Ridley CX Bikes – any experiences/opinions? Which model would you choose?

Thanks to my legend of a big brother who is a designer for a company connected to Ridley, I’ve been offered a Ridley CX bike at just under half price. 😀

I’m thinking of going for the X-Bow 10 Disc and was wondering if anyone has any experience of them or other Ridley bikes?

I won’t be racing, so this is just to make the most fun out of the tamer local trails and to take advantage of the on/off road capabilities of a cx (not least since my only roadbike is a ss and so hasn’t seen much action since we moved to a VERY hilly area!)

At what would work out at about £500, this bike looks like a pretty sweet deal to me! But does anyone has any thoughts on if I should go for a different model? Key consideration is size – I’m only 5’3″ so it has to be one of the models they do in an XXS.

Any thoughts v welcome – cheers!

X Ride here. Purely for cx season .. so not disk.
It does what it was bought for. Size small .. still quite big on me (5’8″).

I have a Ridley X-Fire. I ride Cyclo_Cross in the winter and also use it as a winter road trainer by fitting some smoother road tyres.

Ridley make great bikes, you can’t go wrong with 50% discount.

My son has a 9-sp non disc X-Bow. He’s about your height and one of the attractions was the small sizes Ridley do. It’s excellent – Ridley have a stonking CX pedigree – really light but versatile. And strong – he wrote off a dutch bike in a head on collision last year with nothing more than a wobbly front wheel to straighten for him!

As above 50% off and you really can’t pass that up. In fact, can you get me one too 😉

Not sure on the specific Ridley models but as a brand, CX is their heritage and they’re typically very well rated. Especially at half price! 🙂

Thanks guys – this is really helpful!

My son has a 9-sp non disc X-Bow. He’s about your height and one of the attractions was the small sizes Ridley do. It’s excellent – Ridley have a stonking CX pedigree – really light but versatile

That’s great! Especially re the weight & strength as I’ve been reading some stuff about them being heavy? Does your son have the xxs? Is there any chance you could put up a piccie? (Preferably with your son in it for reference?!) It’s so hard to get a feel for the size of things when all the pics are of M or L frames.

Also has anyone got any opinions on whether the disc route will make the wheels/general set up much heavier?

Yes, his is XXS. Here he is going up Hardknot last year and he’s grown a bit since then. I reckon he was about 4’11” then but he’s about 5’2″ now.

Hardknot[/url]

That’s awesome – thanks so much Paul!

If it fits him, then I’m pretty confident it’ll fit me too! Oooh, think I might take the plunge! 😀

Apparently, he can also get me 50% off wheels/components at the same, so is there anything that you’d change immediately on the bike? (Obviously, I’ll go for a women’s saddle)

Oh and specifically – Paul – do you know what length cranks come on the XXS? I have 165mm on my mtb and really like them (far less knee ache than with 170s)

Thanks again guys, I was really wobbling about it, but I’m now pretty confident the bike will be ace for me!

Oh and specifically – Paul – do you know what length cranks come on the XXS? I have 165mm on my mtb and really like them (far less knee ache than with 170s)

Hmm. Surprisingly they’re 172.5 cranks. The stem is 65mm too and the bars are probably narrower than standard at 38cm. Ridley seem a bit coy about the spec on the website but can your brother not get things tweaked. If not I’d be tempted to buy some other cranks, maybe a couple of stems of different lengths and just sell the spares on here – you’re quids in at 50% anyway.

I’ve found another picture (actually I’ve loads but can’t find a decent one from the side).

My daughter had the xxs and with cx tyres on suffered with toe overlap – size 2 shoes.

Whilst this doesn’t bother some people she could never get on with it.

I’ve had a Crossbow about five years now. I’ve used it for road rides, touring, commuting and of road fun. Can’t fault it really. Id get the disc version if I was buying now.

Hmm. Surprisingly they’re 172.5 cranks. The stem is 65mm too and the bars are probably narrower than standard at 38cm. Ridley seem a bit coy about the spec on the website but can your brother not get things tweaked. If not I’d be tempted to buy some other cranks, maybe a couple of stems of different lengths and just sell the spares on here – you’re quids in at 50% anyway.

Really? 172.5 cranks, how strange?! Yeah, I think I’ll take your advice and get some different cranks to swap over when it arrives and sell the others while they’re still new. Thanks so much for all your help!

My daughter had the xxs and with cx tyres on suffered with toe overlap – size 2 shoes.

Hmmm, that’s worth bearing in mind, presumably it’s often the case with tiny frames though. Really wish I could take one for a spin first!

Replaced it with a similar sized Islabike that doesn’t suffer from toe overlap.

Think its probably because Ridley just took a large bike and made it smaller whereas the Islabike was designed with the small size in mind.

To throw a spanner in the works, are you defo an xxs as my daughter is only 146cm and it fitted her spot on.

Strange about the toe overlap. I’m not aware of that being a problem but I’ll check when he comes home from school.

Re sizing – as I said above my son is now about 5’2″ or 158cm. The bike still fits him fine and he was 147cm when he got it. (now I know why his mother fills in his growth chart so assiduously 😉 ) He came off a 26″ wheeled Islabike and had definitely outgrown that. There seems to be a bigger step up from the XXS to the XS than between the other sizes. Have you a dealer anywhere nearby to try one?

Well apparently there is some toe overlap, who knew! Tbf though there is on my 60cm Genesis Vapour too with my size 11s and cx tyres. I guess it depends how much and how you get used to it.

Ridley is cross. I’ve got the Supercross. They used to come up very tall so that might be worth checking.
My 52cm Supercross has roughly the same stamp as my 56cm Ridley road bike.