A closer look at the 'disruptive' Ribble Rebellion crit bike: part artwork, part race machine

With a custom paint job that looks as though it’s come straight from the brush of Roy Lichtenstein, Matt Bostock’s Ribble Ultra SL R is hard to miss. 

The Ribble Rebellion rider’s performance at the recent Eddie Soens Memorial race in North West England, where this photo was taken, was equally impossible to ignore. The Manxman animated the handicap race in the final few laps of the Aintree circuit, closing the gap on the leaders on several occasions before being pipped at the line in a sprint by Jack Hartley.

The Ribble Rebellion team is a brand new squad for 2024, hoping to 'disrupt the global crit scene' this year.  

Beneath the striking colours - the bars and forks of each Ribble Rebellion rider’s bike is unique to them - Bostock’s Ultra SLR is the quintessential modern aero bike. The frameset is a monocoque design built using a combination of Toray T1000 and T800 carbon. Its deep tube shapes are born from computational fluid dynamics as well as both wind tunnel and real-world testing. 

Interesting too are the alien-looking handlebars, which have been specially designed for use without handlebar tape, and feature direct mounting for the Shimano Ultegra R8170 shifters. 

The underside of the bars features what Ribble calls 'wake generators'; these are said to create a drag reduction zone. Bostock matches a 140cm stem to bars that measure 33cm on the tops and 37cm at the drops. "The bars are obviously very impactful and 33cm wide sounds extreme, but they are super aero and enable me to get into a great riding position on the hoods with enough leverage and grip to sprint from the drops," he said. 

Ribble says the forks and headtube work together as a package to minimise drag. The fork blades measure 68mm x 15mm and are said to deliver significant aero gains, with the internal cable routing also playing its part. 

Dropped seat stays are nothing new but note here how the position of the stays is perfectly aligned to the forks - Ribble says this helps to maintain optimal airflow attachment while, once again, reducing drag. 

"The power transfer you get through both the frame and the cockpit is noticeable straight away," Bostock told Cycling Weekly. "It’s the fastest road bike I’ve ever ridden, and paired with the Mavic SL 65 wheels it honestly just feels better the faster you go on it."

The deep-section Mavic hoops in question are shod with Continental's popular GP5000 TLR tyres in a 28mm width, with Bostock opting for a tubeless setup for lower rolling resistance and a better chance of sealing any mid-race punctures. 

The crit racing focus of the new Rebellion team is evident in many of Bostock’s component choices. The Shimano Ultegra Di2 R8170 groupset features 56/44 Rotor aero chainrings, coupled with an 11-30 rear cassette. But it’s not all about straight-line speed.

"We’ve recently been on a training camp in Girona putting the bikes to the test and not only are they unbelievably fast but they still climb extremely well for an aero-focused bike," says Bostock. 

While much of Bostock’s bike uses team-issue parts, the pedals are his own. He opts for a Garmin Rally RS200 model, with their in-built power meter. He pairs this with his Garmin Edge 540 head unit.  

Like the pedals, the saddle is subject to rider preference. Bostock’s chosen perch is something of a classic, Fizik’s Antares. He has it set up forward on the carbon rails as the bike is size large but he’ll be racing a size medium as the season progresses.

For more information on the Ribble Ultra SLR Disc, visit the Ribble Website.