Ridley Kanzo Adventure

£4,459 This innovative gravel bike pushes the boundaries so you can explore more widely

Ridley’s Kanzo Adventure isn’t just an update, it’s a whole new bike designed to address what a modern gravel rider really needs. The result is a bike that can conquer bikepacking tours and ultra-distance races, but one that can also handle real mountain bike singletrack trails.

1

In the balance

The geometry takes its cues from mountain bikes, with a more relaxed head angle to perform better on technical trails and sharp descents, and a steeper seat angle for a bike that also climbs better. A short stem sharpens handling when the going gets tough, twisty and technical.

2 Suspension ready

Thanks to a lower bottom bracket (to compensate for taller tyres) and a longer wheelbase, generous clearances allow for tyres of up to 2.1 inches wide on its 700c wheels. The headtube is shorter and the fork elongated, making the Kanzo gravelsuspension-fork ready should you want to add even more off-road prowess to the bike.

3 Nicely light

The oversized frame weighs in at 1,250g, then the fork adds another 499g. For a bike with large clearances and loads of fittings, it’s impressive, as is the overall weight (just a smidge over 9kg).

4 Good spec

The Forza Levanto Gravel wheels come with 40mm-deep aero-profile tubeless-ready carbon rims and have a big-tyre-friendly 23mm internal width. They are shod with Vittoria’s highly regarded Terreno TLR gravel tyres in a large 47c width. The drivetrain is SRAM’s wireless Rival AXS gravel and adventure-specific XPLR with a single 42-tooth chainring and very wide 10-44 cassette. Forza also provides the carbon seatpost and Stratos stem, and Ritchey’s wide-flare Venture Max 2 bar gives plenty of control.

5 Finishing touches

There’s an impressive array of fixtures and fittings: over a dozen mounting points allow you to add bags, bottles and mudguards. There is also internal routing for dynamo lights through the fork and top-tube so you can ride the Kanzo off-road and through the night, without worrying about battery life. Internal brake routing keeps vulnerable hoses out of the way to avoid snagging on branches and bar-mounted bags.

“The geometry takes its cues from mountain bikes, with a more relaxed head angle to perform better on technical trails and sharp descents”

Chunky tyres ● There’s room for a 2.1in mountain bike tyre for major off-road ability

Full of fittings ● Mounts include multi-position bottle-cage mounts, and ‘anything’ rack mounts on the fork In the head ● The head angle is relaxed to aid off-road ability, especially when descending