Ridley

Liz 105 Complete Road Bike - 2016

Though Ridley's women-specific bikes include more specialized models (Jane, the aerodynamic, punishingly stiff race bike and Aura, the featherweight climber), the Liz 105 Complete Road Bike's specialty is that it specializes in almost everything. It's not exactly a TT bike, but we'd use it for any other discipline on the road. Or off of it. After all, it's the bike the pros on Lotto-Soudal use at Flanders—the women on the Liz; the men on the Fenix. We've taken it through its paces on plenty of gravel b-roads near our home office in Park City, UT, proving that versatility transcends nationality. It's happy to race on 25mm tires, or you can pop on some 28mm tires and the only limit is your imagination.

The Liz is built from the same 24t high-modulus carbon fiber as the Fenix SL, a move that we can't applaud enough in an industry rife with examples of shrink, pink, and downgrade when it comes to women-specific fare. It's a layup that delivers a rare combination of long-mile comfort and criterium-worthy stiffness in a lightweight package that doesn't anchor your ambitions when the road tilts up. Sure, it's not as stiff as the Jane, nor is it as light as the Aura, but it's also every bit as content cruising through a charity century as it is hammering through a multi-peak day in the mountains.

Ridley maintains the balance of comfort and stiffness through a few design choices. These include narrow, flat-section seat stays that absorb power-sucking road noise while maintaining lateral stiffness. The flat, curved top tube serves as a leaf spring of sorts that works in conjunction with the seatstays for a net result of system-wide vibration damping and compliance for a more forgiving ride across everything from rural chip seal to the jarring stones of Belgium.

The top tube and down tube utilize a unique multi-hexagonal shape, which is undoubtedly partially responsible for the Liz SL's torsional rigidity and responsiveness. At the front, Ridley utilizes a tapered head tube that makes for increased stiffness while torquing on the bars and exceptional handling and cornering capabilities while sweeping through descents or diving through the final turn before a finish sprint.

For an extra dose of stiffness, Ridley opts for a beefy PressFit 30 shell. The wide bottom bracket shell anchors the oversized drive spine, solidly transferring every bit of power to the drivetrain without any watt-sucking lateral movement. While this frame isn't billed as specifically aerodynamic, it does boast an integrated fork crown for a smooth transition between the head tube and fork that at least offers the appearance of aerodynamics. You'll enjoy some drag-reduction benefits over frames without the integrated fork crown, and it just plain looks cleaner.

Please note that Ridley recommends a maximum rider weight of 209.5lb.