In all honesty, we have little experience with Radon Bikes here at Singletrack Towers, so it was a pleasant surprise to see some of the brand’s models in the flesh at the Cycle Show in Birmingham. As we found out, the German company has been around for some 25 years, having been founded as a sports outlet store called H&S Bike Discount, located in Bonne in Germany.
About 20 years ago, H&S Bike Discount launched the Radon bike brand. Despite being around for that length of time, it’s only been in recent years where the Radon line has come to our attention. They’ve pushed out some higher-end mountain bikes and have begun to sponsor more riders in order to get the Radon name out amongst there.
A bike that has caught some serious attention is the new Jealous carbon hardtrail from Radon Bikes. While details were released only a month ago, this was the first time we had the opportunity to see the new Jealous up close and personal.
The Jealous is built around a seriously lightweight carbon frame that is claimed to weigh just 890 grams. Radon has used T1100 high modulus carbon fibres to offer a very high stiffness-to-weight ratio (apparently it’s STW is 106, whatever that means…), and each frame size uses unique tubing diameters to maintain a consistent ride quality regardless of rider size. The Jealous is available in Small, Medium, Large and X-Large sizes.
In Radon’s words, the Jealous hardtail has “highly agile and frisky geometry for technically ambitious XC courses”. That could mean all sorts of things, but having skipped over the geometry charts, we suspect Radon means that the Jealous offers capable handling for modern XC racecourses. It features a 69.6-degree head angle when paired to a 100mm travel fork, and it has a 68mm bottom bracket drop and 432.5mm long chainstays.
The Radon Jealous will be available as a frame only, and with multiple build kit options for those wanting a complete bike. The complete bike featured here will be available, complete with Tune and AX Lightness exotica. Phew!
Yes, you’re meant to sit on it. And you may actually be surprised just how comfortable the Tune Speedneedle really is. Especially when you consider it’s a sub-100 gram saddle. Yikes!
The only thing ruining the super-stealth black finish on the Radon Jealous was the flashy gold SRAM Eagle XX-1 drivetrain. But hey, who’s complaining about a freaking gold cassette and chain?
If you’re going to build a superlight carbon hardtail, then you’re going to need light hoops. Fast racing treads from Schwalbe in the form of the brilliantly-named Thunder Burts.
Those carbon rims are from AX Lightness. They’re fully carbon with a 25mm internal rim width, a 33.5mm external width, and a depth of 30mm. They certainly have presence, that’s for sure. The complete wheelset is called the ‘AX Ultra Boost 29C’ wheelset, which is claimed to weight just 1240 grams for the pair.
At the other end of the scale was the new Slide+ from Radon. A full suspension plus bike with 130mm of travel, the Slide+ features a 7005 alloy frame with a four-bar suspension design and 2.8in wide Schwalbe tyres.
There’s a tapered head tube up front, and a slack 67.6-degree head angle to keep the front centre roomy.
