Ritte Snob, A Stainless Affair
The Ritte Snob… is a snob. With its finely polished and tastefully painted nose turned up at “plastic” bikes everywhere, it’s classically elegant in a way that only steel can be. The paint is tastefully minimal, with bold lines and colors that don’t take too much attention away from its polished steel rear-end. Even the way the seatpost seamlessly melds with the seat tube evokes emotions that a bicycle frame should not be able to inspire. Ritte’s goal when designing bikes is to “make you weak in the knees and filled with lust for an inanimate object.” Well Ritte, you’ve succeeded; we’ve come to the conclusion that steel is real, and we’re lusty for the Ritte Stainless Snob. The build list is simple. We decided to restrain ourselves a bit this time around with the ultra lightweight componentry – this is not the bike for that, the snob is much too dignified. Shimano Dura Ace 9000 was a natural choice for the group. Dura Ace is the Old Faithful of groupsets – It runs like clockwork, it’s famed for its inexplicable reliability, and dammit it’s just flat out gorgeous. The fact that its beautiful mostly-naked alloy finish matched the steel frame was just the icing on the cake. Other than the fact that the characteristics and styling of this bike are really asking for a mechanical groupset, we chose to forego using the Di2 for a simple reason – you can’t. The frame isn’t drilled for electric routing. We’re okay with this – there’s just something about the simplicity and practicality of a steel frame with external routing.One issue that arises when choosing a Shimano build for this bike is the PF30 bottom bracket shell. Shimano, for its own reasons does not produce a PF30 crankset. In order to get around this problem, you must choose one of two options – an adapter kit, or a conversion bottom bracket. Not being fans of most adapter kits, we chose the Praxis Works Conversion BB. It’s machined aluminum, and has an installation process that is far superior than most others – we like it, and we think you would too.
For the wheels, we went with a relatively new player to the wheel game – Knight composites. A company with a huge technological background, their focus is building superiorly aerodynamic and safe wheels. The Snob is featuring a pair of their 35 mm deep wheels laced to Aivee hubs. A good wheelset with true “all around” capabilities – not so deep they cant be ridden in a crosswind, but deep enough to still have an aerodynamic advantage.
Following the theme of simple beauty and practicality, we rounded out the build with an ENVE cockpit. Their stuff just works. It’s lightweight, beautifully crafted, and you can be confident slamming through a pothole without snapping your stem or handlebars in half — a genuinely real problem here in Tucson.
Honestly the whole bike resembles the above statement. While we don’t suggest trying to slam your bike through potholes, the Snob would probably be able to handle it. The bike is made to be used, abused, and put away wet – then come the next morning be ready to go another round. It’s a practical daily-rider, and a gorgeous one at that.
Build List
| Frame / Fork | Ritte Snob |
| Hubs | Aivee |
| Rims | Knight 35 Clincher |
| Spokes | Sapim CX-Ray |
| Skewers | Knight |
| Tyres | Fortezza Tricomp Clincher |
| Tubes | Vredestein Race Lite |
| Crankset | Shimano 9000 |
| Bottom Bracket | Praxis PF30 Conversion |
| Chainrings | Shimano 9000 |
| Bars | ENVE Compact |
| Handlebar Tape | Fizik |
| Levers | Shimano 9000 |
| Stem | ENVE |
| Headset | Cane Creek |
| Headset Spacers | Fairwheel |
| Saddle | Fizik Kurve |
| Seatpost | ENVE Zero |
| Seatpost Clamp | Ritte |
| Front Mech | Shimano 9000 |
| Rear Mech | Shimano 9000 |
| Chain | Shimano 9000 |
| Cassette | Shimano 9000 |
| Brakes | Shimano 9000 |
| Cable Set | Shimano 9000 |
| Bottle Cages | FairWheel |
Ordering
We’re now happy to be working with Ritte to produce an individual bike suited to you and the needs of your riding. The process of riding a new bike starts with a conversation and ends with our mechanics wrapping your bars and polishing a brand new Ritte Snob frame.
