Ridley

Noah Pro 9000 Complete Road Bike

With professional team riders constantly testing Ridley's aerodynamic bike designs, its engineers are able to fine tune their prototypes until they're as fast and efficient as possible. The Noah Pro is the perfect example of what results when these testing efforts come full circle, as it was developed with a combination of Ridley's refined FAST Concept technology and real-world race feedback. And the resulting bike is one of the most aerodynamic race bikes on the planet.

While most bicycle manufacturers would be content to rely on tubes alone for an aerodynamic advantage, Ridley's research and development on its flagship Noah go far beyond tube shapes and bike geometries. The latest generation of Ridley's groundbreaking Noah shares the same proven aerodynamic features as its earlier iterations — including an aerodynamic down tube, internal cable routing, an aero seat tube that extends into an integrated seatmast, and a deep rear wheel cut-out. What sets the Noah apart from other aero bikes is its use of Ridley's FAST Concept technology. As we all know by now, drag increases exponentially with airspeed, which means small changes to reduce your drag will have a disproportionately positive impact as your speed increases. FAST Concept technology focuses on several specific issues of bicycle aerodynamics. According to Ridley, your wheels produce eight times more drag where they pass through your fork due to the turbulence of the colliding air masses there. The Noah Pro was built to minimize this drag with its use of long, slotted airfoils built into the fork legs, referred to as "F-Splitfork" by Ridley. These airfoils redirect oncoming air away from the turbulent areas near the front wheel.

The story of the Noah Pro doesn't stop at F-Splitfork. Ridley used oil mapping in the wind tunnel to isolate spots of turbulent airflow. And where structural limitations kept it from re-sculpting the frame, Ridley applied a textured surface treatment for boundary layer control. Ridley calls it "F-Surface," also affectionately referred to as "aero paint." These thin strips of texture are amazing: they purposefully 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 level of cleanliness. Airflow control is why you see vortex generators on aircraft wings, and why you see dimples on golf balls. And it's exactly what Ridley does with its F-Surface paint.

For the build, Ridley spec'd the Noah Pro with a full Shimano Dura-Ace 9000 11-speed groupset. The crankset is the Dura-Ace FC-9000 50/34t compact, paired with a 12-25t cassette out back. For the cockpit, the build features a 4ZA Cirrus handlebar and 4ZA Cirrus Pro stem. Topping the integrated post is a Prologo Zero II saddle, and in terms of wheels, the bike rolls on a pair of Reynolds Assault clinchers that've been cased in Continental GP 4000 tires.

The Ridley Noah Pro 9000 Complete Road Bike is available in four sizes from X-Small to Large and in the color Black/white/green. Given its semi-compact geometry, we strongly suggest that you focus on the effective top tube length as you make a determination of the proper size.