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Ribble Endurance Aero speeds up & boosts comfort in consumer-direct disc brake road update

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Online retailer Ribble Cycles has offered an affordable carbon disc brake road bike for some time that has served well for riders looking for a winter bike or something snappier to ride to work, but as tech has progressed for road bikes recently their Endurance was due for an update. The new 2017 Endurance Aero bike is a ground-up redesign that claims to offer a smoother ride, while at the same time getting a few aero touches, and even improved geometry for more predictable handling both on short rides or the long haul…

It might seem a little counter intuitive that the bike chain chose to get aero and steepen up the angles on a bike aimed at the long distance riding set, but they’ve apparently seen a lot of customers also looking for more of an all around road bike. And as the cost to produce bikes with better carbon comes down, even a budget bike like Ribble’s Endurance Aero can benefit from a smarter layup that claims to offer more vertical comfort in the rear end while scratching out aero gains whenever possible.

We’ve heard time and again that for the slower riders, aero gains end up adding up just as much (if not more in real-time differences.) So for those of us out on the road riding the long distances by our lonesome, the little gains we can get add up.
As to geometry, the 2017 bike steepens the headtube a degree to around 73°, and trims the old longish wheelbase back to just 973.5mm (for a medium) with short 402mm chainstays. Their thought seems to be that building a more comfortable bike with more traditionally quick handling, riders will feel faster, stay fresher longer, and better enjoy those long rides.

The new bike puts most of its aero focus into a narrow sculpted seattube, an aero seatpost, and updated internal cable routing. Otherwise the outward appearance of the tapered headtube, wishbone rear end bike is mostly unchanged. It sticks with post mount disc brakes (and quick release axles) and comes with small 140mm rotors, and tire clearance doesn’t seem to grow much beyond the same max 25mm of its predecessor.

The key feature is its affordability, really. Ribble offers a number of build options through its online spec customization tool, but complete bikes start at just £1100/$1445/1291€ in 5 sizes.

RibbleCycles.co.uk/Ribble-Endurance

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satanas
satanas
7 years ago

IMHO there’s no excuse for such miserable clearance with disc brakes. If it can’t clear *at least* 32mm why go there? A wasted opportunity.

Telemahn
Telemahn
7 years ago

I agree Satanas, and to market as a fast commuter without at least some fender mounts seems silly. I want to get away from having a road bike and a commuter, but in Seattle there isn’t a point if it doesn’t take a full fender and wear at least 32mm tires.

haromania
haromania
7 years ago

Thru axles and more tire clearance, and this would be a home run.

dustytires
7 years ago

egads another ugly a** OMD…. If it was a fresh design it would surely have been equipped with discreet fender mounts and more tire clearance. If pros are on 28s all spring why would a punter that is buying a Ribble want the same tire size or less? QRs? Old mountain bikes could get away with discs and qr’s as we could not hear the disc kissing over the sounds of knobbies on dirt. On the road, you can hear it in every hard turn and depending on set up, when standing and smashing. POST mounts! ugh. I guess the reason it is so cheap for the parts kit as the chinese are selling the frame for pence on the pound.

typevertigo
typevertigo
7 years ago
Reply to  dustytires

Flat Mount calipers are actually harder and more finicky to align on the rear. Post Mount calipers are more straightforward to get set, even when mounted inside the rear triangle. BikeRumor wrote something on this not too long ago.

YMMV but personally I’ve never had problems with disc rub on my 2014 TCX SLR 2 with QRs front and rear.

Allan
Allan
7 years ago

Ribble has to work around whatever off-the-rack Chinese open mould frame they can get their hands on in bulk. That’s what it has all these issues.

Steve
Steve
7 years ago

I’ve had a Ribble R872 (Stealth) for over 3 yrs now. Its a great bike but their customer service is appalling. The seat tube on my bike was slightly out of manufacturing tolerance which required a carbon repair to rectify. Ribble where disinterested when I approached them regarding the issue. This would make me think twice before buying from them again.
Having had a disc road bike for a year now originally running 5mm standard QR’s, I converted the QR to 9mm front and 10mm rear. The difference in brake performance and setup is massive. I would therefore not buy a road disc brake bike without thru axles now as standard QR’s are just messy.
28mm tyre clearance is sufficient for an endurance focused frame in my opinion.

opignonlibre
opignonlibre
7 years ago

What is the point of a narrow aero seat tube if you put an aerobrake (that wider wishbone) right behind it ?

Looks like those supposed “aero touches” are completely empiric and not proven.

VeloKitty
VeloKitty
7 years ago

I like the looks, but with such a short wheelbase, it’s going to be toe overlap city. 40mm tire ability and fender mounts please.

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