Steel frames advice – Ritchey or Velo Orange?

The best bike I’ve ever had was a Ritchey Logic Break-Away. It was just too small for me so I sold it. I regret not trying harder to make it work.

People who buy Ritchey’s never regret it.

Big difference is the Ritchey is boost spacing and will take mtb wheels natively. Other than that they’re both pretty comparable and rad bikes.

I owned a Ritchey Outback that I regret selling but that bike was more in the “fast gravel” category. It was a beautiful frame: great geometry and feel and had nice details like fillet brazed fastback stays at the seat collar. My literal only complaint about it was that the shift routing was kinda weird… rear derailleur down the top tube and seat stay (which is admittedly cleaner if you’re using a cable mtb rd), front derailleur down the down tube. Integrated headset as well which isn’t my favorite.

I have friends with that VO frame. They look really nice but I have no experience with them

Gun to my head at that price bracket I’m just getting a Crust Nor’Easter.

I know Tom himself can make some cool bikes, but I’ve got no interest in the Ascent.

Ritchey for sure

Personally I would go with the Ritchey. The VO probably has a bit more of a cool factor but it is hard to beat the Ritchey ride quality.

I have a Ritchey Montebello and a VO Pass Hunter which have a similar geometry even if they are a bit different overall. The Pass Hunter is great but rides like a dog compared to the Ritchey.

Depends on how much a dollar is worth to you. Personally, I’d get the VO and put that $600 towards some high-end components. But if you can already afford high-end components to put on an even higher-end frame, then why not?

Ritchey for sure but I’d try to track down a Black Mountain Cycles La Cabra over either.

No experience with the VO but I love my ascent, I will never get rid of it

These are pretty different bikes I’d say. For one, the reach is pretty long on the Piolet compared to the Ritchey. You can run both drops and flat bars on each, but I think you’ll need a stubby stem depending on the reach of your drops on the Piolet and on the flip side, I think you’re going to be limited on how much sweep you can run with a flat bar on the Ascent. I think the handling characteristics are going to be quite a bit different. The Ritchey is more slack and as such has much higher trail than the Piolet so it will feel much more stable on descents and a bit slow on the climbs. I’m guessing the Piolet will be the opposite, a bit twitchy and nimble, with faster ascents but less stable descents. For touring, the load preference will be more front end on the Piolet and more rear end on the Ascent.

Looking at the frames, it’s hard to tell how the Piolet feels, it’s got a straight steerer like the Ritchey, but the tubes are gusseted at the head tube, which makes me think it will be stiffer. I think this plays into the load preference associated with its low trail. The segmented fork might add some compliance. The Ritchey has pretty svelte tubes except the downtube which has a thicker diameter and the head tube is impossibly tiny which offers some compliance along with the fork. I have ridden the Ascent with a load, up to 100 miles, and without a load, over 200 miles, on mixed terrain, double track, and single track, in a single day and I haven’t felt beat up…it definitely rides smooth.

Russ Roca did a side by side comparison review of both of these bikes (along with a Tumbleweed and Riv) but it appears that VO redesigned the Piolet since this review.

My brother has a Piolet for a few years and just got the ascent. He has both but says the ascent is beyond the piolet.