t have
But the old model won’t have the
They claim that they’ve boosted front end stiffness while keeping the ride quality of this “dream metal.”
streetboy wrote:
Why is the structure and tube size/shape not relevent ?
It’s not just me then.
It’s not just me then.
No indeed. It’s the current
No indeed. It’s the current fashion.
No 1X group sets. No GRX.
No 1X group sets. No GRX. Only double road group sets. Are they changing the point of this bike?
They only tend to show the
They only tend to show the ‘Popular’ models on the main page – if you click on the build your own thing there’s more options, including a GRX 600 1x