Ritchey Break-Away: A Bike of Two Halves

There are plenty of challenges to traveling by bike — topography, currency, cultural differences, gender norms…you get the idea. Most of them are the point of the adventure, but the payoff, of course, is experiencing something that can’t be trawled from the internet. Sometimes what it takes to spark a journey by bike is a good clean break — away from routine, responsibility, and whatever else could be holding you back. Other times all it takes is a proper bike to get you on your way.

A while back a bike shop in the United Kingdom spent some quality time with the Ritchey Break-Away Carbon Road bike. The result is a detailed look at the benefits of having a bike that’s easy to travel with. In their words:

“When we started selling Ritchey, we wanted to get a closer look at these slightly left-of-centre travel machines – so we did just that, borrowing a tricked out Break-Away Carbon Road frameset from Ritchey themselves.

The Break-Away system allows you to split your frame in half and pack your entire bike into a suitcase to travel with. The principle of it sounds a bit space-age and almost gimmicky, but Ritchey has really thought about the design and practicalities of what is needed to make it work. The key parts for this are the frame itself, the downtube coupler, seatpost clamp, cable breaks, the travel case and padding – all of which is included when you purchase a frameset.

Simplistically, the frame comes away in two parts, which are held together by a double bolt seatpost clamp and a downtube coupler. After the wheels, pedals, seatpost and handlebars have been removed, everything fits into the padded case that measures 22 cm x 68 cm x 79 cm with space for your shoes and spares too. At that size, most airlines take the case on as standard hold luggage, minimizing the chance of pesky oversized baggage and sports equipment fees.

Riding your bike in different places is a really enjoyable part of the sport, but anyone who has done it knows that it often isn’t as straight forward as you think. All of the Break-Away frames are meant to be your one road, ‘cross, or gravel bike – not just a bike for travel. The weight penalty is 100 grams, which is barely enough to sniff at.”

Words and photos are thanks to Pascal, of Always Riding.

Ritchey currently sells the Break-Away® Septimer, Road Logic, and Outback framesets.