Ridley's prominence in the high-end road marketplace has spread like wildfire in the last decade for good reason. They're one of the few manufacturers that offer carbon fiber road, time trial, and cyclocross framesets -- each race-proven at the highest professional levels of the sport. The efficient Noah and the punchy-yet-smooth Damocles have been ridden to stage victories (and an overall sprint jersey title) by Aussie sprinting superstar Robbie McEwen of the powerhouse Belgian ProTour team Predictor-Lotto in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia. Cadel Evans rode his Ridley to warp-speed time trial and overall victories in Switzerland's prestigious weeklong Tour of Romandie and a second place overall in the Tour de France. He finished the 2007 season as overall Pro Tour champion, signifying his status as the most prolific rider of the year. And the 2006 Cyclocross World Championships was won by Team Fidea's Erwin Vervecken on his Ridley X-Night (capping off a streak where Ridleys had been ridden to 5 out of the last 6 'cross World Championship titles). What do all of these frames have in common? They're made with monocoque carbon fiber construction to make them lightweight, tough as nails, and beautiful to behold. And one other detail: They're all in stock for retail sale whenever you're ready to step up to a glorious world-class race bike.

Why do we stress the simple fact that all Ridley frames are available for immediate delivery? It's because other well-loved manufacturers sometimes feature exotic specialty frames in their catalogs or on their websites, but they're less interested in providing timely delivery of those frames and rather use them as marketing fodder to drum up sales on other, easier-to-produce models. Ridley's focus is far more narrow in scope: They've quickly evolved into a large, well-financed, highly-organized operation. At any given time they have upwards of 8,000 framesets in stock. On the rare occasion where the exact model in the exact color you want is out of stock, they're capable of producing it in short order. They're not in the business of making "concept" bikes or "project" bikes. Rather, they pour all of their R&D into their in-line models: The ones Predictor-Lotto and Fidea are using to win the world's toughest races. The models they ride are no different from what you can throw your own leg over for your own racing campaign.