Ribble Ti Sport. How’s a titanium gravel grinder for bikepacking, bike touring and everyday gravel griniding? 🤔. This UK built 2022 Ribble Ti Sport can be a great option for all options, thanks to its versatility. Here’s a breakdown of how it might fare in each scenario:
Bikepacking:
Strengths:
Frame durability: A titanium frame is incredibly strong and resistant to damage, making it ideal for handling rough terrain and loaded bikepacking bags.
Tire clearance: The generous tire clearance allows you to run wider tires for increased comfort and traction on challenging trails.
Mounts: The frame features plenty of braze-ons for attaching water bottle cages, racks, and other bikepacking accessories.
Considerations:
Weight: While lightweight for a titanium bike, the Ti Sport is not the absolute lightest. This might be a factor if you’re planning long, ultra-lightweight bikepacking trips.
Geometry: The Ti Sport’s geometry leans more towards performance riding than pure comfort. This might not be ideal for all-day bikepacking adventures if comfort is paramount.
SRAM Rival parts may be hard to find in very remote areas and small town bike shops, while Shimano seems to be everywhere.
Absorption: While titanium does well, there is no shock nor seat nor handlebar vibration absorption.
Bike Touring:
Strengths:
Versatility: The Ti Sport’s 1×11 wide gear range and stable handling make it suitable for tackling varied terrain, from paved roads to gravel paths.
Durability: The robust build quality ensures the bike can handle the wear and tear of extended touring trips.
Considerations:
Fender compatibility: The frame might not have dedicated fender mounts, requiring aftermarket solutions for wet weather riding.
Everyday Gravel Grinding:
Strengths:
Performance: The Ti Sport’s stiff frame, agile handling, and powerful brakes make it a blast to ride on gravel trails.
Fun factor: The lightweight and responsive nature of the bike inspires confidence and encourages exploration.
Comfort: The titanium frame’s vibration damping helps reduce fatigue on longer rides.
Considerations:
Price: The Ti Sport is a about ~$3,500 plus shipping.
Tire choice: The stock tires might not be suitable for all types of gravel terrain.
Ultimately, whether the Ribble Ti Sport is the perfect bike for you depends on your individual needs and preferences. However, its versatility, durability, and impressive performance make it a strong contender for bikepacking, bike touring, and everyday gravel grinding.
Hope this information helps you decide if the Ti Sport is the right choice for your next adventure! 😊
#bikepacking #biketouring #cycletour #gravelbike #gravelgrinding #gravelbiking
Here are the current Ribble Titanium gravel models and specs:
https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-gravel-ti/
And here are some scenes of it tackling the adventurous Tour Aotearoa, top of bottom of New Zealand.
https://www.strava.com/activities/8431399218 Strava route
And here’s the more mild GAP & C&O trails from Pittsburgh to DC USA which the Ribble also did easily.
https://studio.youtube.com/video/XirjkATtb3A/edit
https://www.strava.com/activities/9927261425 Strava Route
Okay let’s go through the Ribble sport TI again I bought this in 20122 to go top to bottom of New Zealand that was half Road half off-roads a lot of Rocky Country Roads not just press gravel and a little bit of mountain biking so the rivel
1×1 I really like it shifts easy it’s steady and I mentioned before what I don’t like is uh rivel it’s it’s just it’s from Shram it’s just not as popular as Shimano parts so if you need a part you’re could be out of luck uh it’s a
One by I like that just less things to go wrong so you’re only shifting on the right hand side and you have to get used to that a hard shift with this lever makes it easier and a short shift makes the gearing harder and you just go up
And down the 11 gears it it’s great for bike packing bike touring even Adventure I would call it Adventure cycling it’s titanium I feel like I can go all the way up to medium mountain biking on it it’s just rugged I don’t care if it gets dirty scratched you can
See that it comes with the rivets not only for water bottles but to put on your bike rack in the back if you wish it have rivets on the front if you want to go with front pan ear obviously disc brakes I’ll put all the specs in the description as it came from
Ribble the tires are Halo 650 bees they’ve been really steady I think they’re 46 mil nubby I wore out the back tires so I’m going to try these Marathon schwabble cuz I’m getting ready for Vietnam which looks like it’ll be more road than than gravel and off-road so a little smoother
Tire and I’ve been really impressed the the wheel set and the tires again made it top to bottom I’ll put a couple straa links in of Tour aora New Zealand you can see that tire is still in good shape the back one wore off I think because I had my
Rear bag coming off and when it got wet I didn’t have it secure enough and it would hit down on the tire there’s not a lot of Frills there are no compartments to put things in there’s not a lot that can go wrong so to me it’s a more rugged
Bike and you can start to see why really this is a Hardy bike the derailer hanger is up in the frame it is stiff there’s no absorption in the seat or in the handlebars I could have invested in Future Shock type of system to put in the handlebars I didn’t may have been
Worth the $200 for when I did tour aora because there was a lot of Rocky Country Roads some mountain bike type Trails we were bouncing around a lot and it took an effect after a while on my wrists and shoulders the handlebars you can see I
Went with Road type this is what came with it they’re a little fatter here I like that I like to climb in the tops I like to ride here sometimes usually I’m in the hoods Felts it feels a little tighter than a road bike the hoods do
But still feels a lot like a standard road bike to me and the drops definitely feel like a road bike you can see they flare out a little bit from the handlebars there’s a little bit of a indent down here which raises the handlebars up a little bit that’s good
Especially when you’re wearing um when you’re riding on the 650 tires cuz it just brings your upper body up a little bit more that’s more comfortable for me all right I’m trying to do the same route as yesterday just did a little bit of grass I got to
Tell you on the Ribble I slowed way down and still felt very steady and I could crunch gears even though you shouldn’t so it’s very maneuverable it’s doing well on some tight Corners with the nubby tires it kind of holds better on the turns they’re just doing the pack gravel
Now on the River Trail here in Valley for and it’s uh super steady kind of eating this up the clattering you hear that’s actually my Wahoo I just need to tighten that down but uh yeah this is uh no problem for this bike yes once again looks like you can
Fit but I’m glad I stopped the Ribble doesn’t fit under this log on the roads I’m surprised how fast you can kind of go even though it has has like 46 mil nby tires all right this bike does really well on the country Rocky Roads I’m going to go into this stuff
Again today and see what happens all right I’m back at the burwind wall with a Ribble again this gravel grinder isn’t meant to do Road 20% plus grade let’s see how it does I’ll let you know when I get to the top all right hey the Ribble
Made it to the top I did have to stand at the 20 plus% areas I’m on 42x 42 sprockets and again a 1×1 Shram rivel on the rivel I also put the links for some straa routs for New Zealand and for The Gap and CNO and I have some videos on
Those too that I’ll put below so you can kind of see the difference again Ribble I would use for adventure cycling bike Touring bike packing or you’re tenting carrying all your stuff and I would go through almost anything on that up to and including intermediate mountain bike
Trails hey hope the review of the Ribble helps safe pedaling