RIDDEN AND REVIEWED VAN RYSEL RCR-F £5,000

With its new RCR-F, the French brand is catering for a need - the need, for speed!

- Words: Joe Baker

When Van Rysel launched the RCR Pro last year, I wasn't overly kind to it. Not because it was a bad bike - in fact, it was well-made and specced fairly well (with a couple of major quirks), but because its ride feel just didn't inspire me the way other bikes have. For UK buyers, especially those in the mid-price point, I felt it didn’t offer outstanding value compared to better-established names.

Fast forward to this year, and I approached the new RCR-F with a completely open mind. I'm glad I did, because this is a markedly more focused, better-executed bike. Where the RCR model felt like a slightly softened, all-round race bike, trying to do a bit of everything well, the RCR-F doesn’t need to pretend to be anything. It’s direct, aggressive, and unashamedly designed for speed - which means it’s also for a particular kind of rider.

Van Rysel themselves has admitted this isn’t a bike for the masses. In fact, they expect it will only suit about 25% of their race bike customers - and in the UK, I'd argue that figure is probably even smaller. It’s not that the bike lacks ability. Quite the opposite. It’s just that the way it’s been designed - the geometry, the stiffness, the tyre spec - makes it a niche product.

CONSTRUCTION

Let’s start with that frame. The RCR-F is seriously stiff. Way stiffer than the RCR Pro, and the difference is instantly noticeable. That stiffness changes the bike’s personality - it becomes more eager, more direct, and far more rewarding when ridden hard. This is a bike that thrives in the fast lane - chain gangs, pan-flat TT-style efforts, or anything with long straights and some clean tarmac.