The British bike manufacturer that’s made a name for itself as a maker of lightweight electric bikes has added a new, slightly dirtier featherweight to its lineup of on and off-road e-bikes.
Performance bike brand Ribble launched its all new electric gravel bike this week, the Gravel AL e. The aluminum-framed rig clocks in at just under 14kg (about 30lbs for us Americans), comes stock with Shimano’s gravel-specific GRX groupset and — best of all — starts at the affordable price of $3,100 USD.
The Gravel AL e is one of the stealthiest e-bikes we’ve seen at Electric Bike Report, and at first glance hardly looks like an e-bike at all. A 250Wh Panasonic battery is hidden inside the non-oversized frame and the 250W MAHLE Ebikemotion X35+ hub motor laced to the rear wheel is almost entirely tucked behind the wide-range GRX cassette.
“Gravel riding has been embraced by the team at Ribble and continues to evolve covering everything from extreme racing, all-out adrenalin chasing through to the bikepacking adventurer. Our new Gravel AL e has been created from a vast wealth of experience and design expertise, incorporating new R&D technologies and specific off-road details that will enable riders to experience trails in an extremely new and exciting way,” wrote Andy Smallwood, Ribble’s CEO, in a press release announcing the bike.
“Furthermore, we all acknowledge the joys and benefits that come with gravel riding and with the Gravel AL e’s versatility, practicality and design it opens up a great way to enjoy those benefits to a wider audience.”
The Gravel AL e has a “long and low” modern gravel geometry that places the bike’s center of gravity closer to the ground and makes handling more predictable over bumpy and loose road surfaces. That chassis sits on a pair of 650b (27.5”) wheels mounted with WTB Sendero gravel tires. Braking is handled by the Shimano GRX hydraulic disc brakes.
Though Riddle is more well known in Europe, Americans can buy the bikes online and have them shipped to the U.S. You can choose from four spec levels of the Gravel AL e — the base-level Sport is $3,100.25, the Enthusiast is $3,444.85, the Pro is $4,019.18 and the top-tier Hero is $4,708.38. Each spec level comes in a standard (and very nice looking) light green but that can be changed for a small fee with Ribble’s custom color selector.
This newest addition to Ribble’s lineup is part of a industry-wide wave of featherweight and lightly powered e-bikes we’ve seen over the past few years. These bikes are built and tuned with performance in mind, with a power delivery that closely matches a rider’s natural pedaling ability. Specialized has been at the forefront of this movement with their uber cool (and uber expensive) SL motor technology, but we’re excited to see brands like Ribble bringing lightweight e-bikes to the masses at a less painful pricepoint.
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