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.
