Ridley X-Night 30 Disc cyclocross bike review

Arguably the epitome of a European cyclocross bike, Simon Scarsbrook finds the Ridley is designed and made for racing

Ridley X-Night 30 Disc cyclocross bike

Ridley X-Night 30 Disc cyclocross bike

Cycling Weekly Verdict

Pay careful consideration to Ridley’s size charts, but you can be confident that, once used to the geometry and ride characteristics, you'd have an extremely fast machine

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Embraces new technologies

  • +

    Carbon frame provides comfort through the rear stays

  • +

    Stiff and very responsive

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    Frame is perhaps a bit short

  • -

    Geometry takes some getting used to

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The Ridley X-Night 30 Disc cyclocross bike is a machine that just shouts out ‘race me!’, and a small ‘UCI approved’ sticker on the seat tube gives a big clue to the design, geometry and function of this machine. To me, Ridley is the epitome of European cyclo-cross; it embraces new technologies accordingly. That said, the brand has been rather an acquired taste. Many of its frames have felt taller than its rivals’, so I was interested to hear that the bottom bracket height has been lowered slightly, bringing the geometry in line with current trends — including a shorter top tube. In this case, it’s very short, causing a slight toe overlap.

The X-Night looks fast; the sleek full carbon frame with its internal cabling is sculpted to provide comfort through the rear stays. It is stiff and very responsive too. The components are a mixture of Shimano Ultegra, Ridley’s own brand 4ZA and Avid mechanical disc brakes.

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Paul Norman

Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.

He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.