Ribble 531 Competition Raw Steel

vcballbat · Oct 26, 2020

Had this old Ribble frame lurking in the back of the garage for a couple of years, so draged it out with plans to move it on. I bought it as a complete bike and had gradually robbed it of parts for other builds. Once fully striped down I couldn't believe how light it was and noticed that it was 531c and not 531db as I'd initially thought. On the scales frame weight is approximately 1790g and the forks approximately 660g. My next thought as it's bang on my size, is to build it up as a 'Modern Classic' road machine.

Rapparee87 · Oct 26, 2020

Re:

Yes, good move, we have to keep as much steel on the road as possible. Your pocket would be feeling the pain if you wanted a new one that's for sure.

MartinB123 · Oct 26, 2020

Great frame sets, these!

vcballbat · Oct 27, 2020

Re:

Next I had to make a decision about whether to splash the cash on flashy new paint n' decals or go down the raw naked steel route. I've always liked the look of raw Titanium frames with their black carbon forks...so that was it... decision made..less is more and splash the cash on a new set of wheels instead.
Old decals were peeled off with help from the good lady's hairdryer and the frame and fork chemically striped.
Into the hi-tech spray booth and the forks were grey primed and then three coats of gloss black laid down.
The bare frame was buffed using various sizes of brass wire wheels in my Hitachi cordless until a nice uniform brushed finish was achieved. I gave the frame a final rub all over with an aluminium pot scourer then cleaned with the good lady's nail varnish remover.
Back into the hi-tech spray booth the frame was strung up and two coats of satin clear-coat laid down.

Total cost of materials...
Poundland grey primer £1
Poundland gloss black £1
Lidl satin clear-coat £2.49
Now there's money in the pot for them wheels....

MartinB123 · Oct 27, 2020

This looks great. Well done! I started doing mine by hand then sent it off for blasting and clear powder coat. Will have to get some pics up at some point.

Best of luck with the build

vcballbat · Oct 27, 2020

MartinB123:38nyilli said:
This looks great. Well done! I started doing mine by hand then sent it off for blasting and clear powder coat. Will have to get some pics up at some point.

Best of luck with the build

Looking forward to seeing your one...so it's a Ribble aswell ?
Managed to lose some weight in the process with the forks weighing in at 650g and the frame coming in at 1750g.... not to shabby at 2.4kg all in for a size 54.5cm CTT....Yeah... Steel is Real...

MartinB123 · Oct 27, 2020

vcballbat":25oa71h6 said:
MartinB123":25oa71h6 said:

This looks great. Well done! I started doing mine by hand then sent it off for blasting and clear powder coat. Will have to get some pics up at some point.

Best of luck with the build

Click to expand...

Looking forward to seeing your one...so it's a Ribble aswell ?

It's an Olmo - same kind of era though!

Nearly finished it... will get pics up soon

vcballbat · Oct 28, 2020

The Ribble has now been built up with what I would consider to be some of the best looking modern' ish components with some contemporary classic style additions. I have committed the ultimate sin of mixing Dura Ace with Campagnolo Record cranks so my apologies...I just think the carbon looks cool...

Still waiting on head badge decals which I'm having especially made up.
Took it out for its first shakedown and was completely blown away by the ride quantity which is so incredibly smooth and forgiving with no vibration on the bars and rattling brifters as I find with modern machines. This has to be the smoothest, quietest and quite frankly the best bike I have ridden. Maybe it's the super smooth running Royce hubs and combination of Continental Grand Prix Classic 25mm tyres with supple Vredestan latex tubes have that have contributed to this. Can't wait for it to stop bloody raining so I can get out and enjoy the ride..