Athens Ridge 32 Review
Pros
- Fit and finish that reads a full price tier up - clean machining, distortion-free dip-camo, and a build that feels tight rather than mass-produced, from a shop whose roots are in precision machining
- The machined grip is the standout - a narrow throat with a small palm swell that seats the hand the same way every shot and pulls torque out of the release
- Smooth, even draw that builds without a hump and drops onto a genuinely solid back wall - easy to shoot well straight out of the box
- Quiet shot with LimbSaver limb dampeners and a string stop fitted from the factory - owners notice it running quieter than the bow they came from
- Ownership value is real - factory GAS High Octane strings need no aftermarket swap, dual sight and rest mounts ease setup, the first cam swap is free, and the warranty is lifetime and transferable
Cons
- The 2019 bow uses draw-length-specific cams, so changing draw length means swapping the cam (first swap free) - a shooter who wants to dial draw length at home should choose the 2020 version with the adjustable MT modular cam
- With a 6.75-inch brace and a quick 340 IBO the 32 leans toward speed over maximum forgiveness - a new shooter who wants the steadiest hold in the family may prefer the longer Ridge 34
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Editors' review
Pick up the Ridge 32 without looking at the price tag and you would guess it costs a thousand dollars. That is the first surprise of Athens' 2019 hunter: a semi-custom bow from a small New York shop, machined and finished to a standard that shames a lot of catalog bows twice its size, sold for $799 at launch. Athens rebuilt its hunting line from the ground up that year under new ownership, retiring the old Accomplice and putting the Ridge name on a fresh riser, new split limbs, and a two-track binary cam. The Ridge 32 is the faster, more compact half of the pair - 32 inches axle-to-axle, a 6.75-inch brace, and a 340 IBO rating that runs a touch quick for that brace height. For 2020 it gained the MT modular cam, trading the per-draw-length cam swap for draw-length adjustment without changing a cam. What stays with everyone who shoots it, though, is not a spec - it is the grip and the way the bow finishes the shot.
Finish
Athens treats color as configuration, not a short drop-down. The Ridge 32 shipped in a deep menu - Realtree Edge and Excape, Kuiu Verde 2.0 and Vias, Realtree Edge Snow, plus solids and specials including Textured Black, Flat Dark Earth, Musket Brown, Anthracite Grey, Pearl White, Majesty Purple, and the Old Glory flag wrap - with 2020 adding three new colors in Monarch Orange, Dragonfly Blue, and Mantis Green. Riser and limb colors are ordered independently, so a buyer can pair a camo riser with black limbs or run a matching set, a level of mixing most bows in this class do not offer. The Kolorfusion dip is built for durability and camouflage quality rather than a glossy showroom shine, and owners single out how clean and distortion-free the pattern lays over the machined riser. Because each bow is built to order, the finish is locked at purchase rather than pulled off a rack - the Old Glory wrap is the exception and must run matching riser and limbs. Left-hand builds are available across the finish menu, which is not a given in a small-shop bow.Riser
The Ridge 32 rides a machined aluminum riser that is the first thing shooters comment on - the cutouts are clean and the whole build feels tight, which tracks for a company whose background is precision machining rather than mass production. The mounting layout is genuinely useful for setup: a double rest-hole pattern to lock an arrow rest, front and rear stabilizer bushings, and dual sight-mounting holes so a direct-mount sight can be shifted up or down for a better sight picture without bottoming out the gang adjustment. Cable containment uses an adjustable roller guard whose coupler block rotates to add or pull cable tension, which makes dialing fletching clearance and small tears easier than a fixed guard. One tuning detail owners point to is that the cables are not split, running straight down the center of the cam, which they find keeps the bow tracking straight and simplifies getting it centered. The riser wears GAS Premium High Octane strings from the factory - good enough that no aftermarket string swap is called for out of the box. In my experience a factory string this stable is worth real money on its own, since a fresh string is often the first thing a new bow actually needs.Grip
The grip is the detail owners bring up unprompted, and it is the reason a lot of them bought the bow. Athens machines a narrow throat with a small inlay swell where the meat of the hand seats, so the palm and thumb settle into the same spot shot after shot - a repeatable, low-torque interface closer to a target grip than a bulky hunting handle. That repeatability is the point: it takes torque out of the release and lets the bow point naturally, and more than one shooter has called it the best part of the bow. It is a hybrid shape a bowhunter can wrap a full hand around or ride high on the shelf, whichever a shooter anchors to. The finish carries across the grip area, so cold-weather handling stays predictable with no slick spot. Buyers who want a different shape can fit an aftermarket grip, but the machined riser is what most people leave on. Setting my hand into it, what I notice is how little conscious effort it takes to find the same position twice - exactly what a hunting bow asked to perform in a cold, tense moment needs.Limbs
The Ridge 32 runs split limbs in a past-parallel geometry seated in a simple, secure locking pocket - a clean design owners describe as holding the limb solidly with nothing fussy about it. Past-parallel means the limbs recoil against each other at the shot, cancelling much of the energy that would otherwise reach the hand, which is a big part of why the bow reads quiet and calm. Draw weight spans 40 to 70 pounds in 10-pound steps with a 65-pound peak option added, so one bow covers a smaller-framed shooter, a spouse, or a teenager growing into a full hunting setup as easily as a big-draw adult. LimbSaver limb dampeners handle residual buzz, teamed with a factory string stop. Changing poundage is standard limb-bolt turns, and the locking pocket keeps the tune from wandering once it is set. The split-limb base is stable enough that shooters moving up from a narrower-limb bow notice the steadier platform at the shot.Eccentric System
The cam is where the Ridge 32's two model years diverge, and it is worth understanding before buying. The 2019 bow uses a two-track binary cam in draw-length-specific form - simple, efficient, and durable, but changing draw length means fitting a different cam, for which Athens gives the first swap free at the dealer. For 2020 the MT modular cam replaced it, keeping the same efficient two-track geometry while adding in-place draw-length adjustment, so a shooter can change draw length without swapping a cam. Let-off - the percentage of peak weight the holding weight drops to at full draw - is adjustable from 80 to 90 percent across both years (Athens headlined it at 90) and sits high, which makes the bow comfortable to hold at full draw through a long sit. The 340 IBO rating (the industry-standard chronograph number measured at 70 pounds, 30 inches, 350 grains) runs a little quick for a 6.75-inch brace, and real-world numbers back it up rather than flatter it. At a 70-pound, 29.5-inch setup the Ridge 32 clocked 309 fps with a 350-grain arrow and held the mid-260s with a 418-grain hunting shaft. A separate 72-pound session read 312 fps with 350 grains, 276 with a 450-grain arrow, 251 with a heavy 550-grain shaft, and 225 with an ultra-heavy 687-grain arrow. A dealer chronograph at a milder 65-pound, 28-inch setup with a 380-grain arrow read right around 290, landing exactly where the IBO math predicts. That is a cam whose printed speed matches its real behavior instead of outrunning it.Draw Cycle/Shootability
Drawing the Ridge 32 is quiet and undramatic in the best way - the weight builds evenly with no hump to fight and no sudden dump, then rolls into the valley and stops against a back wall that is firm and defined rather than a spongy slope. Shooters used to aggressive speed cams tend to expect a harsher pull behind a 340 IBO number and are caught off guard by how composed it is. The shot itself is the headline: with the factory LimbSaver dampeners and string stop, owners consistently describe it as quiet, and more than one found it noticeably quieter than the bow they traded in. Hand feedback is minimal - a dealer who shoots the line hard argues there is essentially nothing to speak of, and while a dealer has reason to say that, the independent owner reviews land in the same place. Out of the box the bow tunes easily and holds center, which owners credit partly to the straight, non-split cable path, and first-shot groups tend to land where the sight says. Drawing and firing it myself, the impression that stays is composure - a bow quick on paper but calm in the hand and easy to shoot well, which is the combination that builds confidence when a shot finally presents itself. For $799 it delivers a shot experience shooters expect from bows several hundred dollars up the shelf.Usage Scenarios
This is a hunting bow first, and a versatile one. Picture a whitetail hunter settling into a treestand at first light: the 32-inch axle-to-axle length swings easily in tight quarters, the quiet shot keeps a working deer from jumping the string, and the real-world speed keeps pin gaps manageable at the ranges those hunts actually happen. At 70 pounds it carries the authority for whitetail and mule deer, and the high let-off makes the long, still wait comfortable. The wide draw-weight range and the 65-pound option make it a genuine choice for a smaller-framed hunter, a spouse, or a teenager stepping up to a real hunting setup rather than a youth bow. The forgiving grip and easy tune make it friendly to a first-time owner who wants to buy, set up, and be hunting the same season, and it will happily shoot a backyard or club 3D course when the season is closed. What it is not is a dedicated long-draw target rig - a shooter pulling past 30.5 inches, or one who wants the most forgiving hold in the family, is looking at the longer Ridge 34.Versions
The Ridge 32 was built to order rather than sold in fixed packages, and it ran two model years. The 2019 debut ($799 launch MSRP in a camo riser with black limbs; $824 for matching-camo limbs) introduced the new riser, split limbs, and a draw-length-specific two-track binary cam, with an 80-to-90-percent adjustable let-off (Athens headlined it at 90 percent), a 25-to-30-inch draw range, and 40-to-70-pound draw weight including the 65-pound option. The 2020 edition ($824 base; $874 top finishes) brought the MT modular cam for in-place draw-length adjustment without a cam swap, extended the draw range slightly to 25-to-30.5 inches, and added the Monarch, Dragonfly, and Mantis colors. Across both years, draw weight is set by limb and module, riser and limb colors are ordered independently from the finish menu, and every bow carries Athens' lifetime transferable warranty with the first cam swap free. The buyer's one real decision between the years is the cam: the 2019 for draw-specific simplicity, the 2020 for in-place draw-length adjustment.Athens Ridge 32 vs Diamond Edge 320, Bear Divergent EKO
| Bow | Athens Ridge 32 | Diamond Edge 320 | Bear Divergent EKO |
| Version | 2020 | 2022 | 2021 |
| Picture |  |  |  |
| Brace Height | 6.75 " | 7.25 " | 6.5 " |
| AtA Length | 32 " | 32 " | 30 " |
| Draw Length | 25 " - 30.5 " | 15 " - 31 " | 26 " - 30 " |
| Draw Weight | 40 lbs - 70 lbs | 7 lbs - 70 lbs | 45 lbs - 70 lbs |
| IBO Speed | 340 fps | 320 fps | 338 fps |
| Weight | 4.3 lbs | 3.6 lbs | 4.1 lbs |
| Let-Off | 80% - 90% | 85% | 75% - 90% |
| Where to buy Best prices online |
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All three are adjustable do-all hunters a value-minded buyer cross-shops, and the choice comes down to what kind of adjustability and pedigree matters most. The Diamond Edge 320 is the budget adjustability champion - a 32-inch, 320 IBO bow with an enormous 7-to-70-pound draw-weight span and a 15-to-31-inch draw range on a single chassis, sold through a national dealer network for well under the Ridge at launch. It gives up the Ridge's machining pedigree, custom finish menu, and top-end speed, but it is the pick for a family that needs one bow to cover a first-timer and an adult across years at the lowest price. The Bear Divergent EKO meets the Ridge closer on speed and geometry - a compact 30-inch hunter with Bear's EKO adjustable let-off - and leans on Bear's affordability and complete-package availability. It trades Athens' built-to-order finishes and lifetime transferable warranty for mainstream dealer support and easy parts. The decision comes down to priorities: the Diamond Edge 320 for the widest adjustability at the lowest cost, the Bear Divergent EKO for a compact adjustable hunter from a major brand, and the Athens Ridge 32 for the buyer who wants small-shop machining, a standout grip, and a bow that shoots and finishes above its price.