First Impression: BH RX1
Originally posted on December 8, 2010 at 12:18 pm
By Josh Patterson
Cyclocross season is in full swing!
In fact, Cyclocross Nationals kicks off today in Bend, Oregon. Like most people who race ‘cross, I can be pretty fanatical about it. Our Web Editor, Adam Newman joins me in this obsession. I’m not sure what it is about racing bikes with skinny tires in bad weather that make this sport fun, but there’s something special about cyclocross.
This season I raced aboard a BH RX1. Highlights of the RX1 include a carbon fiber monocoque frame with a matching carbon fork. The drivetrain consists of SRAM Rival Doubletap levers, front and rear derailleurs, with an FSA Gossamer crankset in the BB30 variety. Price is $2,999 and weight of my 54cm test bike, sans pedals, is a respectable 17.88lbs.
If there’s one cardinal rule of bike racing it has to be to never race on new, untested gear.
I always break this rule.
My first ride on this RX1—literally, the first time I clipped and rode it — was a 62-mile sadistic perversion of a cyclocross race known as Iron Cross. Click here for my race recap. Long story short, my overzealous desire to put this bike through its paces was not punished by the bicycling gods—the RX1 performed admirably, better than I did… My poor performance had nothing to do with the bike, and everything to do with too many hours spent hunched over this here keyboard.
Look for a full review in the next issue of Dirt Rag. Until then, I can tell you that, for a race bike, it’s more comfortable than many carbon-framed ‘cross bikes I’ve swung a leg over. The RX1’s geometry did take some getting used to. The head and seat angles are steeper, and the bottom bracket substantially higher than my personal cyclocross bikes.
How did we get along? Stay tuned.