Originally Posted by mrfish
Thanks Cameraman.
How easy do you find it is to break it down? It does look like significantly more work than I'd do to put my standard bike in a bike case, so not ideal if I'm lazy. I guess the trade off is that it's a better bike to ride than a real folder.
I guess another option would be a Setavento for £650 plus £250 for S&S, coming to £900, plus case = £1000. Ritchey cost is not so bad after all I guess.
Re. the Dahon, it looked to me like the same frame with a boring paint job, worse groupset and worse brand for the same price as the Ritchey. Am I missing something?
I have owned the Ritchey Ti/Carbon road bike since March. It is a great road bike and compares well to a regular high-end road bike (i.e., one that does not come apart).
The Breakaways are not "folding" bikes, so you would not want to disassemble and reassemble them on a daily basis. They are intended for travel by air, rail, car or bus with the idea that you will be riding for several days once you arrive at your destination.
I must not be as efficient as CameraMan. I can disassemble my bike in about 10 minutes, but it takes me closer to 45 minutes to pack the bike carefully. Reassembly usually takes about 45 minutes as well. Note that an S&S coupled bike would be no faster to assemble or disassemble and would fit into about the same size case.
I have the Ritchey deluxe case (the one with wheels) as well. The case has soft sides, so it will not provide great protection for the bike. On the other hand, Ritchey does supply rubber tubes that cover most of the frame and you can purchase additional padding. Nonetheless, this was one of several motivations for me to get the Ti bike so I did not have to worry about paint chips or more serious frame damage.
One nice thing about the Ritchey case is that it more or less meets airline luggage requirements. Thus, you don't have to pay extra to travel with the bike. Technically, the case is about 3 inches too wide (29" when it should be 26") to meet US airline rules, but in 6 air trips, no one has measured or objected. Even a very stiff customer service agent from Lufthansa couldn't figure out a way to hassle me over the bike case, but she sure tried ;-)
In addition, the Ritchey case fits in most car trunks (or boots as you might say ;-). This is another advantage over a full sized bike case. It is easy to get the Ritchey case into a cab or your car for transport to/from an airport.
I've taken my Breakaway on business and vacation trips from the US to Japan, Germany and Hawaii. In each case, the bike was easy to transport and it was great to be able to ride my bike in these exotic locations. I did not find the packing and unpacking too much hassle even for trips as short as 2 days.
So far, the only damage my bike has sustained is a few small cuts in the handle bar tape and a bent cable adjuster on the rear derailure. The case also looks to be in good shape. If it does wear out at some point in the future, Ritchey sells replacements for about US$200 or less at some internet discout shops.
One concern I have read about for the steel bike is that the paint on the down tube can chip and this may cause problems with the clamp that secures the downtube to the bottom bracket. This was another motivation for me to get the Ti bike.
Even though the Ti bike is quite a bit more expensive than the steel model, I don't regret the extra expense. I actually sold my regular road bike (a 2000 model Trek 5200) when I got the Ritchey. The Ritchey is lighter, more comfortable and in my view a much better bike overall than the Trek. Getting the Ti model allowed me to have only one bike instead of two and allows me to view my travel bike as being just as good as my home bike (since they are one and the same). This way I never have to wish I could bring my better bike on trips.
Hope this helps. If you have any further questions, don't be shy ;-)
Ira