Winnershsaint
Guru
So This summer has seen me want to apply the equation n+1. The Cube Peloton has served me proud and will continue to do so as my winter bike. However my head was turned by theat sexy carbon fibre stuff. I was almost seduced by Ribble, but ended up at my LBS buying a Ridley Orion Ultegra Special Edition which had been discounted by £200. That was at the start of August. Unfortunately the Orion they had in stock in my size was not a Special Edition even though it had been boxed up as one. The plan was to get Ridley to send another one out. It was to reach the shop by 12th August, the day I went off to Egypt for a couple of weeks. I had a great holiday, and looked forward to picking up my bike when we returned. Saturday 27th August I went in expectantly only to have my hopes dashed when I was told it hadn't arrived. To cut a long story short as of yesterday despite lots of emails and calls by the LBS the bike which had evidently been dispatched was still lost somewhere between Belgium and Crowthorne. Now as a geography teacher I know that Belgium and the south of England are only a ferry crossing away, so I became increasingly sceptical as to whether I would ever see the bike I had paid for. The LBS were apologetic and had done everyting to sort the problem out, and then this morning they called.... 'Can you come over we probably need to look at alternatives?'
I was given two basically; a Ridley Damocles or a Ridley Excalibur Flandrien. I tried the Damocles first of all. It was good, very different from the Cube, and then I tried the Excalibur Flandrien. now the Damocles is not a bad looker, but the Excalibur Flandrien with its all matt black paint job emblazoned with the graphics from the Flandrien flag is in my opinion an astonishing looking bike. I tried it. It just felt right apart from the hideous looking and feeling saddle it came ith as standard. So I plumped for the Excalibur Flandrien with a Fizik Arione saddle all for £1600, the original discounted price I had paid for the Orion SE.. Now I reckon that's a good deal.
I was given two basically; a Ridley Damocles or a Ridley Excalibur Flandrien. I tried the Damocles first of all. It was good, very different from the Cube, and then I tried the Excalibur Flandrien. now the Damocles is not a bad looker, but the Excalibur Flandrien with its all matt black paint job emblazoned with the graphics from the Flandrien flag is in my opinion an astonishing looking bike. I tried it. It just felt right apart from the hideous looking and feeling saddle it came ith as standard. So I plumped for the Excalibur Flandrien with a Fizik Arione saddle all for £1600, the original discounted price I had paid for the Orion SE.. Now I reckon that's a good deal.
