Ritchey WCS Bar, Stem, Seatpost, Biomax Saddle

The WCS Classic Road Bar – MSRP $89.95

My size 44 (c-c) aluminum bars, with the classic curve bend, were light (240 grams) and felt good right out of the box. After riding a couple of different ergo bend bars over the last few years, it felt good to get back to one of the classic shapes that defines our sport.

The bars set up easy, with a good amount of trail on the drops for descending and for sprints. Getting down in the drops was comfortable in the hand and reach to the brake lever was better than the last couple of ergo bars I have been through. They also offer a nice amount of real estate on the tops of the bars for cruising or when you just need to sit up and spin out a hill.

I did notice a touch of flex in the drops, but this only showed up during a full sprint. The rest of the time, they were as steady as a Swiss watch.

WCS C260 Stem – MSRP $109.95

The stem is something that I typically don’t give a ton of thought to. I just ask that it be strong and preferable somewhat light. Ritchey is no stranger to producing strong and light stems, but they took a step forward in strengthening the stem by creating a bar clamp area that wraps 260° around the stem in order to “distribute stress more evenly through the handlebar, faceplate, hardware and stem body.” While I cannot attest directly to the claims of stress distribution, I can certainly say that it is strong and fairly easy to use.

One nice thing about the stem wrapping more than 180° around the bar, is that when it comes time to put a set of bars on, you end up with a 3rd hand. Instead of holding the bar in the stem while grabbing the faceplate and bolts and hex wrench, you slide the bar in place (see the set-up video), and can let go. The bar will not fall out. It may roll in the clamp, but it will still be in the clamp. While it is a small, and possibly inadvertent feature, it is certainly nice to be able to let go, then grab the faceplate, bolts and hex tool without playing the fun game of let’s see how much I can do with one hand.

Ritchey also managed to put all of this together in a scant 103 gram package – the lightest in their line.

I do have 2 complaints about the C260 stem though. The first is that the bolts are on the back side facing forward. This was sort of awkward at first, but became a bit of a pain once the brake and shift cable housing were in place – I couldn’t get straight shot at the bolts with my torque wrench. This led to my second complaint. I rounded out a bolt when I went back to make a minor adjustment to the handlebar setup. It didn’t help things that the bolts are steel instead of something a little more rigid. I would highly recommend a ball ended hex tool when working with these steel bolts.

 
 
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