Ribble Allroad SL R e Pro review: a brilliant all-road ebike – just add wider tyres

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Ribble's new Allroad SL R e is inspired by the British brand's radical Ultra SL R aero road racer. It takes the aerodynamics of the Allroad SLR and incorporates a lightweight Mahle X20 rear-hub motor and small-capacity internal battery.

Priced at £5,999 / $6,995 / €8,380, the bike is impressive, especially on the road, with a long range for such a small battery. However, the specification here leaves a little ability to uncover.

Get it right using the brand’s online Bike Builder service, though, and this Ribble delivers an excellent all-road (if not dedicated gravel) ride.

Ribble Allroad SL R e Pro frame and geometry

The Allroad SL R frameset has a deep aero-shaped seat tube with a generous rear-wheel cut-out to provide all-road ready 38mm tyre clearance.

It's topped by an aero-shaped seatpost that looks like a scaled-down version of the deep aero shape found on the cutting-edge Ultra.

The down tube is aerodynamically shaped to cut through the air, but also profiled to hide the bottle for smoother airflow.

The non-assisted version of the Allroad contains a storage compartment in the down tube. Here, it’s where the 350Wh battery is housed.

The aerodynamic fork integrates smoothly into the junction of the head tube and deep down tube, and the wide bow to the legs minimises disruption of the air from the spinning front wheel.

The SL R e is constructed from a blend of Toray T1000 and M46 carbon fibre, which Ribble claims gives the bike the best blend of stiffness, compliance and low weight where needed.

Even though the frameset carries plenty of consideration of aerodynamics, Ribble hasn’t forgotten the practical details. There’s the generous tyre clearance already mentioned, proper mudguard mounts and twin bottle bosses.

The design of the internal routing of the brake hoses through the headset means the steering features prevent the bar turning fully. This should minimise the risk of brake-hose pinching and damage in the event of a crash, but it limits low-speed manoeuvrability.

The steep 73-degree head tube and 73.5-degree seat tube angles are classic road bike geometry, and matched to a 606.7mm stack height and long 405.3mm reach on my size-XL (58cm equivalent) test bike.

In short, the Allroad SL R e has an endurance bike ride position with far more sporty handling than most.

The 120mm stem makes for a ride position that feels purposeful and fast, but retains comfort. The 1,026mm wheelbase is right on the money for endurance-bike stability and the short 415mm chainstays should help the Allroad feel suitably nimble.

Ribble Allroad SL R e Pro build

Up-front, the Allroad SL R e Pro gets a fascinating new handlebar, called the UB-2 (Ultra Bar 2nd Generation).

This takes the shape of the bar on Ribble’s aerodynamic Ultra, with its patented airflow-disrupting wake generators and sculpted drops, along with direct-mounting brake levers.

This version is separate from the stem, though, giving a wider choice of options for Allroad riders to mix and match stem and bar widths (which can be achieved through Ribble’s online Bike Builder).

The bar has a bonded grip on the drops – Ribble says optimal aerodynamic efficiency is achieved through an untaped bar. The bike can be ordered with tape if you prefer.

The drivetrain is Shimano’s Ultegra Di2 R8100, a groupset so competent that I can’t think of a compelling reason to step up to Dura-Ace.

The drivetrain is superbly smooth and fast to shift, and the braking full of feel and power when you need it. It was a sensible choice to pair the hydraulic brakes with larger 160mm rotors, because the bike is (inevitably) a little heavier than a lightweight non-assisted bike.

Here the 50/34-tooth chainset is paired with an 11-34 tooth cassette, providing accessible endurance-bike style ratios, and a good match for the lightweight Mahle motor system.

The bike rolls on Mavic’s SL 45 carbon wheels, with a 19mm internal rim width and bladed spokes. The rear wheel is built around Mahle’s compact X20 motor hub.

With most contemporary performance carbon road bike wheels now featuring 21mm inner rim widths (or wider) to support the use of wider tyres, the SL45s can rightly be considered a little behind the times.

They are shod with tanwall Pirelli P Zero Race TLR tyres in a 32mm width, set up with lightweight butyl inner tubes. The tyres are very road-specific, but more on that when it comes to the ride.

The proprietary carbon aero seatpost is topped with a Selle Italia SLR Boost saddle, completing a very competent build.

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Ribble Allroad SL R e Pro ride impressions and range

The Allroad SL R e is a fast bike, irrespective of the motor assistance. At only 12.27kg, it’s not a heavy electric bike – I’ve ridden non-electric gravel bikes that are heavier.

Without any assistance, it's easy to pedal the Allroad up past the 15.5mph/25kph limit anyway; the sporty ride position and wind-cheating design make for a quick bike.

With the motor system engaged, as you pedal, the Mahle bottom bracket measures both cadence and power (in Watts), and through the system’s software it optimises the assistance being delivered – irrespective of which power mode you're in.

That means while the Allroad SL R e may only have a modestly sized 350Wh battery, none of that resource is going to waste. The Allroad achieves quite a hefty range for such a lightweight package, reaching a best of 81.3 miles/130.8km, with 4,042.8ft/1,232.25m of elevation.

Combined with this is Mahle’s phone app, which can be used to record your ride, adjust motor settings, monitor and analyse energy consumption, and link to your heart rate monitor so it delivers the necessary assistance to keep you in the heart rate zone of your choosing.

The control for the system is a unit in the top tube, called the iWOC. This cycles through the modes, and a multi-colour strip light signifies which power mode you’re in and a rough guide to battery reserves.

The iWOC is simple and easy enough to use, although you can only cycle up through the modes, rather than toggling up or down (unlike Bosch’s SX controller).

That said, connecting it to a Garmin bike computer enables you to control the motor assistance from your touchscreen, and get more accurate information on the battery life and a ‘smart’ estimated range. This changes depending on your chosen mode and current riding style.

The smart charger can deliver 80 per cent charge in two hours and a full recharge from empty in just shy of four. The new charger also has a USB port, so you can download any firmware updates to a USB stick and perform upgrades at home without the need to take your bike to an authorised Mahle shop.

The Allroad SL R e handled beautifully in testing – it was quick and responsive and the steering never got unsettled on poorer roads. It flows through fast corners and over rolling terrain like a true aero road bike.

Get to the foot of a hill and it responds to big efforts well, using the X20 motor assistance. I felt as though I could attack big climbs with the verve of Tadej Pogačar.

The ride quality is firm, but not harsh. It transmits plenty of the road surface through the bike, boosting confidence. I find the Selle Italia SLR Boost saddle especially comfortable, but Ribble’s Bike Builder offers options if you should prefer something different.

The UB-2 handlebar offers a good range of grasping positions, although in its untaped form I had to ride with mitts for comfort.

The Allroad name is something of a misnomer, however, at least in the standard pure-road specification. I rode the bike out on some poorer roads and light gravel and, although I didn’t suffer any mishaps, the racy tyres aren’t ideally suited.

Mounted on relatively narrow rims by modern standards, I ended up running higher tyre pressures than I’d prefer, which adversely affected the Allroad’s ability to smooth out chatter from poor surfaces.

I implored Ribble that to be a true all-roader, it needs to make the most of the 38mm tyre clearance – and Ribble listened. It now offers a 35mm Schwalbe G-One Allround gravel tyre option.

Fitting these tyres improved things for gravel riding, but it’s still not a monster electric gravel machine, like the Sonder El Camino or Canyon Grizl:ON.

That said, it’s seriously rapid on unmetalled roads and the G-One tyres offer enough grip and cushion to handle singletrack too – even if it’ll run out of traction before its larger-tyred rivals.

Range-wise, I saw a drop off of around 5 per cent compared to the slick Pirellis, but the trade-off is worth it for the increased versatility.

Ribble Allroad SL R e Pro bottom line

The Ribble Allroad SL R e Pro is a brilliant electric all-road bike – it’s fast and fun, even without the pedal assistance system switched on.

Add the electric boost and it’s a rewarding and fun bike to head for the hills on. That it integrates pedal assistance without compromising its road-bike feel is quite the achievement.

The tape-less bar will divide opinion, and I found it necessary to wear mitts with a bit of padding to make up for the lack of tape.

With the larger-volume tyres, the Allroad SL R e is better over a wider range of surfaces. But, with Ribble offering more tyre-size options through its Bike Builder, you can make the Allroad a true all-road champion.

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