We’re at the Riva Bike Festival on the shores of Lake Garda and walking through the event village, we couldn’t help but take a closer look at this insanely light full suspension XC bike from Italian carbon specialists, RDR.
Founded by Nicolas Jeantet — a former rider of team Mapei — and his father, RDR is a small Italian brand that produces a range of carbon road, mountain and gravel bikes in its workshop in Aosta.
The Ares LTD is the brand's top-end full suspension XC race bike.
The frameset weighs an impressive 1,570g for the frameset (claimed, without shock), with the complete build as pictured coming in just a touch over 8.5kg / 18.8lb.
Unlike many super light mountain bikes, the Ares LTD could hardly be described as impractical.
To start, while the bike is designed around 29in wheels, it also has clearances out back for 27.5x3.in tyres, an unusually generous size in the typically conservative world of XC race bikes.
Dropper post routing can also be accommodated by RDR. Unlike some other super light XC bikes, the bike is designed around a 31.6mm seatpost, so you also won’t be limited to only a handful of dropper posts.
The bike also features flippable chips, allowing you to slacken out the head angle from 70-degrees to 69-degrees, again, a fairly progressive move for an XC bike.
The bike features all manner of carbon exotica in a bid to reduce weight, including a top-end SRAM XX1 Eagle drivetrain, a DT Swiss X313 carbon rear shock and RDR’s own carbon stem, handlebars and rims.
A particular highlight of the build is the interesting OVR damper cartridge — produced by Portuguese suspension specialists, ND Tuned — that has been fitted to the RockShox SID fork.
This unique damper doesn’t require any oil to work. This combined with the lightweight construction of the damper, it brings the weight of a fork down by a claimed 300g.
The cartridge is available for RockShox Reba, SID and RS-1 forks at a cost of approx €350. The damper is also available for the Fox 32 SC for approx €370.
We haven’t had a chance to use the damper, but the impressions of other reviewers seem very interesting. Watch this space.
RDR Ares LTD sizes, availability and price
As you would imagine, such lightweight carbon exotica comes at a premium, with the frameset costing a whopping €4,390.
The Ares LTD is only available in set sizes. The rest of the brands are available in custom sizes. Painting is done in-house and is also fully customisable.
Clearly confident in the quality of its products, RDR backs up all of its frames with a lifetime warranty.
Keep your eyes peeled for more coverage from the event over the weekend.
