Travel/Folding – Ritchey

Ritchey Breakaway Cross & Outback

Ritchey Breakaway cross

These are the Swiss Army Knives of bicycles. Versatile, comfortable and fast, these bikes can be used for nearly every cycling scenario you can dream up.

Breakaway Steel Cross and Outback models usually get built up as “Gravel” bikes with knobby tires, low gear ranges and upright positioning, making them ideal for off-road touring and foreign adventures. That said, they handle really well on the road too, so a set of slick tires will turn these models into great choices for touring or commuting. Wanna race? The framesets are super light, they sprint and climb well (even if you don’t) so try one of the Seattle Cyclocross events or the Whistler Gran Fondo on your Ritchey. Flat bars, drop bars, 42mm wide knobbies or 25mm slicks, the configurations are almost limitless.

Outback Carbon with disc brakes

These Ritcheys come with a suitcase, and the big feature with the bikes is that they disassemble and fit into this case so you can take them with you wherever you go. The frame coupling system is secure and really simple, and we can show you how to pack your bike up and travel with them. The travel case flies under the radar (so to speak) so you won’t get hit up for oversize baggage fees like you would when flying with a standard bike.

The coupling system is slick. The frame, which comes apart into two pieces, is joined at the top by the seatpost (and you can use a carbon fiber seatpost if you want, it’s plenty strong) and a small clamp on the downtube. It’s a simple design, and probably more secure than the bulky S & S coupling system used by most custom frame builders. The break-away feature adds less than 100 grams.

All packed up and ready to roll

It’s a bit of a puzzle, but it all fits.

Frame clamp and cable connectors

Ritchey Break-Away cross frames designed for cantilever-style brakes are made out of custom heat treated cromoly tubing and come a with carbon fork. The Outback model framesets are all carbon and are designed around disc brakes (mechanical or hydraulic). Both styles come in a wide range of sizes.

A travel-ready hybrid

19lb Cyclocross build

Paul’s 15lb winter road bike

These bikes are semi-custom since they come to us as framesets. Here are a few of the builds we have done over the years (click on the thumbnail images to enlarge them).

Steel framesets run $1500 so complete bikes usually run between $2400 and $4500. The Outback frame is $3100, so a whole bike would usually run between $4000 and $5500. Have donor parts from an old bike or a dusty corner of your garage? Bring in what you have and we’ll sketch out a build list.

We believe in these bikes.  Both Paul and Jaime ride their Ritchey Breakaways daily, and hope to travel some day with them…

Ritchey Ascent Breakaway

Ritchey Ascent Breakaway

Most of us have access to a couple of different bikes.

If something horrible were ever to happen to our society (like maybe a zombie apocalypse) and you had to get by with only one bike to ride everywhere, you could hardly pick a better bike than the Ritchey Ascent.

The Ascent is a long-haul touring bike.  It’s a gravel adventure bike.  With upright handlebars installed it becomes a hybrid city bike.  With upright handlebars and fat tires installed it’s a mountain bike.  With skinny and smooth tires installed it’s a fast road bike.  The Ascent can be configured any way that you can imagine, and since it comes to us as a bare frame and you decide how you want it to turn out, it can be configured to fit just about any budget that you have in mind.

It’s a bit of a puzzle, but it all fits.

All packed up and ready to roll

Did we mention that the Ascent is a travel bike?  Yep.  It comes apart and fits into a regular-size suitcase.  This means that it flies to your ride destination just like regular checked luggage with no exorbitant bicycle surcharge.

Don’t worry. If you happen to have a couple of different bikes at home and want to add the Ascent to your fleet, it doesn’t have to be your only ride.

Ritchey Breakaway Road

Ritchey travel bike

Take the legendary and inspiring handling of a hand-built Ritchey bicycle. Add a revolutionary coupling system that allows you to pack it and travel around the world with ease. The result is the ultimate travel bike: The Ritchey Break-Away.  A full size bike in a case that measures a scant 9″ x 26″ x 29″!

The Break-Away bike disassembles and assembles in minutes and comes complete with a travel bag. Ritchey custom steel and carbon fiber tubesets and the patented compression coupling system are the keys to this design. The frame is securely joined at the seatpost in two places and on the downtube. The coupler clamps unobtrusively around small flanges on the downtube. While this system is as secure as systems much larger it adds less than 100 grams.

All packed up and ready to roll

It’s a bit of a puzzle, but it all fits.

Simple seat post clamps hold the frame together

Ritchey Break-Away frames are available in custom heat treated cromoly tubing and carbon fiber. Frame sets are available in road or cyclocross frame styles in a broad range of sizes. Purchase as a complete bike or as a frameset with carbon fork, headset, cable couplers & deluxe travel case.

Ritchey Breakaway Carbon

Ritchey Breakaway Carbon

High performance to go.
Tom Ritchey has been designing fantastic bicycles for about 40 years now. In that time, Tom has managed to squeeze every drop of performance out of the materials he has at hand. Finally turning his attention to carbon fiber, Tom has built a winner.
The Breakaway Carbon has made Classic Cycle’s (Paul and Gavin’s) top 3 road bikes of all time list (along with the Colnago C60 and the Fuji Gran Fondo).
It rides great, is extremely comfortable, looks awesome, and seems to be tough as nails.
For about $3000 you can get the frame, fork, headset and suitcase. Complete bikes can be built up between $4000 and $7000.

All packed up and ready to roll

It’s a bit of a puzzle, but it all fits.

Cable couplers hold their adjustments and unscrew by hand

As an added benefit, this bike easily packs down into a regular size suitcase (which is included with the frameset) so you can take it with you when you go on vacation. Awesome.

Ritchey Breakaway flat-bar

Upright-bar Ritchey

Don’t assume that a bike made for traveling has to be a road touring bike.

Ritchey Breakaway framesets can be built up in any configuration that you can imagine.

If you just need simple short-distance transportation when you travel, you can ride a Ritchey as easily as a small-wheel folding bike.

Conversely, if you’re looking for a hybrid bike for riding to work or for running errands, don’t assume that you have to get a basic low-end bike.  You can build up a Ritchey and enjoy the smooth ride quality and light weight (and have a bike that’s fun for more than just short trips).

About our website…

Buy it now

You may have noticed that many of the bikes on our website are lacking prices.
We also seem to be missing an “add to shopping cart” button.
These omissions are purposeful.
We like bikes. We like you. We want you to ride a bicycle that works well, fits you correctly, and is appropriate for the kinds of riding that you like to do.
We can’t make all of this happen through a website.
If you want a new bike, come in to Classic Cycle. Talk to us. Touch the bicycles. You can ride around Winslow, and see what the different models have to offer.
Come in to the shop, and Gavin will make some adjustments to the bike to make it fit just right (and tell you about the time he won that race in Sicily while he’s at it).
Sit at our bar and watch bike racing on the television or experience a bit of our little museum.
Spend some time here so that Jaime can show you clothing and accessories that will resolve the little issues that nag at you while you ride.
Paul will assemble your bike with the same attention to detail that went into building bikes for two Olympic Games and countless professional racers.
Leave the UPS guy alone. He can’t help you put that mail-order bike together…