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Just in - Ridley Helium SLX

Video Just In: Ridley Helium SLX with Dura-Ace 9100 arrives for review

Ridley's latest and lightest flagship race bike floats into the office for testing
by David Arthur @davearthur
Tue, Apr 25, 2017 18:15
11

This understated grey bike is the latest and lightest Helium SLX, the flagship race bike from Belgian bike brand Ridley. 

The Helium SLX is the successor to the previous SL and signifies the company's attempt at making it lighter, stiffer and better. A revised frame design, both the carbon layup and new tube shapes, has dropped the frame weight to a claimed 750g. There's a new fork as well, slimmer and lighter to the tune of 300g. Not only is is lighter, it's also stiffer by 15% compared to the old model. 

Ridley Helium SLX.jpg

We've got a test bike with the latest Dura-Ace 9100 groupset from Shimano, in mechanical guise. The complete bike weight for this 56cm model is just 7kg, a fighting weight indeed and it should fly up the climbs.

Ridley makes its own components under the 4ZA label and so we find a nice carbon fibre handlebar and seatpost, plus an aluminium stem and wafer thin saddle. 

Fulcrum Racing 5 LG CX wheels combine an aluminium clincher rim with oversized hubs with double sealed bearings and aero spokes. Wrapped around the tyres are Continental Ultra Sport tyres in a 25mm width.

Ridley Helium SLX - drive train.jpg

This is a bike that is designed for racing and climbing. It’s already been proven in the cobbles of the spring classics and is the go-to choice for stage races, and we look forward to letting it loose on our local roads. 

Like what you're seeing? If you want one, it'll cost you £4,899.99. 

Wondering what else you could get for a similar price if it's a race bike you're after? There's the excellent Cannondale SuperSix Evo Hi-Mod Dura-Ace 1 that we were very impressed by last year, but the 2017 model now costs £6,500, even though you do getter better finishing kit and wheels. From the Canyon stable you could pick the Ultimate CF SLX 9.0 with the same Dura-Ace groupset and superior Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbon Exalith WTS wheels ad pocket the £800 you'll save.

We'll get the Helium SLX out on the road and stay tuned for the full review soon.

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Just in
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Ridley Helium SLX
Ridley
David Arthur @davearthur

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes. 

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11 comments

Avatar
check12 | 7 years ago
0 likes

Ultra sport tyres, yuck, at least put conti Grand Prix (maybe gt ones) or 4000s on there. (Or similar spec from other manufacturers)

Avatar
Chris Hayes | 7 years ago
0 likes

I wouldn't have thought you could conduct a decent review of a £5k bike on £200 wheels.... Surely they'd undermine just about everything the frame, groupset, and stiff stem, seatpost, and handlbars have to offer... And, as has been pointed out - £3k for a frame! That's C60 money. 

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds replied to Chris Hayes | 7 years ago
3 likes

Chris Hayes wrote:

I wouldn't have thought you could conduct a decent review of a £5k bike on £200 wheels.... Surely they'd undermine just about everything the frame, groupset, and stiff stem, seatpost, and handlbars have to offer... And, as has been pointed out - £3k for a frame! That's C60 money. 

if that is what it is specced with then they absolutely need to test ride it with them and not put on some aftermarket wheels as that is just deceptive IMHO.

Let's see them write some nonsense hyperbole with some cheap wheels and crappy tyres on them and how it 'flies' up XX with no effort whatsoever

Avatar
StraelGuy | 7 years ago
0 likes

It's a nice bike for sure but damn, it's plain! If you put that in the middle of a group test of £800 commuter bikes, it wouldn't stand out at all.

Avatar
Jackson | 7 years ago
1 like

I agree the full bike might be overpriced but there's something to be said for speccing fancy bikes with cheap wheels. If you're buying one you probably have a set of nice wheels already. Otherwise you end up wearing a loss on selling brand new mid-range wheels on ebay as soon as you get your new bike. 

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds | 7 years ago
0 likes

Flagship huh, as above £200 wheels on a £5k machine is a piss take though other tests have said they have other wheels as std and carbon wheels to take it to £6.

Whilst the 4ZA kit is pretty decent as in house kit goes with the Fulcrum wheels shown this puts the frameset in the region of £3000!

DA9100 is available at £1235 through Evans and 5% topcashback kickback, add in the wheels plus the in house kit and saddle plus tyres that takes you to roughly £1800, that's £3000 for the frameset!

As for the frame and fork being 'lighter', that's great if it's lighter than previous models but a 2012 Scott CR1 SL in a 61cm is 910g & 320g respectively for frame and fork and this is more of a endurance style set up, the Ridley going by their previous frame weight differences would be similar for the same size, seeing as the Ridley has a 95kg rider weight limit they'd be better served finding ways to ensure their product can be used by us bigger folk without them washing their hands of the warranty due to being a few kg heavier.

You can get a 2015 Ridley SLX with SRAM e-tap plus Fulcrum racing zeros for £4100 or with DA9000 for £3600 via Bellati sport (first retailer I looked at) or the frameset for £1600.

Avatar
twinklydave | 7 years ago
2 likes

£5k bike, coated in Dura Ace, "designed for racing and climbing"...served up with sub £200 wheels that even Road.cc described as being designed for "commuting or training".

 

Avatar
vonhelmet replied to twinklydave | 7 years ago
2 likes

twinklydave wrote:

£5k bike, coated in Dura Ace, "designed for racing and climbing"...served up with sub £200 wheels that even Road.cc described as being designed for "commuting or training".

 

If you're spending £5k on a bike, you probably have your own wheels already, or have a strong preference on the type of wheels you'd want.

Avatar
srchar | 7 years ago
2 likes

It never ceases to amaze me when reviewers state that a bike will "fly up climbs" when the difference between a "light" and "heavy" bike is about 2kg, or a couple of large bidons, multitool and tubes.

Avatar
barbarus replied to srchar | 7 years ago
0 likes
srchar wrote:

It never ceases to amaze me when reviewers state that a bike will "fly up climbs" when the difference between a "light" and "heavy" bike is about 2kg, or a couple of large bidons, multitool and tubes.

As a rider of a heavy bike I can tell you that heavy bikes weigh even more when you add a couple of large bidons, a multitool and some tubes, as I have to every time I go out without my team car.

I get what you are saying, hill climbing is more in the legs and the rider weight. I love my steel bike but there are times I would like to find out how much quicker I'd go on a 7kg bike.

Avatar
Kadinkski replied to srchar | 7 years ago
0 likes

srchar wrote:

It never ceases to amaze me when reviewers state that a bike will "fly up climbs" when the difference between a "light" and "heavy" bike is about 2kg, or a couple of large bidons, multitool and tubes.

 

Errr...but you'd need to put the bidons etc on a 'heavy' too, which would make it an 'extra heavy' bike.

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