A new ultra fast road race bike, designed for potholes - the Ribble ULTRA-RACE

Ribble has unveiled its latest flagship road bike, the Ultra-Race, with the brand claiming it combines the best features of its current aero and lightweight bikes to become the ultimate road bike, a 'do it all' lightweight, aero bike.

The decision to remove the Endurance SL from the Ribble lineup, prioritising a single-race bike, mirrors the new-but-old design concept already employed by brands like Trek, Specialized, and Lapierre, to name just a few.

The difference with the Ribble Ultra-Race, however, lies in its departure from the slender tubing profiles adopted by others, instead retaining aerodynamic tube profiles inherited from the Ribble Ultra-Aero, but this time utilising MT65 carbon in the layup.

Jamie Burrow, Ribble Head of Product, believes that the use of MT65 is a world first in the bicycle industry, adding that Ribble has been eager to use the material for a while and has undertaken extensive testing to satisfy themselves of it's effectiveness. He adds that while this is the first bike to take advantage of this new, it certainly won't be the last, with the Ultra-Aero next on the list for a construction upgrade.

Ribble has deployed the new carbon fibre material in specific zones of the frame to increase strength and stiffness while reducing weight. Targeted application around the bottom bracket improves power transfer, and its use in the seat stays apparently enhances both comfort and compliance. We'll dig further into that unusual claim when we test the bike.

There's more, in that the frame design itself is said to aid comfort, thanks to careful testing of the Ultra-Race's shaping of the downtube and headtube, combined with their asymmetric seat tube and chainstay design. They say this enhances power transfer and ride compliance. We're not pedants, so assume this means they've used the new super high-modulus stuff where it reduces weight and stiffness, using other grades for comfort.

To achieve the new bike's impressively lightweight credentials, Ribble states it has selected a "totally new and groundbreaking carbon fiber technology." We're not familiar with MT65, so it could be completely new. Toray carbon ranges come in T and M grades, amongst others. MT may well be a derivative of an M grade, or it could be proprietary. And could of course be from another manufacturer entirely. Details as to exactly what this is are not clear at the time of the launch, but we will analyse this in more detail once the bike lands with us for a full review.

At present, Ribble has shared is that the technology has been "developed and fine-tuned using extensive CFD and wind tunnel research, as well as real-world testing on the unforgiving roads of the UK."

This dramatisation of the UK road network may sound like an exaggeration to anyone who hasn't had the (dis)pleasure of road riding here in the last decade, but the rest of us are nodding knowingly right now.

Talking specifics, the Ultra-Race boasts several key features, including flared seatstays, which Ribble claims enhance the aerodynamic benefits of wide forks, along with aerodynamic shaping on the headtube and downtube, and even aerodynamic bottle cages. The bike gives a decent but relatively 'standard' now, 32mm tyre clearance, through an asymmetric seat tube and chainstay design.

Frustratingly, we don't have the data comparing the Ultra-Race and Ultra-Aero; instead, Ribble has compared the new bike to the outgoing Endurance SLR, with weight reduction and speed improvement making the headlines.

Ribble states that the frame weight of the Ultra-Race is 775 grams (size medium), making it 75 grams lighter than an equivalent-sized Endurance SLR. However, full bike weights depend on the final build and model selected.

According to the brand, this means that an average time trial over 40km will be, on average, 6.03 seconds faster, with wattage comparisons showing an average saving of 2.60 watts and an average drag reduction of 0.72% on the Ultra-Race.

As for why you might be trying to ride a 40km time trial on the Ribble Endurance SLR instead of at least the Ultra-Aero, that's anyone's guess. However, the brand states that it aimed to directly compare incoming with outgoing bikes.

It is available in sizes XXS, XS, S, M, L, and XL, fitting riders ranging from 4'11" (150cm) up to 6'5" (196cm). Standard colours are Black, Red (Team Edition), and White.

Like every Ribble, the Ultra-Race is built to order in the UK, which means it is fully customizable with a wide range of component specifications available through Ribble’s BikeBuilder and CustomColour tools at ribble.com, allowing for different groupsets, wheels, and components.

Prices range from £3,699 / $6400 for a build with Shimano 105 Di2 and Mavic 30 Ksyrium wheels, up to £7,999 / $8,415 for builds with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 or SRAM RED E1 and Zipp 303 FC wheels. Although a top-spec build, weighing 6.58kg without pedals, creeps incredibly close to the UCI’s minimum weight limit of 6.8kg and features SRAM Red and Scope Artech wheels, it is priced at £10,499 / $13,060. Available worldwide now directly from Ribble.