Ridley

X-Trail Carbon Frameset

All-road adventuring is as popular as ever, evolving from a niche discipline into a popular mainstream activity that has opened up a whole new perspective on cycling. Those of us that want to hammer out some miles and explore new landscapes in car-free solitude are discovering the benefits of riding a bike that excels on mixed surfaces. Rather than limiting yourself to tarmac, you can expand your rides to include dirt roads, singletrack, and everything in between with the X-Trail Carbon Frameset from Ridley. Ridley has long been a contender in the European cylocross curcuit as well as the pro peloton, so their experience with drop-bar bikes on- and off-road is undeniable, and the X-Trail is the result of that.

Despite its longer gravel bike footprint and slightly more relaxed geometry, it's important to stress that the X-Trail does not have a sluggish ride quality. Ridley shapes the X-Trail's frame using ultralight unidirectional carbon, equipping the frame to offer quick accelerations and a stiff, responsive ride for everything from weekend bikepacking trips to off-road segments in gravel races. Subtly asymmetrical, the Oryx Disc fork has a reinforced left leg to allow it to more capably handle the torsional forces applied by disc brakes, and with a 15 x 100mm thru axle in front and a 12 x 142mm in the rear, the frame achieves confidence-inspiring stiffness throughout.

As we alluded to above, the X-Trail is a medley of frame geometries. The result resembles a road bike more than a classic cyclocross bike like the X-Night; it has a lower bottom bracket, shorter chainstays, and a stack/reach combination that puts riders in a position that's more comfortable for long rides, rather than a slammed-down, forward-leaning race position. In contrast to its road racing frames, Ridley extends the X-Trail's head tube by 10mm, bringing riders into a more upright position to accommodate longer training and touring rides rather than racing exclusively. It's still slightly more aggressive than the Fenix, but unlike its endurance road counterpart, the X-Trail is designed to be run with tires up to 36mm wide on more rugged terrain.