I recently finished building up this Ritchey Outback for tackling long, mixed terrain rides in the Colorado Rockies and beyond. Consequently, the build is somewhat sporty, with a focus on reasonably lightweight (but not extravagant) parts. My size small frame has a slacker head tube angle than larger sizes, so I set it up 650x48b to bring the trail figure to that of a medium frame with 700x40c tires, with the idea that the latter setup produces the “reference” handling for this platform. Since this bike will inevitably spend the majority of its miles on tarmac, I put a slick tire in the rear. Aesthetically, I like to think it’s a nod towards Tom Ritchey’s pioneering of front- and rear-specific tires for his mountain bikes. My other bike for this sort of riding is a custom, low-trail randonneuring bike with 26″x54mm tires. To me, the Outback’s ride quality is peer to that bike. I’m excited to get more miles in once things dry out a bit!
* This frame cleared the standard road chainline (i.e., non-wide) version of the Force AXS crankset
* No toe overlap with this crank/tire/frame size combo
* The fork will not generally clear an externally splined centerlock lockring. An internally splined one may be necessary depending on the hub.
* I used 17mm flat mount bolts in the rear. These did not come stock with Rival AXS brake/shifter set
* The wheel set weighs 1397g with tape and tubeless valves
* The bike weighs 20.6lbs / 9.34kg with pedals, bottle cages, and tubes
2 Comments
I recently finished building up this Ritchey Outback for tackling long, mixed terrain rides in the Colorado Rockies and beyond. Consequently, the build is somewhat sporty, with a focus on reasonably lightweight (but not extravagant) parts. My size small frame has a slacker head tube angle than larger sizes, so I set it up 650x48b to bring the trail figure to that of a medium frame with 700x40c tires, with the idea that the latter setup produces the “reference” handling for this platform. Since this bike will inevitably spend the majority of its miles on tarmac, I put a slick tire in the rear. Aesthetically, I like to think it’s a nod towards Tom Ritchey’s pioneering of front- and rear-specific tires for his mountain bikes. My other bike for this sort of riding is a custom, low-trail randonneuring bike with 26″x54mm tires. To me, the Outback’s ride quality is peer to that bike. I’m excited to get more miles in once things dry out a bit!
|Category|Component|
|:-|:-|
|Frame|Ritchey Outback, 50th anniversary edition, small|
|Fork|Ritchey Carbon Adventure|
|Hubs|Industry Nine Torch 28h|
|Spokes|Sapim CX-Ray|
|Nipples|Sapim Polyax Alloy|
|Rims|Stan’s Crest Mk4 650b|
|Tires|RH Juniper Ridge / Switchback Hill, Standard Casing|
|Rotors|Shimano XT 160mm|
|Brakes / Shifters|Rival AXS|
|Rear Derailleur|Rival AXS XPLR|
|Chain|Rival AXS|
|Crankset|Force AXS 165mm with power meter|
|Chainring|Wolf Tooth Components 38t|
|Bottom Bracket|Sram DUB|
|Handlebars|Zipp SL70 XPLR 40cm|
|Bar Tape|Ergon BT Road|
|Stem|Ritchey Toyon 80mm x 6 deg|
|Headset|Cane Creek 110 (top assembly only) / Ritchey WCS lower|
|Spacers|Velo Orange, thin wall|
|Top cap / bar ends|Yellow Bird Threadworks|
|Saddle|Pro Stealth Performance|
|Seatpost|Roval Terra 27.2mm|
|Bottle Cages|King Cage, Titanium|
|Pedals|Shimano XTR|
Other Notes
* This frame cleared the standard road chainline (i.e., non-wide) version of the Force AXS crankset
* No toe overlap with this crank/tire/frame size combo
* The fork will not generally clear an externally splined centerlock lockring. An internally splined one may be necessary depending on the hub.
* I used 17mm flat mount bolts in the rear. These did not come stock with Rival AXS brake/shifter set
* The wheel set weighs 1397g with tape and tubeless valves
* The bike weighs 20.6lbs / 9.34kg with pedals, bottle cages, and tubes
That is a seriously good looking bike 🚴