Race ready
Van Rysel RR 920 CF
£2000 Superbly equipped racer from Decathlon
The RR920 gobbles up miles on the flat, accelerates sharply and climbs and descends with the best of them
These days a £2000 road bike typically comes with a carbon frame, Shimano 105 and ownbrand wheels. Van Rysel’s RR 920 CF ups the ante a little here by speccing a set of the now-defunct Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbons. When it was available, this was a £989 wheelset, the Ultegra groupset has a £1099.99 RRP, factor in a 7.61kg weight and this Van Rysel’s use by the AG2R La Mondiale under 19 team and you’ve got what looks like a bona fide, stone-cold, road-biking bargain.
As for the name, Van Rysel is the brand Decathlon uses for its racier bikes. And this certainly is every millimetre the race bike. The Flanders-designed and -tested RR920 is a flyer. It gobbles up miles on the flat, accelerates sharply and climbs and descends with the best of them. The comfort is good rather than exceptional and it doesn’t have too many aero features, but the combination of intermediate-modulus and high-modulus carbon fibre is both stiff and very light – an 850g claimed weight for the frame and 320g for the fork.
Throw the Van Rysel into a corner and it’s pitch perfect; sprint against your mates and the upsurge in speed is instant. Handling is poised and controlled, the frame stiff through the PF86 bottom bracket and it’s quick to get to the drops on the compact bar. A large part of the 920’s performance is down to the Mavic Cosmic Carbon wheels. These have 45mm deep rims with a NACA profile. Mavic claims these offer low drag in
any conditions and we found that they were fast and reacted very well to some unpredictable gusting sidewinds. Braking was equally impressive, thanks to the powerful directmount front brake and the wheels’ Maxtal aluminium braking track, which means you don’t need carbon-specific brake blocks. The rims’ 25mm external width makes for a very smooth and aerodynamically friendly transition to the 25mm tyres – which is good for speed while offering more comfort than 23mm rubber.
We’d have preferred a round seatpost to the dedicated design but that’s a minor quibble. And if you are prepared to shell out two grand on a less familiar name you’ll grab one hell of a bargain. But be quick – like the bike itself – as this model is only on sale until the end of the year.