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EB13: Ritchey Shows Vector Evo Rail Saddles, More Trail, New Tires, Road and MTB wheels and more!

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Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (6)

Continuing their march to total component domination, Ritchey unveiled a number of new products from the industry trending 27.5″ category to tubular road wheels. Initially teased back during the Taichung Bike Week, Ritchey unveiled their new Vector Evo saddle rail system which is their take on a mono rail clamp. It uses a different design than SDG or Selle Italia’s versions, and claims to offer a number of benefits.

Get more details on the Vector saddle and more after the break.

Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (7)

Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (10) Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (9)

Initially offered in the Contrail and Streem models, the saddles weigh in at 220 and 175g respectively. The mono rail designs allow for incredibly light weight designs, while keeping the saddle stronger with more fore-aft adjustability. Ritchey tuned the nylon + carbon fiber rail along with the Vector Wing system to properly distribute the load and claims the reverse hammock shape resists the sag other saddle show from long term use.

Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (8) Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (13)

The clamp is narrower than a traditional rail model which allows for increased pedaling clearance, and like most single rail designs, it allows for a narrower nose to the saddle. The clamp heads are compatible with the Ritchey Link system so you can change back and forth between the Vector and traditional rails if need be.

Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (14) Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (15)

Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (16)

The Ritchey trail group gets a number of additions, including a new aluminum version of the Trail Seat Post. We’re currently using the carbon Trail post on our Turner Burner Project, but the 6061 alloy post will drop the price to a lower level. Offered in 27.2/30.9/31.6, the post weighs in at 340g for a 400mm 27.2. The Trail saddle offers a durable saddle for long days on the trail with steel rails at 330g, and is a perfect compliment to the Trail post.

Of course, no Trail line up these days would be complete without 27.5″ wheels, so the WCS Trail wheels are introduced in the middle size.  The wheels feature a lightweight alloy rim, cold forged WCS Trail hub with sealed bearings and Centerlock disc mounts, and a 28h drilling with 142/qr and 20/115/QR  compatible hubs. Trail 650b wheels weigh in at 858g rr/751g ft and are offered in 29ers as well.

Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (5)

The WCS Rizer Bar is new with a 710mm width with 20mm rise and triple butted aluminum construction for a bar that weighs 265g.

Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (2)

Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (3) Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (4)

Road bikes get a few new bars as well with the WCS Neoclassic above and new Streem II below. The Neoclassic is a traditional bend, short reach bar in 40, 42, and 44cm sizes and comes in at 260g. The Steem II is reinvented and built for speed with short reach, shallow drops and an anatomical bend. The Streem II offers a wide flat perch for your hands up top, and an extended center section that is clip on compatible.

Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (11) Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (12)

On the tire side, the Race Slick is back as a 120 TPI clincher and tubular in WCS 23 and 25mm sizes. the tire features a 60A durometer tread for a good balance between grip and durability, and the 23mm size weighs in at 189g with an aramid bead.  The Z-Max Evolution makes an appearance in 650b x 2.1 which is the tire based on the original Z-Max tread. The dual compound tubeless ready tire weighs 586g and is available in 26 and 29″ as well.

Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (17) Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (19)

Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (20)

Ritchey also introduced their carbon Apex road wheel line which includes both tubulars and clinchers. Tubulars are offered in 88, 50, and 36mm depths and all feature the fully serviceable Phantom Flange hub in 20/24h drilling. The hubs include a patented 6 pawl, 12 point micro-clutch system and DT aero spokes. Weights for the 88mm wheels are 945g/819g, and the 50mm wheels are 793g/624g.

Ritchey Eurobike 13 trail vector road  (1).

The Apex line will also be available in clincher models like this 46mm version. The full carbon rim is also laced to the Phantom Flange hubs with the same 24/20h lacing pattern and engagement system. 46mm clinchers weigh in at 851g/675g.

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Ploutre
Ploutre
10 years ago

Doesn’t the vector rail thing just look like a remake of SDG’s IBeam ? :/

T
T
10 years ago

Ritchey is dead to me until they bring out a disc breakaway cross frame.

mellon
mellon
10 years ago

rotors get bent when in travel bags. Think it through big cat…

cspike
cspike
10 years ago

Are their monorailed saddles noticeably narrower than normal? I ask only because in the photos the monorail doesn’t look to be that much narrower. Curious what the dimensions are.

Jacob
Jacob
10 years ago

1526g for the 46mm clincher and earlier Tune released a 41mm clincher at 1187g… Ritchey not exactly setting the world on fire.

mellowme17
mellowme17
10 years ago

disc break away is needed

J
J
10 years ago

At 220g and 175g, I don’t see how you figure the seats save any weight over a standard rail saddle. Not to mention the additional cost of the proprietary seat post. It doesn’t seem like there’s any improvement in the design.

cotterpin
10 years ago

I am lovin’ the Neoclassic bar; very similar to a new Zipp bar with parallel drops and ramps.
Back to the future, thanks Jan Heine ( also wider rims and lower tire pressure).

Fisho
Fisho
10 years ago

J,

I started riding a monorail seat/post to reduce the holes in my thighs (adductor longus muscle) and shorts produced by most seatpost rail clamps. All these side cut out saddles cause me a lot of rub with typical dual rails. I got good a mending holes in shorts. Monorail seat and seatpost is cheap compared to destroying shorts.

Best change I have made on my bike in years.

Matt
Matt
10 years ago

Jacob, I don’t think they’re looking to set the world on fire. Those Apex Clincers are going for around £1200. I’m guessing the Tune’s will be about double that? What will really set the world on fire is when these bigger brands start dropping their carbon clincers prices below a grand. That would be something.

Ajax
Ajax
10 years ago

I would buy a Ritchey disc breakaway.

It seems that Tom Ritchey has an eye for backwards compatibility, as evidenced by his seatpost/saddle monorail design that is also backwards compatible with traditional rail saddles.

I would hope that Tom would bring out a Ritchey disc breakaway with a 142×12 thru-axle design with interchangeable dropout chips that allow a person to change to a more traditional 135mm rear dropout. A little birdie tells me that Giant is gonna be moving towards this backward-design philosophy in upcoming disc road and CX bikes.

Ham-planet
Ham-planet
10 years ago

Any word on what type of alloy the 650B rims are made out of?

mudrock
mudrock
10 years ago

Ritchey’s monorail is hollow, and looks to use less material than SDG. haven’t looked closely at Selle Italia’s tho. They want to be the proprietary standard, like they tried with their seat clamps for ISPs. The guy is no dummy. He’s cautious tho with discs for road or cross, could be looking at a disc BAB as we speak. I’m a fan.

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