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WARNING! Remember that for each of the following steps you must read attentively
and abide strictly by the Manual and/or instructions provided by the manufacturer of the
component in question, which are given to you at the time of purchase of your bicycle and/
or are available on its manufacturer’s website. If the manual of the component was not
provided, you can request them from your AUTHORIZED RIDLEY DEALER and/or consult
their manufacturers’ websites which feature such manuals, before using your new bicycle.
What we provide below is merely a number of recommendations based on our many years
of experience in competitive cycling, but in no way do they constitute an implicit or explicit
assumption on our part of any liability for components that we have not manufactured.
1. BRAKES. First of all, and above all, check the brake system for effectiveness by
operating the brake lever several times in a row
remain the same even after intensive braking. If this is not the case, you must bring
back your bicycle immediately to your AUTHORIZED RIDLEY DEALER. In any case, be
careful when applying the front brake too hard. If you suddenly apply the front brake
with excessive force, the rear wheel may fly upward and the front wheel can skid to
one side, with the consequent loss of control and a likely fall.
2. RAPID PEDAL RELEASE. Also make sure that the rapid pedal release mechanisms of
your bicycle are well adjusted. The shoes you wear should fit well, and they should
easily engage the pedals. By rapidly pushing and pulling, make sure that your feet
in no way disengage from the pedals. They must be removed from the pedals only
when you want them to be, and this should occur easily without the need to apply
any special effort, by a typical swift sideways motion. Should you have difficulties
removing them, bring back your bicycle to your AUTHORIZED RIDLEY DEALER
before using the bicycle again.
3. GEAR CHANGE MECHANISMS. Make yourself familiar with the gear change
mechanisms that are installed on your bicycle. Make sure that the power shift is
enabled, and avoid using combinations of ratios that make the chain work at a large
angle with respect to the ideal plane drawn through the bike’s center from front to
back. In such case there is a risk that a sudden and improper gear change may cause
the chain to get stuck between the sprockets, causing the bicycle to stall suddenly
and, as a consequence, the cyclist to fall. Such events, even if they do not cause a fall,
can result in gear change maladjustment. More specifically
rear derailleur can change when it shifts the chain to the innermost sprocket that
is the closest one to the wheel spokes. In such case either because the derailleur is
bent, or because it becomes loose from its support on the frame, or because the end
of stroke becomes misadjusted, or under the combined effect of all these factors, it
may happen that the lower end of the derailleur gets inserted between the spokes,
causing structural damage and a sudden fall, which is inevitable and dangerous.
Make sure that the handlebar remains secure on the stem, has not moved from its
position, and does not move if you apply torsion, bending, or rotary forces.
4. STEERING. Make sure that the steering does not have any play when you push it
vigorously back and forth while holding the bike firmly with the front brake fully
applied. T
movements or noises appear after this test; otherwise raise the speed gradually
and make sure your bike rides straight and steady
or vibrations. Such events are rare; they can be caused by various factors, acting
individually or in combination. If you experience vibrations that appear starting from
a certain speed and become pronounced when you release the handlebar
bicycle to your AUTHORIZED RIDLEY DEALER for inspection of components and/or
for bicycle repair
4. BASIC FACTS YOU MUST KNOW BEFORE USING YOUR BICYCLE FOR THE FIRST
TIME
The bicycle has been so far the most efficient vehicle invented by humankind. However
bicycle, being a two-wheeled vehicle, must be kept in balance by the cyclist. In addition, by
its nature it cannot provide any protective envelope, thus leaving the cyclist fully exposed
and particularly vulnerable to surrounding hazards. This is why it is necessary to be most
attentive while riding a bicycle. It should be also noted that the energy of movement,
which depends on the mass and speed, is always much higher than what we intuitively
imagine. In the case of an impact, your kinetic energy does not disappear
into structural deformation and heat. In the case of a head-on collision, it is evident that
nobody is expecting structural integrity either for the bicycle or for the cyclist. However
it is understood that even when hitting surmountable obstacles such as bumps in the
pavement, potholes, manhole covers surrounded by raised asphalt, grates with slits in
which the wheel can get caught, etc., an impact may occur that can be destructive.
The problem of which we must be aware is that speed changes determined by the impact
are by their nature almost instantaneous, so the forces generated in a fraction of a
second within which the speed change occurs can become enormous. An example: If an
average cyclist who weighs 80 kg with his bicycle rides at the speed of 40 km per hour and
hits an unexpected obstacle with the front wheel, reducing his speed to 10 km per hour
in an instant, the bicycle and the cyclist are exposed to a force that depends, in addition
to the momentum, on the time within which the above change took place. In the case in
question, if the change occurs in 1/10th of a second, the force acting on the bicycle-cyclist
system is about 600 kg, but if the change took place in 1/100th of a second, the force could
reach 6,000 kg! Therefore, in the event that your bicycle sustains damage as a result of an
unfortunate impact, and you fall as a consequence of breakage or deformation of any part
of the bicycle, it is not the bicycle to blame, but rather the obstacles that have caused the
impact. This is the reason why it is always necessary to exercise maximum caution while
riding bicycles, slowing down substantially where the road may be increasingly bumpy or
in any case of poor visibility
The materials RIDLEY uses for making the frames and forks are either metal alloys or
composites based on carbon fiber
aluminum and titanium alloys. Both metals and composites are of the highest quality and
offer mechanical characteristics that assure maximum safety to the user
to note that the two above-mentioned classes of materials behave differently in the event
of an unfortunate destructive impact. Metal alloys can snap, but they first experience
twisting and bending, whereas the composites just fracture, even though they are more
impact-resistant than metal alloys. Of course they are not highly brittle, but they have
a typical behavior
that would also deform or break to pieces an equivalent structure made of a metal alloy
exceeding the maximum strength, however high it may be for a product that was well
designed and made in accordance with industry standards.
EN
