RIDLEY CHEETAH

Few things are more frustrating than suffering through a long weekend of stage racing only to end up with a mediocre final G.C. placing due to a lackluster time trial performance. It happens all too often for those who are young and broke and can barely afford a set of clip-ons for a road bike, much less the cost of a dedicated TT bike. The Cheetah is Ridley's solution to this age-old challenge of stage racing. By pro-quality bike standards, the price of a Cheetah is barely a pittance. But thanks to its aero-shaped tubing and TT-specific geometry you'll lop minutes -- not just seconds -- off your TT times and give yourself a far greater chance of finishing high up the in the general classification.

The Cheetah is made with butted, heat-treated 7000-series aluminum, lending it enough lightness for even hilly TT's and the sort of durability you want from a bike you reserve for special occasions. But what makes the Cheetah especially ideal is the hidden cable routing and aero profile of its tubing. Take a long, hard look at the airfoil downtube, seat tube, and seatstays, then note the seat tube cut-out that allows you to tuck your rear wheel snugly behind the seat tube -- it's substantially more invisible to the wind than an oversized round tubed road frame.

While the airfoils on the frame are slippery, the fork uses R-Flow technology -- essentially dual blades on each fork leg to make it even faster than a single airfoil can be. According to Ridley, your wheels produce 8x more drag where they pass through your fork due to the turbulence of the colliding air masses there. These dual airfoils direct oncoming air away from the turbulent areas near the wheels.

The slotted design of the Noah's airfoils addresses the fact that at cycling speeds a single airfoil can't deflect a large mass of air without creating substantial drag. Not unlike racing catamarans or aircraft landing flaps, slotted airfoils can deflect air without creating drag. The R-Flow fork redirects the airstream away from the wheels, and has the added benefit of creating a low-pressure area that further reduces the drag of your rims and spokes.

The story of the Cheetah goes beyond R-Flow. Ridley applies a textured surface treatment for boundary layer control. They call it "R-Surface paint", and our affectionate shorthand here is "aero paint". These thin strips of texture are amazing: They purposely trigger a known amount of turbulence that re-energizes lost boundary layers, ultimately re-establishing laminar flow and minimizing drag. In other words, they carefully create an airflow mess in order to make an unprecedented cleanliness. Airflow control is why you see vortex generators on jets, and why you see dimples on golf balls. And it's exactly what Ridley does with their R-Surface paint.

It has a 76° seat angle, though the XX-Small frame has a 77° seat angle. The overall geometry is one where you can position yourself in an aggressively aero position. The Ridley Cheetah comes in five sizes from XX-Small to Large. We strongly suggest that you focus on the top tube length as you make a determination of the proper size. The frame comes with a Ridley R-Flow full-carbon fiber fork and an FSA integrated headset. It requires a 27.2mm seatpost, an English bottom bracket, and a braze-on front derailleur.

2010 Ridley Cheetah Pricing