Which TIme Is Right for Me?

I’m in the enviable position of owning all three of Time’s newest generation of frames: the Alpe DHuez 01 (which I’ll refer to as my ADH), the ADHX and now the ADHX 45 (let’s call it the 45 to make things easier). I’ve been on the red ADH about two years, and on the blue ADHX almost a year now. The 45 got here in mid October, and after only a handful of rides I’m happy to have it in the family. I reviewed both of them and one of the most frequently asked questions I get across both videos is basically some version of: which Time is right for me?

So like I’ve done with a few brands before, I’m going to break down what I see as the ideal persona for each one of these hand built masterpieces, starting with the road-focused ADH.

This one’s pretty straightforward: the ADH is a focused, all-round road bike for roadies. If 99% of your riding is on paved surfaces: road races, crits, day-long epics with 5 digits of elevation, or just your fast local lunch ride, the ADH was built to go toe-to-to with the R5’s, Tarmacs, and Dogmas of the world, and in two years riding it alongside some of these, I can tell you it’ll quickly become your road bike of choice because it does what the competition does but delivers those results wrapped up with a ride quality that’s…well…intuitive and telepathic. It has clearance for up to 28c tires, so with the right tubeless setup you can ride it on very smooth, champagne gravel, but if it gets the least bit rocky or even slightly rutted out, you’ll wish you had …you guessed it..the ADHX

I’ll admit the ADHX was a bit of a head scratcher when it was released because it didn’t offer as much tire clearance as everyone expected. With a max capacity of around 38mm, your options are kinda limited. But after a year of owning this bike and using it with a variety of tire combos…I’m going to rate it as one of the best allroad or endurance bikes you can find. Now, notice I didn’t say ‘comfort’ road bike because that ain’t what it is - the ADHX isn’t big flexy thing with a giant head tube that gets you in a more upright position - no no no, it’s a full on, real deal fast bike, and it’s ideal owner is a guy like me who lives in a place where all the good rides require several miles of nice dirt roads between the paved stretches. And with a quick change to a set of 28c tires it’ll keep you in the pack at wednesday night worlds or on the saturday morning shop ride, but it can also serve the gravel racer in you quite well, as long as you pick courses that aren’t either too rocky or too muddy. Thankfully, Time has a solution for those courses - and it’s the new kid on the block, the ADHX 45.

If I had to pick just ONE bike in Time’s lineup, it’d be the 45. It is ABSOLUTELY the quiver killer. Why? Well because it’s still VERY close to the ADHX from a weight, handling, and responsiveness standpoint, but with room for REAL gravel tires up to 45mm. Since I already had the ADHX hanging around, I set my 45 up for heavy duty gravel mode with flared aluminum bars, my trusty Redshift stem, a dropper post, 45mm Schwalbes, and wide range 1x gearing. But if I was the guy or gal who could only have one bike in the stable - it’d be the ADHX 45 and two wheelsets - one for grav, one for road

So to sum up: the ADHX is a road bike for roadies, the ADHX is a gravel bike for roadies, and the ADHX 45 is the bike for everyone.