For the past month I have been cruising around on the 2012 Raleigh RX 1.0 Women’s cyclocross bike. A good amount of people emailed and tweeted about the bike, so there must be an interest in women’s cyclocross! You can read the preview over yonder.

Spec’s of the Raleigh RX 1.0 You Should Know

Weight for the 56cm is 21.5 lbs
The drivetrain is mostly SRAM Apex, other than TRP brakes and FSA BB30 cranks
MSRP is $1,650
The colors are stunning and I really enjoyed the sea foam green 

Overall Feelings

The bike for the price point is solid. I’m sure you’ll be able to find it a bit cheaper out there, as it is MSRP advertised and most shops run lower than MSRP in store. The setup is proven, the brakes stopped, the tires hooked up beautiful and are some of the best tires I’ve seen on a stock cross bike under $2k.

Recommendations

After my first real ride I swapped the seat. You should know my love of Fizik Vesta saddles and that is what was put on the seatpost. I didn’t change out anything else, not the handlebars, stem, seatpost or tires. This bike (other than saddle which is personal preference) is out of the box ready to race and be ridden hard. My only other recommendation is to take some very fine grit sand paper to the braking surface of the rims. Painted rims aren’t my favorite and after a couple tacky races the paint started wearing off the braking strip and the brakes worked much better.

If you are a first time cyclocross racer, or using this bike for commuting/general purpose riding, leave the sissy brakes on the handlebars. They come in handy and I really enjoyed them there even though I have made fun of them in the past.

Fit of a Women’s Cyclocross Bike

Raleigh women’s line fits me. It always has. Out of the box I can take their 56cm and set the seat height and be done. I don’t need to change the stem length or angle. With that, I am biased on the fit of this bike. Normally for a cyclocross bike to fit me I either have to ride a size bigger with a shorter stem in order to have the head tube height I need, or I run a size that “fits me” and end up with lower back pain on long rides.

Final Thoughts

This is a great option in the women’s cyclocross bike market. The colors are very neutral and appealing to many different types of women. I hope shops stock them and once cyclocross season is over they sell them with a commuter tire. With rack and fender eyelets this is a great year around bike. The spec of the bike is solid, the wheels are stout and it should take any road or cyclocross course you throw at it. At 21.5 lbs some women may complain they need a lighter bike, but this is a price point cyclocross bike. Either a great 2nd pit bike, or a 1st bike to try the sport, or to try commuting and general purpose riding.

Go check out Raleigh and all they are doing for cyclocross in the US.

Disclaimer: Raleigh USA provided this bike for review, I wasn’t paid or bribed. 

A beautiful brown box with a huge Raleigh logo on the side showed up this past week for review. Inside, a 2012 Raleigh RX 1.0 women’s cyclocross bike in for review. I previewed the line back in August and received a good amount of tweets and comments about the line. At $1,650 this bike could be a break through road/cross/commuter/do all women’s bike. Allowing more options and ways to get women on one well spec’d bike. I have high hopes, and the bike will be abused to see if they meet the hopes.

Here for photos? Scroll all the way down.

Out of the Box Raleigh RX 1.0

Very first thing I noticed is the coloring of the bike, very white with mint green ascent color.

Next thing was the drive train and sissy brakes. Yes, I call those brakes on the handlebar sissy brakes but I do like them! SRAM Apex shifters front derailleur, Rival rear derailleur, Tektro RL721, FSA Gossamer Pro Cross BB30 Cranks and sprinkled with Avenir components. Finally, rolling on Weinmann rims with Formula hubs and Vittoria CX Cross XG Pro tires.

Features of the 2012 Raleigh RX 1.0 Women’s Cyclocross Bike

A few key details I am really digging on the bike so far.

Rear rack bosses. Allows the bike to be used for more than cross. Commuter, grocery getter, campus ride, road bike, baby puller, and well… do you get the idea?

Tektro brakes. These brakes set up well, and are rather inexpensive.

Shaped rear seat stays. It is hard to see in a flat photo, but the rear stays are flattened which in practice should smooth the rear end allowing the aluminum to give some. At the least it shouldn’t be as darn stiff vertically (to your butt/back.)

The rims are slightly deeper in depth. The jury and all of its testing is still not shown if deeper rims help get through mud and sand. Regardless, they are deeper on these wheels and show the labels off well. Also, makes the bike look faster.

 More words to come soon…

A first review will be ready in a couple weeks. Need to get this bike dirty first!

Disclaimer: Raleigh USA provided this bike for review, I wasn’t paid or bribed.