Terry Dolan Ribble 653

[AlexD]

Managed to build this bike up just before having a second child, which zapped all my free time meaning I rarely get a chance to ride the thing :?
Nothing against my Surly 'people carrier' or my ratty 70s track bike commuter but when i do get a chance to hop on this, i remember just how nice it is to ride. Very quick and responsive.

It's a bit of a mongrel build - I don't know what this would have sported originally so i've gone for parts that suit me with a vague nod to some semblance of aesthetic cohesiveness! I keep thinking i'm going to upgrade the groupset to 7401/03/010 but that's so far failed to materialise.

I'd love to know some more about these Dolan built Ribbles if anyone has any info or can point me to a relevant thread/link. Do any catalogue scans exist?

 

[CTK]

Lovely looking bike

 

[Stick Legs]

To be honest 105sc is the perfect groupset for one of these. I remember the ads in the mags for Ribble and a 105sc 653 framed Ribble was about the best value for money race bike you could buy.

Live the 1990's Cat3 dream.

 

[AlexD]

To be honest 105sc is the perfect groupset for one of these.

Ah, that's interesting - i'd love to see one of those ads! I actually really like the 105 groupset - shifts well and I even think the 'champagne' colour works surprisingly well with the pearlescent white paint. DA would only be for showey-ness can't imagine i'd notice a weight saving or anything if im honest. The hubs are actually ultegra tricolour and are smoooooth.

 

[marshalllucky]

Re:

That is sweet ! . I had a Dolan built Ribble in 1985 , I was a schoolboy racer and my dad took me to Ribble in Watery lane Preston to order it for my christmas present ( lucky me, thanks Dad ! ) . It was white with chrome forks and I opted for 600EX , turbo saddle, GP4`s , cinelli stem bars all for £380. I had to wait about 4/5 weeks for the frame and although it was 531C they offered to put 531pro transfers on it which they did ( naughty ) . I have some cycling mags from the mid- late 80`s and I`m sure there are some colour Ribble ad`s in there , I will dig them out and post .

 

[AlexD]

Re:

Cheers, it’s a lovely frame with lots of nice little features. I’m a sucker for fastback etc seat stays and I really like the shot through ones on this frame. Nice elegant internal routing and also round the B.B.

I think £380 might be around what I’ve spent on this, more or less actually! I might be doing the classic if not counting stuff that was in the parts box though

Any scans you could rustle up would be very much appreciated!

Weirdly, I was umming and ahhing over a beautiful Dolan built Cougar for sale on LFGSS recently. Would have been perfect for my wife. In the end someone else bought it. Terry Dolan, in fact!

 

[marshalllucky]

Re:

In late 1986 Terry Dolan went into partnership as Cougar with Joey Mcloughlin who was riding for ANC at the time and they opened a new frameshop / store in StHelens , ( Joey mostly rode frames built by Terry but badged up as Peugeots !) . I Found a full page ad for Ribble from December 1986 , got hundreds of magazines so I`ll try and search out a few more if I get chance.

 

[MartinB123]

Re: Re:

Weirdly, I was umming and ahhing over a beautiful Dolan built Cougar for sale on LFGSS recently. Would have been perfect for my wife. In the end someone else bought it. Terry Dolan, in fact!

He bought one of his Cougar's from me earlier in the year as well - claim to fame!

I love anything 653 - I have 2x ribble 653's, a Peugeot 653 and a Dawes hybrid 653. Great tubing! I also have a 731os Cougar/Dolan too. Great framesets.

 

[AlexD]

Re: Re:

full page ad for Ribble from December 1986

Amazing, thanks for posting that! Good to see I got the rims right

 

[jamesdak]

I started a thread on a Ribble bike I just picked up. It seems different from most I can find to include having a numbers tab. Hoping Ribble responds to my email with some answers.

Your's is looking pretty sweet!