Ridley Astr RS Sram Force XPLR Force XPLR Carbon Gravel Bike - 2024

The Astr family has a tyre clearance of 52 millimetres on a 1x setup and 47 millimetres on a 2x setup. Our product developers took this decision because the race terrain is getting rougher and riders feel the need to be armed for this. With this, we confirm our role as a trendsetter in the gravel segment. 

Modern performance geometry demands more stability due to increasingly rough terrain combined with higher speeds. A 71.5-degree headtube angle ensures you have faster handling. The Astr family features a steeper seat tube (74 degrees), improving climbing performance and power transfer. 

The product developers kept the chainstays as short as possible to accommodate tyres up to 52 millimetres without losing the feeling of responsiveness when accelerating. In addition, the bottom bracket is a bit lower. This ensures you have more stability at high speed. Finally, the head height is lower, so you sit more aerodynamically on the bike.  In summary, this boils down to a modern competitive geometry, tailor-made for the ambitious gravel racer. 

The focus in the road bike market used to be on stiffness versus weight, but has recently shifted to the balance between aero and weight. Ridley decided to combine the best of both worlds with the Astr, which means it has been made as aerodynamic as possible without sacrificing the bike's weight. The Astr has a similar aero performance to the Kanzo Fast and weighs just 890g (in size Medium), meaning cyclists no longer have to choose between lightweight and aero.

Both our gravel bikes and our all-road bikes are developed in collaboration with the Classified Ridley Team. As a professional gravel team, they have the knowledge and experience in competition and are ideally positioned to assist us in the quest for marginal gains.

Our innovative removable front derailleur clamp ensures a sleek, streamlined appearance when using a 1x setup. In collaboration with Wolf Tooth, we’ve developed a custom chainguide and chain catcher perfectly tailored to fit our frames. To maintain a clean and polished look, we’ve also designed a specialized cover to seamlessly replace the clamp when it’s not in use.

The universal derailleur hanger (UDH) is the new standard in the cycling world. Not only is this derailleur hanger compatible with all modern shifting groups, it also protects against derailleur breakage and chain drops. In mountain biking, UDH has long been very common, and Ridley is bringing the technology to other segments as well.

The fork crown has an integrated diffuser to reduce drag. The airflow passes more easily through fork crown while extra energy is added to it. The result is that the airflow passes the downtube more easily without pushing the bike back. At the same time there is less drag in the area behind the fork and headtube.

Less resistance, more speed!

The RS in Astr RS stands for 'Racing Sport'. This bike has one goal, to be the best in its class! The heart of the Astr RS is the Elite series carbon frame. With a weight of only 890 grams in size medium, the frame is designed to be as light as possible without sacrificing aerodynamics. This is achieved through the use of sleek tube profiles and a carbon lay-up focused on weight reduction.

Our carbon is manufactured by the world leader: Toray. The Japanese manufacturer is leading in every aspect of carbon development and supplier to absolute world brands in numerous industries.

For the Elite Series, we use every type of carbon available to us: 60T, 50T, 30T, and 24T. The higher the 'tonnage', the higher the tensile strength of the carbon fibers and the more intensive the development and processing. The perfect blend of 24T, 30T, 50T, and 60T carbon is essential. Each type of frame requires a different combination of carbon.

That's why for each bike in the Elite Series, we investigate which zones comfort is essential. In which areas can weight be saved without compromising the characteristics of the bike? Where is stiffness crucial? Time and again, that balance is sought and found. The composition of the carbon, that's where Ridley makes the difference!