RAGLEY BIG WIG RACE

Its geometry has been tweaked and trimmed, so how does the new Big Wig sit with us now?

- Alan Muldoon

£549.99 (frame only) 29in • ragleybikes.com

For 2023, Ragley has made some minor modifications to the Big Wig platform. It’s still a hard-hitting 29er trail bike with a robust 4130 steel frame, but the angles and fit have been tweaked to eke out those final few percentage points of performance.

Currently the new format is only available as a frame only, as Ragley still has 2022 versions of the complete Big Wig to shift before the new frame geometry is rolled out across the range. As such, our Big Wig Race test bike was a mix of old and new: the build kit is similar to the 2022 build for £2,499.99, the frame is brand new and available for £549.99. Hopefully Ragley can hold complete build prices where they are at when the new frame finally rolls out to the range later this year.

So what exactly has changed? Well, on the size Large, the head angle has been slackened by 1° to 63.1° and the reach measurement has grown by 25mm to 470mm (160mm-travel fork). Not a wholesale shift in attitude then, but taken together, the front centre measurement on the size Large has jumped up to 824mm. Which is pretty rangy for a hardtail.

And those aren’t the only tweaks. Ragley has also lopped 30mm off the seat tube height to improve compatibility with longer-stroke dropper posts and steepened the seat tube angle by 1°.