8/27/2023 0 Comments Ritchey breakaway mountain bike![]() The bottom bracket on the Ascent is far closer to touring bike standards than to mountain bike standards, which makes for a nice grounded feeling. ![]() The bike handled as expected with its geometry: it was stable but easy to maneuver. I didn’t have time for an extended tour aboard the Ritchey, but I did load up some panniers on Salsa Down Under low-rider front racks and took to dirt roads in my area. For the touring cyclist, a drop bar paired with SRAM’s mountain bike derailers would allow for even lower gearing. I installed a wider 11-32T cassette that I had in a parts bin, and it opened up new possibilities for the bike. With a road compact crank (50/34T chainrings) and the 11-26T cassette that arrived on the bike, it was a flatlander’s dream. Avid’s legendary BB7 mechanical disc brakes and the plump, fast-rolling tread on Ritchey’s Shield WCS tires inspired confidence on mountain bike trails and rolled well on pavement. What arrived is a super fun bike that encourages off-pavement exploration. ![]() tires, a drop bar, and 2x11 drivetrain the rest I left up to the minds at Ritchey. The Buildįor this review, I requested 650b x 2.1in. Like a good mountain bike, the new Ascent is very versatile. The head tube angle is a tad steeper at 70.5 compared to the vintage 69, and the seat tube is only half a degree steeper at 73.5. The wheelbase, chainstay length, and fork offset are virtually identical to the 1985 model. Ritchey catalogs online show that, amazingly, the current Ascent shares much of its geometry with the original. The Ascent mountain bike model was first introduced by Ritchey as a mid-year addition in 1985 and was featured for many years afterward, including an Ascent Comp version. Options abound, as is usually the case when building from a frame up, but there are even more options with Ritchey’s careful design. The Ascent frameset allows for mountain bike or road handlebars and drivetrains. Thanks to the use of disc brakes, Ascent owners can run either 650b or 700c wheels with room for 650b x 2.1in. The Ascent is sold only as a frameset (frame, fork, headset, travel case) for $1,650. While the original Ascent was a mountain bike, the new Ascent is a true adventure bike, built for daily use, loaded touring, dirt-road exploration, or just errand running. With frames that come apart and pack into small cases for transit, Ritchey’s Break-Away series of bikes has always attracted cyclists who travel frequently. Ritchey launched its own reboot recently with the Break-Away Ascent. The current trend of 27.5-inch mountain bikes is actually a revisit of the 650b spec that was popular in the early days of mountain biking. These are all proof that what’s old is new, if a bit reimagined. ![]() When not riding he can be found at the climbing wall, in his garden or cooking up culinary delights.Mini Cooper, Sorel, Mountain Dew Throwback, reclaimed barn wood. He’s also worked out that shaving your legs saves 8 watts, while testing aerodynamics in a wind tunnel. Outside of testing bikes, Tom competes in a wide range of mountain bike races, from multi-day enduros through to 24-hour races in the depths of the Scottish winter – pushing bikes, components and his legs to their limits. With more than twenty years of mountain biking experience, and nearly a decade of testing mountain and gravel bikes, Tom has ridden and tested thousands of bikes and products, from super-light XC race bikes through to the most powerful brakes on the market. He is also a regular presenter on BikeRadar’s YouTube channel and the BikeRadar podcast. Tom has written for BikeRadar, MBUK and Cycling Plus, and was previously technical editor of What Mountain Bike magazine. He has a particular focus on mountain bikes, but spends plenty of time on gravel bikes, too. Tom Marvin is a technical editor at and MBUK magazine.
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