Breakaway Bikes

Music We've been looking at what we think are going to be some of the key bikes of 2018 and the Richie breakaway carbon is one of them. And why is that? Well, more and more people are taking their bikes on airplanes for their holidays but there's no denying that a big bike box with the excess fees that it costs you on the airplane is a bit of a faff. Richie's breakaway system is their solution to this and if you split the frame in two, which is its little USP, this means you can pack it into a regular size suitcase which comes with the bike. It comes as a frame only but there are loads of different options out there. There's obviously the carbon version, there's gravel bikes, there'steel bikes, there's even tandems so if you do The main frame comes in two main pieces. You've got the top tube and the down tube and then you've got the rear triangle. There's a clamp down by the bottom bracket and it'secured around the top tube and seat tube area. Obviously you've then got to put the wheels in, the handlebars and the saddle but we reckon once you've got the knack of it, it's probably only a 5-10 minute job. Obviously if you're going to use Di2 you're going to struggle with this because the cables do need to split but E-Tap, I reckon that's the answer to an even faster build. Tom Richie has been designing bikes for decades and this has his classic race geometry. Parallel angles, it's a little bit shorter than some of the more aggressive race bikes but it's certainly not an endurance bike. What this means is that out on the road it's a really fun, fast agile bike to ride, both up and down hill. Despite the fact that it comes in two parts, it's actually relatively stiff and you can haul ass uphill. As it comes frame only you can see that this bike has been built with some pretty top-end kit. We've got Dura-Ace, we've got Riches Carbon Wheels, we've got lightweight tyres and a lightweight finishing kit. So it really doesn't weigh too much so it really is a nice bike to be riding on longer days in the hill. If you don't mind that slightly more aggressive position. Our bike has been built up pretty light although the frame isn'the lightest out there. Size large is 1810g but you've got to remember that this does include the coupler, the frame and the forks and the little cable bits and pieces as well. Riding the bike you probably wouldn't even guess that it comes in two parts as so long as you've done the bolts up correctly it's pretty stiff under power, there's very little movement in there, it's a nice and stiff bike which really lets you put the power down. It's reasonably comfortable, it's not the most compliant out there but it's also not too harsh. The parallel angles put you in a good position over the bike. Down a hill it can get a little bit twitchy as most race bikes can do and you can get a little bit caught out if you're not totally on it. But it is a little bit taller at the front than some of the more aggressive race bikes out there so it is quite a nice bike to be riding all day on. So who's this bike really for then? Well if you only go for one cycling holiday year maybe it's not really worth it, maybe you could just use your normal road bike. But if you're lucky enough to travel frequently or say you're a business traveller who feels guilty about leaving their bike at home and missing out on those training rides given that this fits into a regular size case it's a really convenient way of taking your bike away if you do travel frequently. Say for a few hundred grams in the frame there's really no compromise to riding this bike. If the concept works for you and if you travel a lot this could be the perfect solution to your problem and that is why this is one of the key bikes for 2018.