November 24th, 2008 by 
thien
By Steve Cooper
- Frame: R6 Double Butted Alloy
- Fork: Carbon Fiber With Alloy Steerer.
- Sram Rival shifters and derailleurs
- FSA Gossamer 46×36t crankset
- Ritchey Pro wheel set with Hutchinson Bulldog tires
- Available in 7 sizes
The call came in Friday afternoon. “The Redline has arrived”, I repeat “the Redline has arrived”. Mostly set-up, the Conquest Pro didn’t take much time to finish building and match positions to my CCX race bike. I did a test ride in Nisene Marks Saturday morning, and then raced today. Whew, that’s fast. Maybe too fast to work all the kinks out – that’s okay, cause this is going to be a great review ride throughout the hectic CCX race season we’re in the middle of.
In the meantime, here are my first impressions.
Spec: 95% Brilliant. It’s all built around a Redline R6 aluminum frame and a Redline carbon fork. Rival derailleurs front and rear with 09’ Rival shifters make me smile. An FSA Gossamer crank in 46/36 with the SRAM 1070 12-25 rear cassette is my gearing of choice. Avid shorty cantis do the trick, unless the front straddle cable slips loose on lap three (totally attributable to the short set-up window). Other FSA goodness includes a carbon wrap seat post, shallow drop OS bars and stem. Tektro top mounted levers are a new treat for me; I think I’m going to warm up to the option of braking from the flats. The Ritchey DS Pro wheelset looks good and tough. And the rubber? It’s a set of Hutchinson Bulldogs, one of the fattest (but not fastest) set of knobbies you can find these days.
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November 24th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I love the tires on that bike! I’ve always been curious about Redline Bikes, seeing them in Bicycling magazine, but never entertained the idea of looking further than their half-page ads.
November 24th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
The Bulldogs look stunning; they’re beefy, with aggressive knobs in that light gray that looks even better all dusty. Now we just need some rain to turn our hard pack into slop so I can really wring them out.
Redline seems to be looking to deliver in some interesting niche markets; they have a cleverly spec’d lineup of cross, 29er and singlespeed bikes. Someone is paying attention up in Washington state.
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Swapped out the stock Avid pads with Koolstop MTBs in Salmon/Black before a long, steep, single-track adventure on Sunday – what a difference the pad change makes.