Ribble unveils three limited edition bikes including unreleased prototype to celebrate 125th anniversary

Founded in late 1897, Ribble Cycles is one of the oldest bicycle companies in the world and celebrates its 125th birthday this year. To mark the occasion, Ribble has unveiled three signature 125 Anniversary Edition designs... and unlike many of the bikes featured in our Bike at Bedtime series, you are actually able to purchase two of the three if you have very deep pockets!

Ribble Gravel Ti 125 (£8,999)

The clue is in the name with this one, really. The Gravel Ti has a handcrafted, triple-butted titanium frame which claims to bring together "timeless looks, superb strength and – most importantly – an unmatched ride quality." This 125-anniversary frame is finished in Emerald Green Marble with Gold Leaf detailing.

We recently featured the Gravel Ti in our four of the best Ribble gravel bikes feature; and while this one has an astronomical price tag of nearly 9k, prices start at a much more modest £2,999 making it one of the more cost-effective ways to get on to titanium.

> Review: Ribble CGR Ti Sport

The Level 3 inline seatpost benefits from the same paintwork, and this limited-production bike comes with a 13-speed Campagnolo Ekar groupset. A £370 Fizik Antares Versus Evo 00 Adaptive 3D printed saddle and some Brooks Black leather bar tape complete this money-no-object build.

> 9 badass bike components - easy ways to make your bike look cool

The bars and stem come from Enve: a carbon gravel bar and carbon road stem to be precise. This is finished with a Kapz custom top cap, which is of course gold, as is the Level 44 headset and mounting bolts. There are lots of them on this do-it-all frameset. 

The Mavic Ultimate T disc wheels feature custom laser etched 125 logos, and the carbon spoke wheelset is shod with 45mm WTB Raddler tyres and Vavert tubes

Ribble Allroad SLe 125 Prototype

Unlike the other two bikes, the Allroad SLe 125 is just a prototype and therefore won't be available to purchase. It features Shimano's latest R9200 Dura-Ace groupset, Mavic Cosmic wheels and some brand-new prototype bars similar to those found on the Ultra SL R.

That very bling and very gold chain is a 12-speed KMC E12 Ti-N E-bike chain, and despite looking a lot like a normal road bike, the Allroad SLe does in fact house a motor and battery.

> Best electric bikes 2022 

Here's a closer look at that special headtube badge that is featured on all three of the bikes...

Andy Smallwood, CEO of Ribble, says: “It is incredible to think that Ribble has been designing and hand-crafting bicycles for 125 years - almost as long as the invention of the safety bicycle itself.

"Ribble started as a family-owned business passed down through generations and then onto the next custodians of the brand. Today’s Ribble family is a collective of passionate and talented cycling-obsessed people with the shared vision for continuous development and innovation to ensure that Ribble continues to thrive as a world-class brand throughout the 21st century and beyond.”

As we've grown accustomed to, the cockpit is fully integrated with no cables on show, and it's clearly somewhat inspired by the super aero Ultra SL R. The control for the e-bike functionality is positioned on the top tube, just like we've seen on Ribble's current 10.5kg e-road bike the Endurance SLe.

> Video: Ribble's Endurance SLe, our e-road bike of the year

> Review: Selle Italia SP-01 Boost Tekno Superflow saddle

Selle Italia has also got in on the act and provided this custom-painted and gold leaf saddle perched on top of the proprietary kamm tail seatpost. It's the very expensive (£440) and very light (95g) SL R Boost Tekno SuperFlow full carbon saddle that's been chosen to receive the treatment.

Ribble Ultra SL R 125 (£9,608) 

The Ultra SL R turned plenty of heads when it was released last year, and we think it's about to all over again. Sadly in the last few weeks, it's been the protagonist of more sombre news with the withdrawal of Ribble Weldtite from British UCI Continental racing.

The Sapphire Blue marble and gold leaf paintjob has been paired with some Level Tri spoke wheels and tan wall Vittoria Corsa G2.0 28mm tyres. These tri-spoke wheels are designed to cheat the wind and feature 24mm external width, 50mm depth and the front wheel has a claimed weight of 880g.

Those famous bars have also been fully painted. The bar tape hasn't been left off by mistake, and rather Ribble has used a textured surface to alleviate the need for it. Again the Ultra SL R gets a custom gold Kapz top cap and bottle cage bolts.

Power is delivered to the wheels via a Sram Red AXS eTap groupset (and your legs) minus the chain which is once again supplied by KMC. Are you a fan of Sram? Or do you think Ribble should have gone with Dura-Ace like on the Allroad SLe shown above?

> Head to head: Shimano Dura-Ace R9150 Di2 v SRAM Red eTap AXS

All of the special designs will only be available during the anniversary year, creating
a one-off limited run. The Ribble 125 Anniversary Edition design is £1,299 and can be
selected via the CustomColour offering online or in-showroom.

More details about Ribble’s 125th anniversary and the Ribble 125 Anniversary Edition design can be found here, and will be showcased across its Clitheroe, Bluewater, Birmingham, Nottingham and Bristol brand stores soon…

Which is your favourite of the new bikes? Let us know in the comments section below...