THE BIG VALUE ISSUE
ROAD BIKE ACTION
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JUNE 2015
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TRAINING IN PARADISE
Cliff-diving, Suntans & Base Miles
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RITCHEY CARBON BREAK-AWAY
Beating the airlines at their own game
Assembling and disassembling the Ritchey
took a time or two to get the process dialed,
then it became a simple 20-minute job.
Being both a legendary bike and
component designer, and an avid
pilot, it would make sense that Tom
Ritchey would have something to
say about how to engineer a bike
that could easily be stowed away on
his private plane. Tom being Tom, of
course, he saw how other “folders”
had been built and then set about
to do his differently and, in classic
Ritchey tradition, more minimally.
As luck would have it, just days
before we were preparing to head
off to Hawaii, a Ritchey Break-Away
carbon bike showed up at the office
to save us hundreds of dollars in
airline baggage fees. Thanks, Tom
Ritchey! The carbon Break-Away
travel bike joins Ritchey’s steel and
titanium/carbon versions that use a
single compression coupling at the
downtube and a male/female fitting
between the top tube and seat tube
to join the two halves of the bike
together. Threaded connectors on
the derailleur and rear brake cables
allow quick connection (or disconnection) so that the front triangle
can become completely detached
from the rear triangle, and the entire
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bike can be packed up in the included travel bag (9 x 26 x 29 inches).
The travel case itself includes all the
necessary packing materials to keep carbon frame. Comparatively smallthe bike protected and has a handle diameter carbon tubes were used
that are thick and designed to
and two wheels for easy transport.
resist impact rather than just trying
WHAT DO YOU GET?
to maximize high stiffness and
Ritchey sells the Break-Away
low weight.
carbon as a frameset for $2995,
which includes the travel case. Their BUILDING OUR
BREAK-AWAY
Break-Away steel sells for $1495,
For the build, we went with a
while the titanium/carbon model
sells for $2995. We had spent a little complete Shimano Ultegra group,
time on a Break-Away steel last year along with an assortment of Ritchey
parts that included WCS models
during a trip to Europe, and after a
of the Zeta II aluminum wheels,
couple of rides and not shelling out
Monolink seatpost and saddle, C260
an additional $300 round trip for
stem and carbon Curve handlebar.
airline bike fees, we were sold on
Wanting a robust yet lightweight
the benefits of the Break-Away.
Once Ritchey announced the carbon tire, we went with a pair of 25mm
version, we were quick to get in line Michelin Pro4 Endurance. Although
they ended up being some of the
for one to review.
widest 25mm tires we’ve seen, luckWe were initially skeptical about
ily the Break-Away still had ample
using a carbon frame as a frequent
tire clearance for up to a 28mm tire.
flier, knowing what the bike case
The final piece of the build was the
goes through with the airlines. But
King stainless steel water bottle
once it arrived, it was clearly not
just an over-sized, thin-tube-molded cages that matched the look of the
frame’s small-diameter tubes and
held bottles like their lives depended on it. In all, the Break-Away
weighed 16.5 pounds ready to go.
After building, then subsequently
breaking down, the bike a couple
of times to familiarize ourselves
with the process, we decreased
the time from 40 minutes the first
go-around down to less than 20
minutes (it does come with stepby-step instructions). Even though
Ritchey made the Break-Away’s
case to be as small as possible in
order to avoid oversized baggage
fees, we still had room to fit cycling
clothes, shoes and casual clothing
into the nooks and crannies. In fact,
we were able to stuff so much into
the bike case that a carry-on backpack was the only other luggage we
needed. Rolling the Break-Away up
to the flight check-in, we weren’t
quite sure if we would get dinged
for a bike fee, but the ticket agent
never blinked an eye.
The seat clamp area also
doubles as one of two joints on
the Break-Away. After the seat
clamp/top tube junction slides
over the seat tube, the double
bolts are tightened down, which
hold the seatpost tight and connect the two frame halves.
TESTING HAWAIIAN-STYLE
A compression coupling
connects the two frame
halves together on the
downtube just in front of the
bottom bracket. Derailleur
and rear brake cables use
a threaded connector to
easily join or separate the
cables.
Once packed away,
there was still
enough room for
clothes and shoes
to be tucked inside
the travel case.
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Over the course of six days of
riding in Hawaii, we logged 400
miles with 33,000 feet of climbing
on every type of terrain imaginable.
At 16.5 pounds it’s not stunningly
light, but considering its versatility
as a travel bike (and all the money
it can save you), it would be silly
to complain about that. The BreakAway rode just as any bike would,
and there was nothing about its
design that had a huge negative
impact on performance. In fact,
it was a comfortable ride that did
well to mute some of the rougher
sections of the island roads. In the
stiffness department, the frame’s
small-diameter round tubes are
overwhelmed with super-hard
efforts, but for the vast majority
of the riding we did, including the
25-percent pitches out of Waipio
Valley and the 45-mph descent into
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the
folding bike was completely up to
the task.
After just one trip with the
Break-Away, we were already on
our way to recouping the cost of
the frameset. Ten trips without
paying a bike fee and you break
even, or if you don’t mind another pound or so in weight, the
Break-Away steel is half the price
at $1500 for the frameset. It’s
like going from driving a Chevy
Suburban to a Volkswagen Jetta
TDI with gas at $4 a gallon; give it
time and it will pay for itself. ■