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TECH NEWS
Just in: Rose Xeon CDX-4400
German direct-sales company Rose has been busy this year adding several new road bikes to its range, but the one we’re most interested in, and which you see before you on this page, is the all-new Xeon CDX. Why? Because it takes the new sportive/endurance frame the company released a year ago and adds disc brakes to the mix.
The Xeon CDX is available in four builds, this is a CDX-4400 SRAM Force hydraulic model and it costs £1,915.20 (plus £27.20 shipping costs). That gets you a full SRAM Force 22 groupset with hydraulic disc brakes, DT Swiss R23 Spline wheels, Continental GP4000 S II 25mm tyres and Ritchey seatpost, stem and handlebars, with a Selle Italia SLS Carbonio Monolink saddle. The complete bike weight, for the size 57cm we have, is 7.56kg (16.66lb). That makes it one of the lightest disc bikes we've had in the office, while not as light as the Specialized S-Works Tarmac Disc, it's the lightest disc-equipped endurance bike we've yet laid our hands on.
That’s a lot of bike for the money, and with the company’s easy-to-use configurator, you can completely customise the specification of the bike. From choosing what ratio cassette you want, to fitting different tyres or upgrading the handlebars or saddles, you can pick the bike you want, to to fit your budget.
As mentioned earlier, the bike shares the same geometry as introduced on the Xeon Team CGF a year ago. Like most endurance bikes on the market (Synapse, Domane, Roubaix) that means it’s shorter and taller than a conventional race bike. We’ve got a 57cm size large in for test, and the geometry chart tells us it has a 55.5cm top tube and and 18.5cm head tube. See, short and tall. The wheelbase is long a 100.1cm, so it’s in the same ballpark as its rivals. Rose helpfully supplies reach and stack measurements, they are 387mm and 583mm respectively.
The frame and fork are constructed from carbon fibre, with a 70g weight increase over the non-disc version. The claimed frame weight is 1,080g (2.38lb). Rose has looked to its mountain bike range and given the Xeon bolt-thru axles at both ends. However, if you wanted to fit a quick release rear wheel for any reason, Rose says this is possible with replaceable aluminium inserts. The frame and fork is also one of the first frames on the market to been designed to accept Shimano’s new Flat Mount disc caliper standard, though it’s using an adaptor with the Force brakes.
It’s a nicely finished frame, and there are some interesting details. All the gear cables and hydraulic hoses are routed internally, and it’s very neatly done, particularly at the 380g carbon fibre fork. While the chainstays are big and boxy, the seatstays are very slender, and there’s no brake bridge above the rear wheel. The seatstays meet the top of the seat tube and here we find an integrated seat clamps. That’s not for aero reasons, rather it’s too provide more seatpost extension for a bit of valuable vibration absorbing deflection. The Ritchey Flexlogic seatpost is claimed to provide more deflection than a regular seatpost as well. Every little helps.
Endurance bikes are big on tyre clearance, this Rose will take 28mm tyres easily.
There’s a lot of competition in this market and more and more disc options all the time. You can read about some of the choice in our buyer's guide to 2015 sportive bikes and also our buyer’s guide to 2015 disc-equipped road bikes.
Watch out for the full review soon. More details at www.rosebikes.co.uk/bike/rose-xeon-cdx-4400
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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28 comments
And no guarantee of anything better from an LBS, except possibly a slightly quicker resolution and a very much larger outlay to begin with.
I'll take a couple of hours of inconvenience and a one week delay to save £1,000 or thereabouts over a bike of equal spec (assuming you could find one in early 2015) from an LBS.
My Planet X arrived in less than one week from order, with custom spec and was faultless in setup. Anything of similar spec from an LBS was double the price (£1,000 vs £500 and unlikely to be so precisely tailored to my needs).
perils of buying online
Ordered 7th April. Forecast build date was 12th June. Delivery received on 17th June. Unfortunately the gears were poorly set up on arrival and it dropped the chain within the first mile of a test ride and twice more the following day. This scratched up the big ring and right crank, which annoyed me hugely as my beautiful new bike was spoilt and devalued immediately through no fault of my own. I contacted Rose and they offered to collect the bike and replace the damaged parts and return it at their cost. I agreed, but it meant another 7-10 days without the bike and the inconvenience of having to unbuild and rebuild the bike to allow this. When it came back the front mech setup was fine, but the rear mech was meshing into the largest sprocket, so I needed to adjust that myself. The bike itself is great, the setup less so.
I've now removed all spacers from the steerer and cut the steerer tube, so the stem is as slammed as possible. Ride position seems good like that and I don't yearn to go lower.
Having bought the Rose with disc brakes decided I didn't really want to ruin it and my expensive Ultegra chainset with wet/winter riding, and fitting musguards would be tricky, so I actually bought a Planet X RT-58 Alloy in June as well, as my sacrificial wet bike. As a result the disc option of the CDX has turned out to be a needless expense with a needless weight penalty and I wish I'd ordered the X Lite instead, for superior climbing (and possibly comfort too). Also, while Di-2 is very nice, for the money it costs I'm not unhappy with the SRAM Rival 22 of the Planet X and I think all in all I could have spent half as much and still been very happy. The Rose is great, but perhaps not the best way I could have spent my money. Your mileage may vary.
Ordered mine a few days ago and it's an eight week wait now! I guess it's encouraging that it's popular...?
Do you have yours yet? I ordered the XEON CDX-3100 Di2 last week. Due for build on 14th Dec. I'm hopeful it'll arrive before Christmas so I can give the turkey roast are blast out! What was your experience? Did they deliver in your expected time scale?
Dave,
What happened to the review promised back in April ? - its now nearly July.
Some of us are holding our breath.
The review has been submitted so it should be live on the site soon macbob
How's the geometry in real world use? A friend of mine drew my attention to the short top tube and incredibly tall head compared to the bike (an old mountain bike no less) that I use on the road right now. Compared to many other models, even in the sportive genre, this particular frame seems very "sit up and beg". I'm worried that the bias is way too far towards comfort and away from performance (aerodynamics).
I would like to know owner thoughts.
I don't have a vast frame of reference, but I don't find the Rose to be particularly upright. My other bike is a more racy geometry, however I got the Rose in a slightly bigger size and when coupled with a longer stem I find the position nicely stretched. It's certainly not slow to ride in my opinion, while being comfortable with it. The light weight makes climbing a joy as well, I've broken most of my Strava PR's since I got it (though of course that's fitness as much as anything else).
I have just bought one of these two weeks ago and I have to say I am very impressed . Great value for the spec and the comfort on long rides is really impressive .
The price rise is real. The base price for my bike shot up from £2,260 to £2,440 today. That is an 8% rise.
Nice bike, Just in: Rose is a lucky guy.
What does Tiger Woods ride?
I have the CGF with Di2 and love it to bits, was going to wait for the CDX but wanted it there and then (Oct last year). I am sure this will be a great addition.
weak EUR makes big difference to europe bike market
thru axle hub for road CX bike is awesome.
care about the rear chain stay size,if not long enough,will be lack of dirt clear ability,you know,it is CX road bike
What utter rubbish you talk. It's not a CX bike.
Isn't "Just in: Rose" a golfer?
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I have a CGF from last year and it is a great bike - really comfy yet a really fast ride. I will be ordering disc bike at some point, though I don't really get the 8% price rise - it might be in Euro terms but the pound has increased in value so that should offset it.
The price increase is due to the EUR/USD rate change. Rose actually reduced the GBP prices of their bikes in recent months, due to the EUR/GBP rate changes, unlike Canyon, who still have a big difference between their EUR and GBP price list.
The official email from Rose that mentioned the price increase :
Price adjustment for bikes from 1st May
The euro has fallen more than 20 % against the dollar. A large part of the international trade is done on the basis of US dollars. Because of the high demand for our bikes, we had to do repeat orders and are thus forced to adjust the prices, but not to the full extent. We are going to increase the prices for our bikes by 8 % from 1st May 2015. Buy a bike at the old price now, because all orders made until 30th April 2015 are not affected by the price adjustment.
I've found the email now. The paragraph about the price increase was buried towards the bottom and not headlined at all. It was in their newsletter/email of 7th April. I placed my order on the 7th as a consequence.
Saw this at the London Bike Show. Something about the doglegged seatstays and top tube just seemed aesthetically off-kilter to me.
Will be very interested in the review nevertheless.
REALLY looking forward to this review. Saw one of these at the London bike show and apart from the fattest down tube I've ever seen on a bike (seriously, this bike is not afraid to be seen in the showers), it's a great looking piece of kit.
I ordered mine back in March, won't arrive until June still
After all this wait, it's beholden on you to give this bike a glowing review!
I ordered the 3100 Di2 model at Easter and have a June estimate for delivery too. Frames are back ordered. Looking forward to a review so I can cancel if it's a bit poo.
I can't find the source now, but I read that prices are supposedly going up by 8% from May due to the weak Euro, so anyone on the fence may want to place an order at today's prices and still have time to think about their choice. It was this news which forced me to place my order when I did rather than procrastinating.
Would be nice if it took 32 mm tires.
They reckon you 'might' fit 30mm tyres in there
Seatstays meat. Are they made of sausages?
Thanks for pointing out my typo. Corrected. If they were sausages, they'd be those chipolata sausages...
Chipotle?
Chipotle? or chipolata?...deliberately obtuse?