Sensing the changing tide of mountain biking, Ritchey has just announced a complete WCS Trail group with both alloy and carbon parts for more aggressive mountain biking.
In recent history, Ritchey was primarily aimed at the lightweight XC crowd while sister company Syncros handled the bigger travel, gravity oriented mountain biker. Since selling Syncros, Ritchey has started adding stronger, wider and longer parts, starting with adding larger axle options on their carbon wheels.
Now, they have a full WCS Trail group for the cockpit -handlebars, stem and seatposts- of 5″ to 6″ travel bikes. Roll through the break for specifics…
The Trail stem is all alloy with a super wide 40mm faceplate and their 220° clamp area, first launched last summer on the lightweight WCS versions with a 260º wrap around the bars. The reduction in overwrap was done so bars could be mounted without removing controls (levers, shifters, etc.) by putting the thinner section in first, then sliding it into center. Ritchey says the design eliminates stress risers and makes the stem incredibly stiff and strong. Specs are:
- 3D Forged 2014 Alloy
- 220-degree handlebar clamp
- Zero Rise
- 60 – 110mm lengths
- 28.6×31.8mm
- Finish: Blatte
- 115g. (70mm)
- $109.95, available Fall 2012
At the top is the WCS 2x Trail Bar, a flat bar with a 5mm rise or drop thanks to the off center clamp section. Just flip the bar over and you get it higher or lower, good for fine tuning your position and likely aimed more at 29er bikes since it’s flat. It’ll be available in carbon (710mm, 180g, $159.95) and alloy (720mm, 232g, $84.95).
Below that is the WCS Low Rizer bar. The alloy version has a 20mm rise ($99.95) and the carbon bar has 15mm rise ($169.95). Both are 740mm wide, the widest in Ritchey’s lineup, and have been reinforced to handle the extra width. Weights not provided.
The Trail seatposts come in two varieties, the Link Trail alloy post, which has a top clamp that’s convertible to work with Selle Italia’s MonoLink saddles, and the WCS FlexLogic carbon post. Originally designed for use by the Stevens, Scott and Canyon pro teams and has “15% more ride compliance” than their other carbon posts. Flex is all fore/aft, smoothing over the bumps, but is laterally rigid. All will come in 350mm and 400mm lengths and available in 27.2, 30.9 and 31.6 millimeter diameters. The only weight provided is the Carbon FlexLogic at 180g for the 27.2x350mm. Retail will be $109.95 to $239.95.
UPDATE: The posts also feature flip-flop clamps, giving them either 0mm or 15mm offset from the same post.
