First, I wanted to share this video with Tom Ritchey <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-gGIqfVB2Y>where he talks about steel frames and carbon forks at about the 30 minute mark. The entire video is super interesting but I will note that it is from 7 years ago and his views and the bike business may have changed, assuming he is still making design decisions at all.
Second, my long distance road bike with clippy pedals is a Spectrum titanium with a steel fork. I love it. I got super smug when I watched the Ritchey video where he talks about how the fork being steel is the most important part of the bike affecting ride feel. I'm just a rider not a designer, but I do agree with him. Steve Seelig On Friday, September 26, 2025 at 3:51:50 PM UTC-4 [email protected] wrote: > On Fri, Sep 26, 2025 at 12:34 PM Garth <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Where is the sense of beauty in these things, not just frames, but in >> parts ? I don't want to ride "tech", I want to ride an artfully crafted and >> graceful lined bicycle. >> > > Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and comes with a price. For > instance, you may find Ritchey's integrated headset solution ugly. But it > saves weight, is reliable, and needs no maintenance or adjustment. If > you're a big person (160 pounds or more), maybe the weight savings doesn't > mean much, but after my wife rode the Ritchey and then retried the Roadini > which had sparked her desire to get a road bike of her own, she discovered > that what she thought was a nice light road bike was actually quite porky > and not as comfortable as the Ritchey. Weight savings matter, and sure, the > Maxway welds on the Ritchey don't look as nice as lugs, but the savings of > over a pound and a half shouldn't be sneezed at when you weigh 115 pounds > and intend to climb 57000' in 3 weeks in the alps. And before you ask, yes, > I spent $$$ getting carbon fiber brake levers and extralight tires and > wheels and even lighter cassettes that don't shift as well as the Shimano > they replaced but save half a pound ( > https://blog.piaw.net/2025/09/review-gabaruk-11-50-11s-cassette.html). > Getting that bike under 8kg definitely paid off! > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/f02931c3-aaf6-4828-a0ae-7b2868f8cdean%40googlegroups.com.
