Originally Posted by Baron Blubba
Took it for a 52 mile ride on mostly flat terrain (1700 feet) with a couple of friends yesterday. Took it out again today for a real test ride: Solo, 63ish miles, 6000+ feet. One big 4.5 mile climb. A few 2 mile climbs. A few long bomb descents. A sweet stretch of 3 miles at -2% where you feel like superman cuz you can't really see the downward gradient but can go very fast for very cheap. Endless twisty rollers to die for (or which will kill you, depending on your attitude and level of fatigue on any given day) on everything from perfect pavement to cracked broken holier-than-Jesus pavement.
Yesterday's ride: I refuse to take any credit for the bike holding up just fine alongside an S-Works SL7 and a Giant TCR SL 0. My body was fried (lots of long driving the day before, not much sleep, and I ride too much in general to be awesome-on-demand), but at no point did I think 'man, this isn't enough bike for a ride like this!'. If you can't keep up with your pals on a decently attired Ritchey Logic, it's you, not the bike.
Today: This was the real test ride. These be my thoughts...
With 25mm tires on 19mm internally wide Dura Ace C24 9000 rims, this bike is **PLAYFUL**. That's the word that was going through my head the whole time: Playful. Frisky. It wants to have fun! The faster you go, the more fun it gets. On rollers? Oh my goodness. The best rollercoaster I've ever ridden, and I grew up 15 minutes away from the biggest coaster park in the world, with a season pass for many a-summer of my youth.
Drills it going uphill, both seated and standing. Man, the seated to standing transition is **satisfying**.
Going downhill: I have ridden sharper handling bikes (by a very slight margin) and I have ridden more stable bikes. But I've never ridden a bike that was this sharp and this stable. Or maybe I should replace, or at least temper, 'stable' with 'confident'. Because like I said, this bike is PLAYFUL and 'stableness' in a bike is often achieved at the expense of playfulness. Absolutely not the case here. The Ritchey Logic seems to have 97% of the scalpel turn-and-re-turn capability of my TCR SL 0, compounded with a 110% factor of planted confidence. Exciting? Heck yeah! Scary? Never!
And, the faster you go, the better the textures of the road feel underneath you.
Stiffness? Look, I'm 136 - 140 lbs in the morning, depending on yesterday's ice cream and transit time schedule, so I'm not going to be able to claim to have put this bike to the same kind of extreme wattage testing that others might be able to. But, having ridden a lot of bikes renowned for their stiffness (aforementioned TCR, for one), I can say that the return on investment for your efforts is absolutely there with the Ritchey. It *feels* different, because the materials processing your energy are different, but it feels *good* and it feels *efficient* and effective and it makes me feel strong when I stand up and smash over the other side of a steep pair of rollers.
Comfort? With 25mm tires (measuring as such, too), I obviously didn't intend for this to feel like an endurance bike, and it doesn't. In some ways it feels smoother than a good carbon bike, and then there are other bumps and vibrations that a good carbon bike will devour before they reach your touch points which the Ritchey maybe nibbles on before passing the leftover vibrations on to the rider. So I definitely sacrificed 'smooth comfort' for the playfulness and road feel that *I* desire out of a pure road bike.
I would not purchase a Road Logic thinking it was going to be as comfy as a carbon endurance bike, but I do think that with 30mm tubeless tires, which this new version happily accepts, it could be a smooth enough ride for most people.
Fit: I am 5'11" and opted for the size 53 after consulting with Ritchey, the senior fitter at my bike shop, and with the very helpful folks on this forum. I have 15mm of spacers under the 110mm stem. The saddle height is ~75cm from top of saddle to center of crankbolt. The seatpost has 15mm of offset, and I have the saddle just a couple of mm's back from the center. This feels like a mid-race fit to me --not hyper aggressive, but definitely leaning toward the race side of the spectrum. The frame feels small --looking at it, it is definitely the smallest frame I've ever ridden-- but the fit is excellent.
That said, I could easily have sized up to a 55 and been very comfortable, and for folks seeking a more relaxed position I definitely would do so.
***HOWEVER***
I am running a 53 with a 110mm stem, and the front still feels very nimble. Not twitchy at all, but nimble, like a pure race bike. Putting a shorter stem on this bike would probably change that characteristic of 'nimble' to 'twitchy' pretty quickly. So if sizing up, be careful not to fall victim to the 'I'll achieve less drop on a larger frame and compensate for the longer reach by using a shorter stem'' mistake. There are folks at Paceline and probably at your local bike shop who could discuss this more accurately and scientifically than I can, but the thought occurred to me so I'm passing it on here.
In a nutshell: Both the mechanic who built and test rode the bike and myself both had the same thought, independently (which is pretty neat!): This bike rides like a steel Giant TCR. It's soooo reactive, so much fun, can go really gosh darn fast, and feels so pure. It's the kind of bike that inspires thoughts like 'if you enjoy riding a bike, you'll love riding this one.'
I'm very very happy with it and can't wait to go out again tomorrow...or later today?
Get it if you want a fun fast bike.
Don't get it if you want an endurance bike.
Don't get it to replace your carbon bike, but do get it if you like to taste different flavors of bike feelings on different days.
Solid 10/10 from me!
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11-24-2023, 08:28 AM
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