It won BikeRadar Women's Bike of the Year in 2016, but the Specialized Ruby has gone through some serious changes for 2017. It's got new wheels, new bars, new geometry and even suspension. Yes, you read that right.
- 2016 women's road bike of the year - the Specialized Ruby Comp
- Specialized Roubaix 2017 review
- Best women's bike saddle: a buyers guide
Specialized Ruby highlights
- Future Shock handlebar suspension system
- Wide range of bikes available in the Ruby model line
- Roval CLX32 wheels
- SWAT box
- Frame is available in 44 to 58cm
In July 2016, Specialized invited a group of female cycling journalists out to Paris for two reasons, one overt, and one slightly secret. The clear purpose of the trip was to watch and report on La Course, the hard-won women's race that takes place on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on the same day as the final stage of the Tour de France. The covert purpose was to introduce us to the brand-new Specialized Ruby.
BikeRadar was especially interested to hear about the new Ruby because the 2016 version won the overall BikeRadar Women's Bike of the Year Awards title, and we test rode the Ruby Pro Di2.
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What we found was a bike that's had a serious overhaul. Specialized has put a lot of time, attention and money into redeveloping both this bike and the men's/unisex equivalent, the Roubaix. The result is a bike that's visually stunning, packed with some eye-catching performance bling, and a few very surprising features.
Investing in the women's market
The Ruby is interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, and most obviously, the bike itself — and we'll get on to our first impressions shortly. But secondly because Specialized is clearly spending time, attention and actual cold hard cash on developing products for the women's market.
If you're into cycling, you'll have probably heard it frequently repeated that the numbers of women cycling is increasing at a much faster rate than the number of men. It seems to have taken a bit of time for the cycling industry to catch up with this though, but with a large company like Specialized investing heavily in women's cycling the viability of the market is starting to be realised.
The theory behind the Specialized Ruby
Specialized Ruby suspension
Specialized Ruby geometry and new finishing kit
Specialized Ruby fit
Specialized Ruby ride impression
Specialized Ruby pricing and availability
- S-Works Ruby eTap — £7,500 / US$10,000 / AU$11,500
- Ruby Pro UDi2 — £N/A / US$6,500 / AU$N/A
- Ruby Expert UDi2 — £3,800 / US$4,600 / AU$6,600
- Ruby Expert — £3,200 / US$4,000 / AU$TBC
- S-Works Ruby F/Set — £2,750 / US$4,000 / AU$4,500
- Ruby Comp — £2,400 / US$3,200 / AU$4,100
- Ruby Elite — £1,900 / US$2,600 / AU$3,300
You can read more at BikeRadar.com
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