Van Rysel, the in house brand of sports superstore Decathlon have just launched a new range of high performance bikes. Prices well below DTC brands like Canyon, and massively below the premium brands like Specialized, Canyon and Giant. It would be easy to dismiss them as rip off designs, cheaply made… Except they are not. Swiss Side (JP Ballard) posted on Instagram about their partnership with Van Rysel - these are the best aerodynamicists in the cycling world, with access to the best wind tunnel (Airbus in Germany). Van Rysel are clearly meaning business.
The new TT bike the XCR looks stunning - clean, simple elegant. JP has already designed some of the world’s fastest TT bikes, so got to assume that his latest design will be as fast if not faster
A friend of mine who bought an SL7 last year is pissed off about this - “This is indeed 100000% a Tarmac with a Canyon Ultimate fork!” - I pointed out that Swiss Side are responsible for the Canyon Ultimate, Aeroroad and Speedmax, so not surprising that he fork may be similar
Not really bothered checking recently but several brands have sponsored teams at World Tour level with open mould frames. I wouldn’t be bothered by the brand if I thought it was a good value product. As my mate, who works with a well financed WT team, says there’s no point having a £10k bike but 10p legs.
Agree, I have always rather liked Decathlon; any holiday to the continent I make a pilgrimage to a big store (Different ball game the the UK offering.)
But the Van Rysel stuff isn’t that cheap, and a couple of times I have chosen a last years bike on offer rather than the shiny new Van R.
That’s surely a matter of opinion on both counts. For a start, you really need a LSWT for cycling applications; I’ve also seen Pro athletes using discs by other manufacturers, with Swiss Side decals on them for contractual reasons.
On the general price of bikes these days. I bet my Gen 1 Speed Concept 7.5 with 808/900 disc isn’t much slower than modern bikes; it’s down to rider position and helmet as much as anything else.
Second this, I was having a bit of a browse at new bikes and couldn’t believe what you have to pay these days to get a decent groupset, say 105. £1000 bikes specced with Claris FFS
I saw this yesterday and has made me stop and think about the VR TT an option. For a bike with Ultegra 2023 12 speed or AXS Force and reasonable wheels Bontrager or DT Swiss 1600s you are looking between £8500 and £10k. Price is one thing but availability is something else. No Trek SC in the UK until August and there is currently one BMC timemachine TT at the UK distributor that has not been allocated. Argon 18 is switching distributor so no stock and Factor has nothing in either for the foreseeable future
So you can imagine the daily conversations Mr has when someone walks in the shop and starts with “so I’m thinking of getting into triathlons” and they’re shown an entry level aluminium bike that is impossible to get below £2,500…
I’ve had loads of PX, still got my £400 Exocet TT bike. Ribble winter bike, Orro Gravel bike and BMC road bike.
I’m not actually a snob, despite what you lot might think, and the playing up to it I do, but I’d not spend that much on a bike at Decathlon (I’d not spend that much on a bike ever, but hey ho)
However, I do agree that their kit (in general) is very good - insofar that it’s a reasonable price, lasts ages and rarely breaks.
