Cyclocross Frames

Possibly the most iconic frame associated with Ritchey, the Swiss Cross draws its name from early factory rider, cyclocross and mountain bike legend Thomas Frischknecht. The first iteration of the Swiss Cross in 1994 was a no-holds-barred race machine designed for one thing: ripping through dirt like no other. Captained to numerous victories under Frischi, the Swiss Cross went on to become one of the most revered frames of the Ritchey offering – proving itself a winning combination of Tom’s framebuilding mastery and Frischi’s dominance in racing. As a true ‘cross ripper or a fast gravel racer, the Swiss Cross remains lightweight and compliant, and offers the winning combination of confident responsiveness and razor-sharp handling. Its race-ready geometry will ignite the competitive spirit, while clearance for 40mm tires will appeal to those who’s pursuits reach beyond the course tape. The Swiss Cross is painstakingly TIG-welded with proprietary triple-butted Ritchey Logic steel tubing that now sports an updated one-piece truss design for flat mount brakes - providing as much stiffness and strength of previous mounts while reducing chainstay weight significantly. Whether it's ticking off the grueling miles of a gravel race or leading the charge on bell lap, the new Swiss Cross is more than capable of tackling it all. Go fast. Get dirty.

So what is this Straggler anyway? The easy answer is to say that we added disc brakes to a Cross-Check and this is close to accurate. People have asked us to make a disc version of our highly versatile Cross-Check for a long time now and almost everything about the two are very similar. Straggler is slightly different, though. The most obvious difference of course is that the Straggler has disc caliper mounts instead of rim brake studs. It’ll accept rotors up to 160mm. The rear dropouts are unique, too. They’re a partially closed horizontal design that accommodates singlespeed or geared drivetrains. They feature stop screws that thread in from the rear to further secure the wheel and to position the rear wheel for optimal shifting, plus a forward-mounted stop screw on the drive side to keep the wheel from slipping forward under the force of your gargantuan legs. The rear dropouts are spaced 135mm instead of 132.5mm like the Cross-Check simply because there are far more options for disc hubs in this spacing. Straggler shares all of the Cross-Check’s braze-ons for fenders, racks and bottle cages. The Straggler’s geometry is slightly different, with angles and tube lengths very close but not identical to the Cross-Check, but like the Cross-Check it’s ready to take you just about anywhere. It’s a day tripper and a weekender. It’s a ‘rough road’ road bike. It’s a cyclocross bike with no pretense about racing. It’s a utilitarian townie. It’s a light-duty touring bike. It’s an all-weather commuter. And when you get tired of one set up, you can swap parts around and turn it into something else. We think that’s pretty neat.

We think by now, most of you get what Straggler is. It’s a madly versatile bike that can be used for most types of riding and riding surfaces. Better still is that you now have the option of 650b wheel size. 650b wheels were popular for a long time many years ago on ‘Constructeur’ style bicycles and we all know how real stuff was back in the day…650b wheels strike a nice balance between the benefits of both 26” and 700c sizes. The smaller wheel allows smaller riders to fit well on smaller frames, produces a stronger wheel, makes fitting big-ass tires easier and are more agile than their larger counterparts. Straggler has disc caliper mounts instead of rim brake studs. It’ll accept rotors up to 160mm. The rear dropouts are unique, too. They’re a partially closed horizontal design that accommodates singlespeed or geared drivetrains. They feature stop screws that thread in from the rear to further secure the wheel and to position the rear wheel for optimal shifting, plus a forward-mounted stop screw on the drive side to keep the wheel from slipping forward under the force of your gargantuan legs. The rear dropouts are spaced 135mm instead of 132.5mm like the Cross-Check simply because there are far more options for disc hubs in this spacing. Straggler 650b has braze-ons for fenders, racks and bottle cages. The geometry is slightly different, with angles and tube lengths very close but not identical to the Cross-Check, but like the Cross-Check it’s ready to take you just about anywhere. It’s a day tripper and a weekender. It’s a ‘rough road’ road bike. It’s a cyclocross bike with no pretense about racing. It’s a utilitarian townie. It’s a light-duty touring bike. It’s an all-weather commuter. And when you get tired of one set up, you can swap parts around and turn it into something else. We think that’s pretty neat.