If you're ever lucky enough to spend some time in the wind tunnel, you'll learn an interesting fact: When the engineers at the tunnel controls assess a reduction in drag due to positional or equipment changes, they do so in a unit of measurement you might not expect: grams. Contort your body or alter your componentry to gain added invisibility to the wind and you'll be told you've lowered your drag by X grams. Grams. The same grams we use when we weigh seatposts and saddles and bars and stems. It isn't some sort of metaphorical metric where aerodynamics is conceptually twisted to correlate to weight. It's all one in the same: They're the unified forces of resistance that slow you down when you wish you were going faster. What does this mean to a cutting-edge frame manufacturer like Ridley? It puts them at a crossroads in the development process. One option is to take the easier road and design a big-tubed, thin-walled carbon frame that'll easily fall in the 900g range to satisfy the marketplace's undeniable craving for bikes whose static weight amazes. The other option is the harder sell: An aerodynamic frame sculpted to knife through the wind with minimal drag. Here is reality: Build a frame with low enough drag, it'll deliver all the performance advantage of a lighter frame, while being indisputably faster at big-ring speeds. With their second-generation Noah, Ridley has done just that. They've taken the road less traveled to engineer a bike whose performance goes well beyond the "Omigod" factor of a 900g frame. Rather, it satisfies in a slightly less visceral but more reasoned manner. The second-generation Noah shares the same proven aero features as the first-generation version -- including an aero downtube; an aero seattube that extends all the way up its integrated seat mast; plus a rear wheel cut-out. What sets it apart, though, is its use of Ridley's R-Flow 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 on your speed. R-Flow technology focuses on one central issue of bicycle aerodynamics: 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. The second-generation Noah is built specifically to minimize this drag thanks to its use of long, slotted airfoils built into both the fork legs and the seatstays. These 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 Noah 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 Noah goes beyond R-Flow. Ridley used oil mapping in the wind tunnel to isolate spots of turbulent airflow on Noah prototypes. Not only did this technique allow Ridley to re-sculpt the Noah throughout its development, but it had the ultimate benefit of helping them identify key sections of the frameset where they couldn't re-sculpt the frame due to structural limitations of the frame itself. In these seemingly unfixable black holes of drag, they apply a textured surface treatment for boundary layer control. Ridley calls it "R-Surface paint", and our affectionate shorthand here is "aero paint". These thin stripes 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. The Noah design is quite similar to Ridley's Dean TT frame, with a few key points of distinction. Most obviously, the fork and the seat stays on the Noah are built with less surface area than the Dean's. This provides the lightness and stability you need from an every-day road racing bike. In addition, unlike the Dean's unconventional brake caliper positioning, you install your brakes on the Noah just as you would with any other road bike. A size Medium Noah frame weighs 1200g with an uncut seat mast. Mind you, you'll chop down some of the seat tube to dial in your seat position, so the eventual frame weight is sub-1200g. Its R-Flow fork has an uncut weight of 420g. You'll also get a metal seat clamp with multiple anchoring positions. This clamp weighs 120g. When you compare the frame/seat clamp weight of the Noah to the frame/seat post clamp/seat post weight of other frames on the marketplace, there's virtually no weight penalty whatsoever. Given the aerodynamic upsides of the Noah, the fact that weight is a non-issue makes it that much more appealing. The Noah comes in 5 sizes from Extra Small to Extra Large. Given its semi-compact geometry, we strongly suggest that you focus on the virtual top tube length as you make a determination of the proper size. The Noah requires an English bottom bracket, and a braze-on front derailleur. It has a 5-year warranty from manufacturing defect. Please provide us with your BB-Saddle Rail height in the "Comments" section of our order form so we can properly cut down the seat tube for delivery. One final note on sizing: On all sizes the top of the seat tube is 235mm above the center of the top tube, not including seat mounting hardware.
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