Ridley Helium SLX 2017

The Helium is Belgian company Ridley's flagship race bike, a bike that's been ridden to victory in many professional races, in the mountains, in sprint finishes and on pavé. The updated SLX is lighter than the SL it replaces, and puts in a great ride with enhanced performance, pinpoint handling and impressive comfort.

While the reduced weight is obviously a good thing (a claimed 750g frame weight, compared with 790g for a medium SL), it hasn't been achieved at the expense of handling and performance, which is a marginal improvement of the already very good Helium SL.

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The Helium SLX draws on the Belgian company's years of racing pedigree and is a highly impressive bike, a very refined and competent all-rounder, at home on mountain climbs or battling the cobbles. I tested the range-topping model with the latest Shimano Dura-Ace R9100 mechanical groupset, costing £4,899.99 and weighing just 7kg.

What's it like to ride? Fast and smooth

First impressions are certainly good. It's a very accomplished race and high-performance bike. Ridley has got the handling and steering dialled to perfection with the Helium, and the new SLX draws on the same geometry as the previous model so there's no great surprise in the way this new bike rides.

It's clearly a fast bike, that's something you notice immediately and was a theme that continued through the test. Of course, it's going to be fast on the hills, as any bike weighing just 7kg is going to be, and even the cheap Fulcrum wheels don't hold it back all that much. Go from a 9-10kg bike to one weighing 7kg and you really do notice the lighter weight on climbs, whether long and fast, steep and slow, or anything in between.

Comfort is an area where the bike impressed too. I rode the Helium SLX on a 215km audax out of Bristol a couple of months ago on a fast, rolling route with some cheeky climbs, and – apart from some saddle discomfort – the bike was smooth, controlled and composed over all manner of road surfaces.

The geometry helped with its all-day comfort, as it's far from the most aggressive race bike. Typically a 56cm race bike will have a 150-165mm head tube but the Helium SLX's is a rangey 175mm, which places the handlebar quite high, even if you remove all the headset spacers from below the stem. It does have a stretched-out position, though, with a longish 565mm top tube.

To put those numbers into some sort of context, the stack is 573mm and reach 390mm (stack and reach are the vertical and horizontal measurements from the centre of the bottom bracket to the top of the head tube), which compares to 567mm and 393mm for a 56cm Cannondale SuperSix Evo. It's taller in comparison, not by much admittedly, but if you are trying to replicate a low front-end position it's something to consider.

Back to how it rides, and the handling is precise, the steering well weighted, with just the right level of feedback through the contact points to inform you of the surface under the tyres. This makes it easy to judge traction in a range of conditions. It flatters you through the corners, being very stable and predictable, and is a good bike for descending fast, with the wheels and their aluminium braking surfaces providing plenty of purchase for the Dura-Ace callipers.

Frame and fork: Lighter and refined

Carbon frames have developed a heck of a lot in the last decade, and improvements are getting harder to achieve with current materials and processes. As such, the revisions to the new Helium's SLX frame and fork are fairly minimal compared with the previous iteration, but do add up to a small but noticeable improvement in the overall ride quality when you really look closely for the differences. If you already own an SL it might not be enough reason to upgrade, but if you're new to Ridley be assured it's a fine handling bike.

The Helium SLX frame carries roughly the same outline as the previous Helium SL, a reasonably classic look with mostly rounded tubes and little in the way of extraneous curves and lumps. The seat tube transitions from round at the top to a square section at the bottom bracket, the chainstays are asymmetric and flat, and the seatstays as skinny as it's possible to get.

But it's lighter and stiffer, the design brief behind it being to focus on the best stiffness to weight ratio. It's not trying to be the lightest or stiffest – that's a battle Ridley leaves other bike manufacturers to contend with – instead it's going after that all-round appeal, a bike that performs and flatters in all arenas of high-performance cycling.

The removal of excess material helped to contribute to a claimed lower frame weight of just 750g (for a size medium, from a claimed 790g), while a refined and upgraded carbon fibre layup (60, 40 and 30-ton high-modulus carbon) has also helped not only in the battle against weight but increased stiffness, as much as 15% according to Ridley. The fork has also been redesigned, with a much more slender stance, and weighs 300g.

Ridley is also offering the Helium X this year, a more affordable frame that uses a lower grade of carbon fibre for a 150g weight penalty, with a claimed 900g frame weight. It gets the same fork as the SLX.

The frame has fully internal cable routing, the rear brake going inside the top tube and the gear cables into the down tube, with neat plastic plugs at the entry and exit ports.

A slim 27.2mm seatpost, almost standard on top-end race bikes these days, points to a desire to provide a measure of comfort. A regular seat clamp makes saddle height adjustments easy, no fumbling with fiddly internal clamps here.

A press fit bottom bracket is also another common feature on top-end race bikes and has allowed Ridley to enlarge the seat tube, down tube and chainstays at this junction, providing the maximum possible stiffness.

Finally, as we're seeing increasingly on race bikes, tyre clearance has been improved. Ridley says the Helium SLX will take 28mm tyres, and the bikes are supplied with 25mm tyres.

Equipment: Brand new Shimano Dura-Ace R9100

Opt for this £4,899.99 model and you get a full serving of Shimano's latest Dura-Ace R9100 mechanical groupset, with a semi-compact 52/36 chainset driving an 11-28t cassette. The sharpness of the latest Dura-Ace takes it to another level, with front derailleur shifts noticeably quicker and smoother. And thanks to the excellent calliper brakes you'll be able to make very quick stops.

While the new Dura-Ace is a lovely thing to have on a road bike, the Fulcrum Racing 5 LG CX wheels look a bit out of place on a bike costing nearly £5k. The explanation is sheer economics and Ridley being a relatively small company – the frameset costs £2,600 and the groupset is £1,900, which doesn't leave much space for posh wheels.

There's nothing actually wrong with the Fulcrum wheels – they're not all that heavy at a claimed 1,645g, reasonably stiff and certainly reliable with the double sealed bearings – but they do look out of place on an otherwise top-drawer build and the ride quality isn't as refined as more expensive wheels.

So it's a bike crying out to be treated to lighter and stiffer climbing wheels or faster aero wheels to exploit its full potential. Looking around at other bikes from big manufacturers at this price reveals that speccing similarly sensibly priced and tough wheelsets is common, so Ridley is certainly not alone in keeping costs down with the wheels.

Then again, you do get carbon climbing wheels on the £4,499 Giant TCR Advanced SL 1, though the groupset is downgraded to Ultegra Di2. If you want bang for buck, direct sales brands are hard to compete with: Canyon will sell you an Ultimate with the same Dura-Ace groupset and Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbon wheels – a £1,000 wheelset with superior aerodynamics. And, I think, looks.

Another frustration is the fitting of the Continental Ultra Sport tyres, the cheapest in the German tyre company's range. While I applaud the on-trend 25mm width for improved cushioning, they're not as fast, grippy or durable as the better Conti offerings, and they don't have the puncture resistance layer so flat prevention is low.

Otherwise, the finishing kit is all good stuff. It's from the company's own 4ZA brand (nearly all bike companies lean heavily on their own-brand equipment these days) and covers the carbon handlebar (nicely shaped with compact reach drops), aluminium stem (too short for me), carbon seatpost (easy to adjust) and saddle (extremely uncomfortable for me on longer rides but easy enough to swap).

On the scales, the bike comes in at 7kg (15.43lb), so that UCI 6.8kg weight limit is within reach with a wheel, tyre and maybe saddle upgrade.

Conclusion

I've always found that Ridley bikes ride extremely well, particularly so the Helium with its competent all-round appeal, and Ridley has pulled off a nice update with the SLX. Its updated frame and fork serve up a very controlled and well-damped ride, allowing it to deal with rough roads and remain composed at all times. It does everything well and just gets on with the task without much fuss or drama.

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For all-out value for money, Ridley simply can't compete with the direct sales brands when it comes to the best equipment. But the new Helium SLX is more than the sum of its parts, and while the wheels are an obvious blight on its scorecard, they can't mask what is a beautifully handling bike.

For sure it flies under the radar when compared with more mainstream offerings such as the Specialized Tarmac, Cannondale SuperSix Evo, Trek Emonda and Giant TCR Advanced, but if you're prepared to look away from those relatively safe options, the Helium SLX is highly commended. Just save up for some better wheels and you've got a high-flying race bike on your hands.

Verdict

Light, fast and great handling race bike but let down by the wheels