Ridley says the Grifn is the only bike you need for road and gravel - BikeRadar

Back in 2015, it launched the X-Trail, which has since morphed into the Kanzo Fast with its aggressive gravel race geometry and aero tube shapes borrowed from the Noah Fast.

The new Grifn is positioned as an ‘N+1 killer’, and is said to be equally adept at both road and gravel riding.

In recent times, the range of road and gravel bikes that aim to do both surfaces justice in a single package has grown quickly.

It’s a trend we first appreciated back in 2019 when the Rondo HVRT CF0 won our Bike of the Year award, but we’d argue the current crop of lightweight race-orientated gravel bikes such as the Cervélo Aspero, Specialized Crux, and Scott Addict Gravel all earn the ‘N+1 killer’ tag and arguably endurance bikes like the Cannondale Synapse LTD RLE and Trek Domane do, too.

The geometry sits between the brand’s Fenix endurance bike and the Kanzo Fast’s racy gravel layout.

The Ridley Grifn is available in four standard builds, and fully customisable using the brand’s online configurator.

The carbon frame’s geometry is a blend between the Fenix endurance bike and Kanso Fast, with a generous 73mm bottom bracket drop and a 72-degree head angle in a size medium.

In short, the brand says the Grifn is a road-focused gravel bike that’s comfortable enough for big days out on rough roads, but still aggressive enough to be enjoyed on a challenging road Gran Fondo.

The F-Steerer design is used on Ridley’s road bikes to gain an aerodynamic advantage by keeping cables and hoses hidden.

Warren Rossiter is BikeRadar and Cycling Plus magazine’s senior technical editor for road and gravel!

Having been testing bikes for more than 20 years, Warren has an encyclopedic knowledge of road cycling and has been the mastermind behind our Road Bike of the Year test for more than a decade!

While Warren loves fast road bikes and the latest gravel bikes, he also believes electric bikes are the future of transport