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We spotted a brand new prototype Ridley at a Tour de France warm-up race. With its slim tube profiles and lightweight focus, this bike looks set to be a pure climber. We take a closer look at the Uno-X team's new machine and speculate on what it could be.
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Climbing bikes aren't dead. We're here at the Uno X truck at the Tour Averne-Rona Alps
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and we've just spotted a prototype Ridley and it looks more like it's designed for climbing
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than their current road race bike the Ridley Noah Fast 3. So let's go and take a closer look at it
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Now obviously there's no official information about this bike yet because it's only a prototype
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and Uno X have two of these bikes here at the race. Now what we do know about it is that it's
0:28
got far less deep tube profiles than the ridley noah fast 3 which no doubt means it's going to be
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used on some of the more hilly and climbing stages as for tire clearance it looks like it's got
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absolutely loads so this bike is fitted with a set of 28 mil grand prix 5000 tt tires and there's
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loads of space in there i reckon that's got at least space for 34 mil tires so maybe we'll see
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this being used at classics and things like that as well one of the things that i find interesting
0:56
is this sort of design here you can see it's deeper here where the seat post goes in it's
1:01
deeper here than it is down here it's got very slight seat stays and this mounting system is
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reminiscent of a i've had a cube which got a similar sort of design where the seat post bolts
1:12
clamp from the back as with many riders here at the tour of urn ron alps it's got a zero offset
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seat post and this looks a lot like an s works mirror saddle albeit they've definitely removed
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the Specialized logos from it It is quite interesting to see though that they got it mounted quite far back despite using that zero offset seat post and then this one got a full sram group set full sram red
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and like many of the riders they're using quite a large cassette so this is a 10 36 tooth cassette
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at the back although it is still dwarfed compared to the chain ring on this tt bike which is a 60
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tooth. Wow. So I've been having a think about where this new bike might fit into Ridley's range
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So their current road bikes consist of the NOAA Fast 3 and then the slightly lower tier NOAA 3
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Those are both aero bikes and then you've got the Falcon RS which aims to be an all-rounder
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and then the Griffin RS but that's a more relaxed endurance style geometry. Now as this is a bike
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being raced here at the Tour of Bernrone Alps alongside the Noah Fast 3, our best bet is that
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this is either an updated Falcon RS or a completely new full climbing focused model. Now I reckon I'd
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put my money on the former as the current Falcon RS was released in 2023 and three years is often
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about the amount of time that bikes stick around before an update. So if we compare those two frames
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and it's clear that the Belgian brand has used skinnier tube profiles
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which is usually for two reasons, lowering weight and adding compliance. Now at 830 grams for the Falcon RS frame, it was by no means a heavyweight
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but by cutting out a hundred grams or so, they would bring it far more in line with the current competition the likes of the Specialized Tarmac S8 and the Cannondale Super 6 for example Now if we put the Falcon RS side by side with the new bike
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then you can see that there's a whole host of changes. The seatpost is slimmer, the top tube looks less bulky
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the seat stays look slimmer too. That usually is for rear end compliance
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And looking at this new bike then, I'm gonna put my cards on the table
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and say that Ridley are gonna call it the Falcon RS. They're going to bump up the tire clearance from 34mm to maybe 36mm to keep it ahead of the curve
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They're going to keep the UDH, that was already ahead of the curve, shed around 100g from the frame and a few from the fork
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whilst trying to keep it as aero as the current Falcon RS. So when might we see the new bike
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Well, if Ridley repeat the same release timeline as they did with the Falcon RS
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then we can expect to see this for sale in the autumn, around September time
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but obviously there's no confirmation on that just yet but if you do want to see lots more
3:57
unreleased bikes and all the latest cycling tech then please make sure you're subscribed to the
4:01
cycling weekly channel right now go on don't click it go go we'd like to give a quick shout
4:08
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use and check out Elite's full range using the link in the description below. I really do like
4:44
this new Uno X paint job they've obviously stripped all the paint off of the bikes bar a few little
4:49
red bits and a few it look like contours on a map that's no doubt to try and save some weight
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and get them all down to that 6.8 kilo UCI weight limit. Also looks like a new bar, that's a Nimbus
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Pro. Ridley have worked with Dada to manufacture a lot of their latest bars such as the ones on the
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Noah Fast 3. This one, it's hard to tell but I think that's a new bar for this bike and interestingly
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Ridley haven't gone for the sort of speed sniffer design. It's quite a conventional, traditional
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looking head tube on this bike. Another little detail is on the fork legs the brake is sort of
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almost recessed into the fork although by no means to the same extent as it is on the Ridley
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Nerf R3. Now the Ridley Nerf R3 was one of the most impressive bikes that I rode last year it was
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one of the best surprises. If this rides anything like that then they're onto a winner. So let me
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know what you think of this new Ridley prototype. We don't have any idea of what it's called yet
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because the UCI sticker just says prototype, so no clues on the name
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But yeah, let me know what you think of it down in the comment section below. And would you choose this
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over some of the more established brands? Let me know in the comments below
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