Ribble steel commuter

My beloved Genesis Equilibrium died in an accident (I nearly did too, but that's another story), and then my weekender which I swore I would never ride to work but did was stolen, so I found myself in need of a new machine.

After a brief flirtation with building an old alloy frame in the shed into a single speed which was ended by a thoroughly stuck GXP bottom bracket cup, and much soul-searching, I opted for a new Ribble Audax steel frame and built it up with a combination of some new and some old bits.

In the main I enjoyed the build and I think the Ribble frame looks lovely - it's a nice shade of red and the welds are neat. The paint is as thin as everyone says though, and one dropped allen key has left a nasty mark, but to my eye it is still a handsome steed.

Spec is made up of:
Ribble bits:
Frame/fork/headset

New bits:
Cheapo Deda alloy bar and Tiagra Hollowtech BB from Merlin
New 105 11-28 cassette (pictured in pic 4 only - pic 3 is a different one) and chain (Ultegra 6700) from CRC
Tyres from CRC - 25mm Schwalbe Durano Plus (wired)
SKS 35mm chromo-bastard mudguards from CRC
Bar tape, cables and single-ring chainring bolts from Evans
Cheapo "Carbon" seatpost and 46T chainring from the Bay
Downtube braze/STI adapter from Wiggle

Bits from the shed:
Hilariously long Scott branded stem that needs to be replaced stat
Selle Italia Max Flite saddle
105 5600 shifters (LH triple used as brake lever only)
105 5700 brake calipers
105 5700 rear derailleur
RS20 wheels
2 freshly patched inner tubes of indeterminate lineage
Shimano R600 crank-set with 50/34 chainrings removed
Shimano M520 SPDs
Crappy Asda bottle cages

Thoughts:
I don't think I need a double for commuting, so I went for a 46T chainring and put it on the R600 crank with some short chainring bolts. I think it looks quite good. Time will tell if it shreds chains/cassettes from extreme chain angles and I can always go back to the old 50/34 rings, though I would then need a double LH shifter too.

I found fitting the brake cables surprisingly hard - I've done this before with new outers and don't remember it being such a pain to get the inner to meet the outer but there you go.

I rescued some Shimano long-drop brakes from the Equilibrium but they're silver and I can just about get away with the black 105 brakes, mudguards and 25mm tyres. While I think they look better, there really isn't much clearance and I may well have to use the long-drops.

Apart from fitting the SKS's, probably the most physically difficult thing was getting the tyres on!

I wish I'd bought a saw guide to cut the steerer.

I did buy a star-nut fitting tool (£10 from CRC) which worked well.

I was surprised to find brazes for down-tube shifters on the frame and had to buy the adapters but they're fine.

It is pretty heavy - bathroom scales say 10.6kg as pictured in pic 4 but without saddle-bag or bottles.

4 Attachments

Lovely build, looks like an ideal commuter. Nice kitchen too.

Smart looking Ribble.

Do you think you could fit 28mm tyres and 'gaurds? Or is there only room for 25mm?

Saw one of these this morning with similar setup (not 1x10 tho) and they do look smart.

It's nice to see a build thread that doesn't feature people agonising and debating over stem/spoke/bar tape choices for 4 pages :)

Thanks for the comments! I rode it to work this morning having been on Boris bikes for the last 5 weeks and it felt incredible. The gearing feels OK though even with a 46T front ring I doubt I'll be troubling that 11-tooth sprocket much in central London. I have a Tiagra 12-30 cassette which may be more suitable but it is big and ugly!

@fizzy.bleach - I thought my own was a bit TLDR to be honest! Prolonged use of Boris bikes made me determined to get it built and get on it.

@hugo7 I guess it might depend on exactly how the tyres actually measure up but I very much doubt I could get anything bigger in there, so I would caution against 28s.

On the Ribble website they say the Alu Audax frame is only designed for tyres up to 23mm but I couldn't find any definitive advice about the steel frame so I gambled a bit with 25s and I think I only just got away with it.

If you've managed to get the 35mm Chromoplastics in there without having had to shave off plastic, you should be able to get 28mm tyres in.

I have a different frame but same guards and 28mm Durano Plus. I think it's 28mm anyway...might need to double check.

Lovely Ribble, I have been eyeing up of these for my next winter build.