Ridley Noah Fast Disc
The Belgian brand’s top-end race bike now comes with extra speed
If you’re going to include the word ‘fast’ in the name of your bike, you’d better be able to justify it. Fortunately for Ridley, the new Noah Fast Disc lives up to its title. Everything about this bike has been tuned for speed, with Ridley making good use of its own wind-tunnel to hone the tube profiles, as well as getting input from the pro riders on Belgian Worldtour team Lotto-soudal.
‘The wind-tunnel was used a lot in terms of the development, as Ridley has the luxury of its very own, literally next door to the office,’ says Ridley’s man in the UK, Stu King. ‘That was invaluable in terms of getting the most out of the design.’
The result certainly looks sleek. The front of the bike features Ridley’s proprietary one-piece carbon bar and stem. This is aero-profiled and the stem is set to a slight negative angle, giving an aggressive position and hinting at the bike’s intended use for racing. On top of that, all the cables now disappear inside the bars and run through the frame, making for an incredibly clean front end.
The aerodynamically profiled tubes also have indents that run down either side of the head tube, the fork, the down tube and the seatpost. The indents even continue through the stem spacers, and the purpose of these
grooves is to act like a ‘trip’, disturbing the airflow as it passes over the tubes. This helps reduce drag, and Ridley claims the new Noah Fast tested 10% faster in the wind-tunnel than previous versions.
The gaps in the fork that were on the previous Noah SL (which apparently smoothed airflow around the front wheel) have disappeared, but the new Noah Fast has gained some extra protuberances on the ends of the fork to help with airflow over the disc brakes.
Ridley also claims the new version is lighter than its predecessor, to the tune of 250g. I weighed this Noah Fast Disc at 7.43kg, and the company says the rim brake version of the same bike comes in at under 7kg.
The fact that Ridley is producing a rim brake version of the bike at all is of interest, as many brands are making the wholesale move to disc brakes and potentially abandoning rim brakes on their top-end bikes.
‘Ridley is happy to offer a rim brake version of the Noah Fast because there are plenty of people, like me, with a top groupset and a couple of pairs of wheels, who still want to take advantage of the newer frame technology,’ says King.
‘Over time there will be more of a move towards disc, but for the time being it is good to have both options available.’
Search for speed
Out on the road, the Noah Fast Disc bike performs exactly as its looks suggest it will. That is to say it whips along on the flat, descends with control, but lags a touch when pointed uphill.
At a shade under 7.5kg this isn’t exactly heavy for a disc-equipped bike, but I’ve tackled my local hills on bikes that are much nearer to the UCI minimum limit of 6.8kg, and the Noah’s extra weight was noticeable on the climbs. Even so, thanks to the stiffness that is a consistent feature of all Ridley frames, little power was lost to flex while climbing.
Lotto-soudal sprinter André Greipel is famous for being able to generate 1,800W of power in a sprint, so it’s no wonder that Ridley is so good at ensuring the stiffness of its frames. As such, and combined with the aerodynamic tube shapes and the aggressive position, the Noah Fast really clips along on the flat.
The dynamic ride position at the front of the bike did take a bit of getting used to for me – and
Perhaps Ridley will be persuaded that it can afford to dial back some of the stiffness
Having tested it, I can see why the pros would want this lightning-quick machine in their armoury
I usually ride with my stem slammed or near-to. However, after only a few rides, the aggressive geometry felt spot-on for the bike.
This possibly isn’t the best choice for a rider who struggles to get into that low-down position or who is looking for a comfortable ride. Ridley has made some concessions to comfort – clever ‘puzzle’ spacers that can be added or taken away without removing the stem, and a lot of exposed seatpost to allow for some extra flex – but ultimately this is a race machine that values speed and stiffness over compliance and cushioning.
According to King, ‘Overall this bike is trying to get to the magic formula of not just an aero or lightweight or endurance bike, but a great combination of all aspects.’
I’d say it’s almost there, but the riders who will enjoy this bike most are those who are more concerned about how fast they can get somewhere than how comfortable the journey is.
Choice of the pros
With all this speed at their disposal, will the pro riders at Lotto-soudal be aboard the Ridley Noah Fast Disc next season? ‘In terms of the LottoSoudal team, the riders themselves are very much left to choose their own weapon,’ says King. ‘Many are still traditional enough to always go with the approach of choosing the lightest.’
That means Ridley’s lightweight Helium bike might still be a popular choice, but King adds, ‘We still expect two-thirds of the riders to go for the Noah Fast as their race frame of choice.’
Having tested it, I can see why the pros would want this lightning-quick machine in their armoury, but I can see scope for further improvements down the line in terms of the balance between comfort and speed.
Now that the rider with the biggest input to the bike, André Greipel, is leaving Lotto-soudal, perhaps Ridley will be persuaded that it can afford to dial back some of the stiffness and add in a little extra comfort. For those of us not producing 1,800W, the change would make little difference to our performance.