Ritte: Another phony bike company

[BroDeal]

Holy crap man! Relax....

It's not like 2/3's of the bike industry who do the EXACT SAME THING but worse, claiming that they developed their OEM frames themselves. At least Ritte are up front with the fact that they are importing frames made in Asia that any brand can source if they wish. How many other brands admit that they do this?

No, I wouldn't buy a Ritte myself - for the reasons you said. However I wouldn't have an issue with someone who did. Save the hate for the brands that deserve it - Trek, Specialized, Cervelo and Speedplay for starters.

Relax and have a drink

Give hate a chance, dude. Give it a chance.

These guys have become what they purport to make fun of, a bunch of bullsh!t slingers. That article did not come out of nowhere. It has all the signs of a message crafted by Ritte's BS department.

If you want a "no industry BS stick it to The Man" frame then buy a Pedal Force or a Neuvation or a Planet-X. Pay the same amount of money and those companies will give you a complete bike. Or you could really take it aggro, buy direct from Taiwan, and build your own bike up. For a few bucks more you can make your own decals with a phony, euro sounding name to stick on the down tube.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Russ is a big boy and he can make his own business decisions and I am sure he has considered the ramifications of his decisions pro and con

Dirt, come on man you can't make a dogmatic statement assuming malicious intent buy these guys guessing they will not warranty. borderline liable man. Have you read their 3 year crash replacement policy? Also it is borderline racism to put a blanket label on all things made in china...

What 'ramifications?' An OEM sets a price/schedule and the customer takes it or leaves it. As long as Ritte's checks don't bounce, that's it.

You are not reading it right. It's likely I did not make my point clearly enough. My point was if Ritte Dude is spec'ing tubes and carbon it's going to generate warranty problems because doing something new with carbon and alloys for bike product is hard. I've defended Taiwanese carbon product in other threads as the best in the world and I still do. China has excellent product too.

Clearly, people are charmed by Ritte's Marketing. Just understand the Wired article is hagiography. There's nothing going on that's special at Ritte. I'm telling you now, while the Ritte honeymoon is on, that you don't know what Ritte Dude will do when there are product issues with his OEM. You think you know they will
do the right thing because it's happy times right now. The history of the bike business shows that is not what happens in ALMOST every situation.

BroDeal's comment at 9:16 is exactly right.

 

[CobbleStoner]

If you want a "no industry BS stick it to The Man" frame then buy a Pedal Force or a Neuvation or a Planet-X. Pay the same amount of money and those companies will give you a complete bike. Or you could really take it aggro, buy direct from Taiwan, and build your own bike up. For a few bucks more you can make your own decals with a phony, euro sounding name to stick on the down tube.

wow, what a hater, you really don't have any idea what you are talking about. don't take the media around Ritte seriously. do take the bikes seriously, the Muur is a beautiful, tech advanced frame that nobody else is making, the Crossbergs have proven themselves the last couple years and the Bosberg is not the same frame as a Pedalforce or one of those $500 ebay unfinished China frames. they have a slightly longer wheel base, and have you ridden a bike around in America lately? people spend $10,000 on a bike just because of the paint, stickers and marketing campaign. Spencer has done everything right so far, hasn't **** on anyone, give him the respect he deserves and the Ritte team are the best bunch of people you will ever hang out with.

 

[BroDeal]

wow, what a hater, you really don't have any idea what you are talking about. don't take the media around Ritte seriously. do take the bikes seriously, the Muur is a beautiful, tech advanced frame that nobody else is making, the Crossbergs have proven themselves the last couple years and the Bosberg is not the same frame as a Pedalforce or one of those $500 ebay unfinished China frames. they have a slightly longer wheel base, and have you ridden a bike around in America lately? people spend $10,000 on a bike just because of the paint, stickers and marketing campaign. Spencer has done everything right so far, hasn't **** on anyone, give him the respect he deserves and the Ritte team are the best bunch of people you will ever hang out with.

Jeebus, dude. Just look at what you wrote. Ritte has become the very thing that you bash the big boys for. You are selling frames based on paint, stickers, and marketing. The difference is that the big boys sell frames that are unique that they developed themselves.

Outfits like Neuvation and Pedal Force have an honest "bikes for racers" business model. They justify the premium they charge over buying a generic frame by customer service, warranty, and ease of ordering versus the hassle of dealing with Taiwan direct. Their upcharge on a generic frame is reasonable.

And why would anyone buy a Ritte steel bike instead of buying from Russ Denny or another real frame builder? That makes no sense.

 

[BroDeal]

The good thing about this article is that it puts Russ Denny in the spotlight.

http://davesbikeblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/russ-denny.html

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Oops, should have said Time made in Morrocco.

Time is made in France, skippy.
Cyfac is also made in France.
Look is made in Tunisia.

Get your facts straight. Come back when you can spell Morocco.

 

[LugHugger]

Jeebus, dude. Just look at what you wrote. Ritte has become the very thing that you bash the big boys for. You are selling frames based on paint, stickers, and marketing. The difference is that the big boys sell frames that are unique that they developed themselves.

Outfits like Neuvation and Pedal Force have an honest "bikes for racers" business model. They justify the premium they charge over buying a generic frame by customer service, warranty, and ease of ordering verses the hassle of dealing with Taiwan direct. Their upcharge on a generic frame is reasonable.

And why would anyone buy a Ritte steel bike instead of buying from Russ Denny or another real frame builder? That makes no sense.

Seriously , dealing direct with Asia is no hassle. I can not see any reason why I would pay Ritte FOUR times the price of a near-as-damn-it identical FM028 ISP from DengeFu. For the money, the warranty is worthless.

 

[DirtyWorks]

do take the bikes seriously, the Muur is a beautiful, tech advanced frame that nobody else is making,

Except the OEM he bought them from, who is happily selling it to other brands.

Spencer has done everything right so far, hasn't **** on anyone

Yet. It's the early halcyon days at Ritte. Sales are growing, 'buzz' is good. Fun times.

I think it's pretty safe to say you've got some kind of crazy crush on Ritte. The honeymoon is on. They can do no wrong. Apple has a new competitor in the 'blinded fans' segment. Enjoy it while it lasts.

I can't argue against the Ritte dude's awesome sticker design skills. We can agree on that and more importantly it is a meaningful factor in business success. And clearly someone there has the selling touch. But those factors have nothing to do with the technical features of their product. Clearly the Ritte dude has no engineering expertise and is doing nothing technically novel.

 

[BroDeal]

Seriously , dealing direct with Asia is no hassle. I can not see any reason why I would pay Ritte FOUR times the price of a near-as-damn-it identical FM028 ISP from Dengie Fu. For the money, the warranty is worthless.

I will argue that the low cost rebranders like Pedal Force provide a valuable service because a lot of people will not want to negotiate a purchase via email with a foreign country, they give a warranty, you don't have to deal with being told that the lead time is 50 days on that model, prep work or QC on frames, et cetera. The downside is that you do not have the options that you have when dealing direct, like the finishing layer of carbon, the clearcoat, sometimes an integrated seatpost or not, etc. Whether the upcharge is worth it or not is customer dependent but, as you point out, when you get to charging four times the price of buying direst then the equation does not balance.

 

[LugHugger]

I will argue that the low cost rebranders like Pedal Force provide a valuable service because a lot of people will not want to negotiate a purchase via email with a foreign country, they give a warranty, you don't have to deal with being told that the lead time is 50 days on that model, prep work or QC on frames, et cetera. The downside is that you do not have the options that you have when dealing direct, like the finishing layer of carbon, the clearcoat, sometimes an integrated seatpost or not, etc. Whether the upcharge is worth it or not is customer dependent but, as you point out, when you get to charging four times the price of buying direst then the equation does not balance.

Last time I looked I think Pedal Force were about twice the direct price. If their warranty stands up to inspection then this certainly adds value. The Ritte warranty has so many if's and but's that it adds little or no real value.

 

[Race Radio]

They do win races

 

[BroDeal]

They do win races

Looks like Specialized won that one.

 

[Spider1964]

They do win races

Is that a Specialized frame?

 

[Race Radio]

Looks like Specialized won that one.

Don't you know, it is all about the kit. Those bibs alone at 10 watts

 

[Boeing]

the underlying significance of all this pseudo intellectual ideological hate and humanistic hogwash permeating the postings of the bro club and, other than telling each other how great they are all the damn time, based and supported solely on nothing other than a list of personal dislikes, a business model like Ritte on the the internet itself killing their status in the bike industry much like , to their their dismay, it killed the streetwalker; hence lowering ones tax bracket by default.... run-on intended

 

[BroDeal]

the underlying significance of all this pseudo intellectual ideological hate and humanistic hogwash permeating the postings of the bro club and, other than telling each other how great they are all the damn time, based and supported solely on nothing other than a list of personal dislikes, a business model like Ritte on the the internet itself killing their status in the bike industry much like , to their their dismay, it killed the streetwalker; hence lowering ones tax bracket by default.... run-on intended

Ahhhh. Boring is still upset that people have opinions that he doesn't like. Get used to it.

 

[Boeing]

word bro mad props

 

[ElChingon]

They do win races

Looks like Captain Morgans had more to do with that win.

 

[CobbleStoner]

I think it's pretty safe to say you've got some kind of crazy crush on Ritte.
I can't argue against the Ritte dude's awesome sticker design skills. We can agree on that and more importantly it is a meaningful factor in business success. And clearly someone there has the selling touch. But those factors have nothing to do with the technical features of their product. Clearly the Ritte dude has no engineering expertise and is doing nothing technically novel.

I'm just one of the racers on their team, and from anybody that has actually ridden a Ritte, I have heard no complaints. USC cycling team, Castelli Cycling Development team, BBI/Shroeder Iron Masters team, and another small midwest team are all riding Ritte's now
how can you say the Muur is not doing something technically novel? how can you say Jack Linquist's Ritte/Moth Attack is not doing something technically novel?
any publicity is good publicity so keep hating, Ritte will grow, win races, and party like rock stars without you

 

[LugHugger]

I'm just one of the racers on their team, and from anybody that has actually ridden a Ritte, I have heard no complaints. USC cycling team, Castelli Cycling Development team, BBI/Shroeder Iron Masters team, and another small midwest team are all riding Ritte's now
how can you say the Muur is not doing something technically novel? how can you say Jack Linquist's Ritte/Moth Attack is not doing something technically novel?
any publicity is good publicity so keep hating, Ritte will grow, win races, and party like rock stars without you

Then they clearly have more money than sense - unless of course they are being flowed (Bro'd???? ) the frames, in which case you don't look a gift horse in the mouth, do you? Nobody complains about HongFu/DengFu frame either, all that means is that low cost Chinese frames are perfectly capable of holding up in low level Elite/Cat 1 racing. But we knew that already - see most of the volume brands for reference.

 

[briztoon]

Just curious, how much is a 2011 Bosberg? (Well reread the article and found this) And does it ride any good?

Has anyone involved in the one-up-man-ship arguments actually ridden a Ritte bike?

I don't know anything about the industry or the sh!t you guys are arguing about, I just like to know if a bike rides good or not.

And a side question, why do some bike companies only offer a 3 or 5 year frame warranty and others offer a life time warranty of their carbon frames?

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I'm just one of the racers on their team, and from anybody that has actually ridden a Ritte, I have heard no complaints. USC cycling team, Castelli Cycling Development team, BBI/Shroeder Iron Masters team, and another small midwest team are all riding Ritte's now
how can you say the Muur is not doing something technically novel? how can you say is not doing something technically novel?
any publicity is good publicity so keep hating, Ritte will grow, win races, and party like rock stars without you

People who get the frames for free or at a huge discount don't complain?

You don't say.

The Muur is technically novel? Seven has been doing that for, what 7-8 years? Titus was doing it as well. It's not novel, but I give them credit for actually making a frame here in the US from Enve tubes and stainless steel.

 

[Race Radio]

Looks like Captain Morgans had more to do with that win.

It is well known that the Captain is a performance enhancer. When I drink it I am suddenly smarter and better looking

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

And a side question, why do some bike companies only offer a 3 or 5 year frame warranty and others offer a life time warranty of their carbon frames?

Some have confidence in their product, some don't. Pinarello offers a 2 year warranty on a $6800 frameset (Dogma2 electronic-ready).

That tells you a bit about the company and the "workmanship".

 

[Race Radio]

Is Ritte really doing anything different then every other bike company? I like that they poke fun at the sometimes absurd claims and marketing in the industry. Good to see some levity for a change. With some companies you would think they are going to the moon on the back of Chinese prison labor.