Van Rysel RR 920 CF review
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Van Rysel RR 920 CF review

Superbly equipped racer from Decathlon

Our rating

4.5

2000.00

Robert Smith / Immediate Media

Published: December 28, 2019 at 8:00 am

Our review
Lightweight all-carbon French flyer with good kit and fine aero wheels

Pros:

Lightweight race-ready carbon frameset, excellent components and high-quality carbon wheels

Cons:

Non-standard seatpost

These days a £2,000 road bike typically comes with a carbon frame, Shimano 105 and own-brand wheels, but Van Rysel’s RR 920 CF ups the ante a little here by speccing a set of the now-defunct Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbons.

When it was available, this was a £989 wheelset, the Ultegra groupset has a £1,099.99 RRP, factor in a 7.61kg weight and this Van Rysel’s use by the AG2R La Mondiale under 19 team and you’ve got what looks like a bona fide, stone-cold, road-biking bargain.

Frame of the Van Rysel RR 920 showing internal cabling
Two types of carbon fibre make for a stiff, light frame. Robert Smith

As for the name, Van Rysel is the brand Decathlon uses for its racier bikes. And this certainly is every millimetre the race bike.

The Flanders designed and tested RR920 is a flyer. It gobbles up miles on the flat, accelerates sharply and climbs and descends with the best of them. The comfort is good rather than exceptional and it doesn’t have too many aero features, but the combination of intermediate-modulus and high-modulus carbon fibre is both stiff and very light – an 850g claimed weight for the frame and 320g for the fork.

Throw the Van Rysel into a corner and it’s pitch perfect; sprint against your mates and the upsurge in speed is instant. Handling is poised and controlled, the frame stiff through the PF86 bottom bracket and it’s quick to get to the drops on the compact bar.

A large part of the 920’s performance is down to the Mavic Cosmic Carbon wheels. These have 45mm deep rims with a NACA profile. Mavic claims these offer low drag in any conditions and I found that they were fast and reacted very well to some unpredictable gusting sidewinds.

Braking was equally impressive, thanks to the powerful direct-mount front brake and the wheels’ Maxtal aluminium braking track, which means you don’t need carbon-specific brake blocks.

The rims’ 25mm external width makes for a very smooth and aerodynamically friendly transition to the 25mm tyres – which is good for speed while offering more comfort than 23mm rubber.

Yksion tyres on Mavic Cosmic wheels on a Van Rysel road bike
Mavic Cosmic Carbon wheels equal controlled handling. Robert Smith

I’d have preferred a round seatpost to the dedicated design, but that’s a minor quibble. And if you are prepared to shell out two grand on a less familiar name you’ll grab one hell of a bargain.

Product

Brand vanrysel
Price 2000.00 GBP
Weight 7.6100, KILOGRAM (M) - M

Features

Fork Full-carbon Evo Dynamic
br_stem Deda Zero
br_frame IM/HM carbon
Tyres 5mm Yksion Pro tyres
br_brakes Shimano Ultegra, direct-mount front
br_cranks Shimano Ultegra 52/36
br_saddle Fizik Antares
br_wheels Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbon
br_shifter Shimano Ultegra
br_cassette Shimano Ultegra 11-28
br_seatpost VR carbon
br_handlebar Deda 2
br_availableSizes XS, S, M, L, XL
br_rearDerailleur Shimano Ultegra