We’ve seen a number of bikes take advantage of 3D-printed titanium in recent years, but this new Ribble Allroad Ti is maybe the first such bike that’s actually affordable. In fact, it looks like it is cheaper than many conventional titanium bikes, while incorporating the sleek curved lines and smooth integration you most often see on the latest carbon bikes…
Ribble Allroad Ti 3D-printed titanium road & gravel bike
Ribble developed the new Allroad Ti to top out their versatile all-road bike family with a model that combined the sleek lines, top-tier performance, and integration of carbon with the unmatched ride feel, compliance, and forever-durability of titanium.
“Designed to maximise and enhance the unique ride qualities of Titanium with an endurance focussed geometry to deliver uncompromising performance, speed and versatility.”
– Jamie Burrow, Ribble’s Head of Product
This new 3D-printed Ribble Allroad Ti isn’t entirely new to us, in fact though…
We got a sneak peek of it as this prototype at Rouleur Live last autumn with speckle-painted carbon components and shiny purple ano Hope details. Yet now, less than a year later, it’s available, in stock for customizable builds, and more affordable than we had anticipated.
But while many other brands have reserved 3D-printed ti for their ultra-premium bikes (read on for more of that), Ribble looks like they are using the tech to optimize construction and keep their prices in reach. They described the benefit of the 3D-printed tech as allowing them to “create shapes with a high strength-to-weight ratio coping with more multi-directional loads, as well as allowing you to put material exactly where you want it to deal with specific stresses as opposed to taking material away” like you would with conventional CNC-machining of frame connections.
Taking advantage of some of the aero-shaping features of Ribble’s top carbon Ultra road bikes, the Allroad Ti adds in more relaxed endurance geometry long days on the bike, and bigger 35mm tire clearance for comfort over all road surfaces.
Unique UB-2 adjustable aero carbon handlebar
The top-spec Allroad Ti bikes also are the first to include the wild shapely new Ribble UB-2 carbon handlebar that debuted on the ti prototype last fall. Otherwise, it’s a 475€ upgrade over the standard alloy bar, but is likely only compatible with electronic shift drivetrains.
The UB-2 bar features unique shaping with position-adjustable direct mounts for your levers (as opposed to conventional bar clamps), smooth transitions from hoods to the bar without the need for bar tape, and “wake generators” to smooth airflow off the back of the bar.
The slightly flared drops are ergonomically shaped and have grip texture molded in, but can also be wrapped up to the lever bodies.
Tech details
- welded from 3AL-2.5V titanium shaped tubing and 3D-printed elements
- headtube with printed-in headbadge, headtube junctions & seattube cluster formed via additive manufacturing
- hand-brushed & -polished raw titanium finish shows “subtle traces of the maker’s mark” unique to each frame
- max 35mm recommended tires. spec’d with 32mm tires, and Ribble specifies that some 38mm tires also still fit
- hidden full-coverage fender mounts (32mm tires compatible with mudguards installed)
- T47 oversized threaded bottom bracket increases stiffness and enhances power transfer.
- integrated seat clamp for proprietary D-shaped aero carbon seatpost
- 2 conventional sets of water bottle mounts
- fully integrated internal cable routing
- flat mount disc brakes and 12mm thru-axles
- 5 stock frame sizes (XS-XL)
- claimed 3Al/2.5V titanium frame weight of 1700g (all weights for Medium frame), plus 470g full carbon fork
Ribble Allroad Ti – Pricing, options & availability
Let’s start with that elephant-in-the-room affordability. Things are all relative here. And the “Hero +” build that Ribble is using to show off this bike is still plenty out-of-reach expensive for most cyclists at £9800 / $11,580 / 13,375€ with its Dura-Ace Di2 & upgraded carbon Zipp 353 NSW wheels at a claimed 8.7kg.
But the good news is there are plenty of much more accessible options.
In fact, complete Ribble Allroad Ti builds start at just £3500 / $4135 / 4780€ with a mechanical Shimano 105 2×12 groupset and alloy wheels (9.9kg). 105 Di2 starts at just £4100 / $4845 / 5600€ (9.3kg).
While there are surely cheaper entry-level all-road bikes out there, you’ll be hard pressed to find more affordable complete ti bikes at that price. And certainly not cool, swoopy-looking 3D-printed ti bikes. For comparison, Sturdy’s Riadh, Moot’s Vamoots 33 & J.Laverack are ~2-3x more, No. 22’s Reactor Aero maybe 4x more and a year away, and the Pilot Seiren still hasn’t even hit the road yet.
Now, every Ribble Allroad Ti bike is built up to order in the UK, so buyers can pick and choose which components are most important to them, and where they can save a bit of coin. The framesets are in stock though, so order one today and Ribble says they will deliver it in 2-4 weeks’ time.