Bike Forums - View Single Post - BAB vs. S&S couplers

04-05-06, 02:25 PM

#9

flatlander_48

Cathedral City, CA

Join Date: Oct 2004

Location: Cathedral City, CA

Posts: 1,504

Bikes: 2016 RITCHEY BreakAway (full Chorus 11), 2005 Ritchey BreakAway (full Chorus 11, STOLEN), 2001 Gary Fisher Tassajara mountain bike (sold), 2004 Giant TRC 2 road bike (sold)

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Quote:

Originally Posted by irablumberg

I believe that Ritchey sells the couplers to frame builders. If you do a careful web search, you can find custom frame builders who offer coupled frames using either S&S or Ritchey couplers. If you want to retro-fit couplers, I suggest you have the frame builder of your choice contact Ritchey to get the couplers.

I just got the ti/carbon Ritchey road bike and love it. However, I weigh less than 150 lbs, so I doubt I will ever stress the frame enough to judge the strength of the couplers.

If I was having a custom frame built or was retro-fitting a bike, then I think I'd opt for a combination of the Ritchey coupler system on the seat/top tube and an S&S coupler on the down tube. Note that I have seen such combinations offered by custom builders, so I know this is possible. This seems like a good compromise as you get the absolute strength and security of the S&S coupler on the down tube instead of the Ritchey clamp that still has me scratching my head (but it feels secure enough on my bike). At the same time, you get the elegant seat tube coupling of the Ritchey system. Thus, you only have half the weight and cost penalty of full S&S, but you get a bomb proof coupled frame. The only other downside is you do need to carry the S&S special wrench when traveling.

Ira

So far, I haven't seen anything else like the BreakAway done by independents. Please put up a site or a name if you can. I'd like to check them out.

I think that retrofitting a bike to emulate how Ritchey does the seat tube connection would be a lot of work. Your titanium model has a constant tube, whereas my steel model has what appears to be a lug on the outside of the seat tube. I assume this provides a heavier wall for welding the seat stays on and provide more strength for the seat tube connection. The sleeve at the end of the top tube appears to be the same size (OD and wall) as the top of the seat tube. I would think the OD and wall of the sleeve is different from the top tube. Your titanium model has a one piece socket that accepts the rear fork. There isn't quite as much welding concentrated into one place.

As long as you are dealing with a bike with round tubes, retrofitting with S&S BTC's is fairly straightforward. You cut a section of tube out and then braze in the BTC's. Emulating the Ritchey method would be more difficult.

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