Ridley hits the trail hard today with a couple of all-new carbon mountain bikes, but the Raft full-suspension bike is good for two bikes in itself, with separate XC & Trail builds. Sharing the same simple & lightweight single-pivot carbon MTB frame platform, the Raft XC gets 100mm of race-ready travel while the Raft Trail drops into more technical terrain with 120mm of travel front & rear… Ridley Raft versatile carbon mountain bike
It’s been several years since we’ve last seen a new full-suspension mountain bike design from Ridley. In that time, elite XC racing has become much more technical, so it seems fitting that Ridley’s new full-suspension XC bike is both more capable and more of an all-rounder.
Ridley essentially breaks it down to the fact that almost every new mountain bike these days is more capable than even a few years ago thanks to the evolution of long, low & slack geometry. XC bikes can push harder through technical terrain, and trail bikes can be built lighter and more snappy. Even their new ultralight Probe RS hardtail can be a trail bike now, too…
all photos c. Ridley
So, that’s where the new Raft sits – at the intersection of cross-country and trail… 100mm XC or 120mm Trail travel & versatile geometry
Pick the 100/100mm Raft XC build if you want the lightest weight and most responsive handling, to float up the climbs. Or go for the singletrack-slaying 120/120mm Raft TR spec with a longer stroke shock and […]
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