The Satyr

I've come back to Ritte after 10 years. When they started, I ordered one of the zeroth (?) generation made-in-USA Snobs. Since then, that frame didn't make it, gravel became a thing, and Elijah gave a discount on a new frame.

Kellogg's design is really something. I am a small person, and the XS size's handling is arguably on par, if not better, than my custom geometry bike. Some of it has to do with the flip chip in the Enve fork: the extra rake really helps for a small frame. No toe overlap on an XS with 700c and 40mm tires, imagine that! And handling isn't sluggish! The whole package is comfortable and handles superbly.

The paint job has the Ritte panache, and I'll be sad it accumulates chips and scrapes from all the adventure rides.

Also to echo what other reviewers say: Elijah deserves your business for the customer support alone. He specced out a build kit, helped me with geometry eyeballing, provided detailed build tips around internal routing. All in all just seems like a really good dude.

First, Elijah was incredibly helpful in helping me design my build. Front to back, the support from Ritte was top notch and made the experience great!

As for my Satyr, I've loved it from the first ride. Geometry felt spot on, super lively and responsive, accelerates quickly, an absolute riot to ride. I'm fortunate to have lots of varied riding where I live; 60+ miles of bike/ pedestrian specific paved trails, gravel off shoots, single track, and buff flow trails, I've been riding everything and this bike performs just about anywhere. Most importantly, it has me getting up for dawn patrol pre-work rides, sneaking out for lunch break spins, generally looking forward to riding whenever I can; enough said.

I have had many bikes. Many old steel ones that were refurbished or restored and on which I rode many happy miles. Then came cyclocross, and my first brand new carbon bike. Perfect for the cold, fall cyclocross season and then some. It slowly became my gravel bike, switching from a set of 700c wheels and tires to larger volume 650B tires for comfort, especially for anything sandy or even rock gardens. I wanted to get back to steel. I was looking back because of that balance of stiffness and compliance that I had only really experienced on a steel bike.

Then a friend dropped by our shop with a brand new Ritte Phanthom. Wow! I was looking for balance, but also wanted a new frame that would be fully capable on gravel rides, even on the tough and gnarly stuff, and with enough road DNA for spirited early weekday morning rides on tarmac. So I veered to the V2 Satyr (which comes in British Racing Green = racy, classy, and fast).

I could have just pressed the Buy Now button, but I decided to give them a shout to make sure it was really the right bike for me. With Ritte, customer service is not just a memo on the wall. I submitted info from the bike I was riding, some basic easy-to-make measurements, and got some comparative CAD drawings so I could visualize my actual bike compared to the Satyr. Prompt response every time I had a question. I pressed Buy Now and the bike frame arrived well packaged and without a flaw. Thin tubes. Beautiful welds. Fantastic paint. I was so excited to ride it I started to build right away.

I wanted it for the local Big Red Gravel Run. They say never race with a brand new bike, but I did, and I loved it! I’ve only ridden around 400km since then, but it’s everything I imagined it would be : stiff around the reinforced bottom bracket for that push forward yet so comfortable on all road conditions, from aged tarmac to washboard gravel. It feels like an extension of the body as opposed to a part that has to be dragged or carried. It’s also precise in long and fast descents, letting me go faster before thinking about hitting the brake. I think Ritte has hit the nail on the head with this model.

I’ve been a fan of Jan Heine’s work for the past 20 years. This is the first time I can relate to his concept of planing. This bike really planes.

From day one RITTE has been incredible, best customer service experience I have ever had in my 45 years of cycling and purchasing dozens of bikes during those years. The Satyr is incredible, so excited to be back on a steel bike after all these years.

I’ll start by saying that working with Elijah from Ritte led to the best buying experience of my life. He communicated quickly with me through the whole process, explaining the bike’s geometry, my sizing needs, options, pricing, and even let me demo a model since I’m local. I’d been waiting until I put road tires on to write my review because I got the Satyr to satisfy my road and gravel riding in one bike. I picked the right bike. On gravel, the steel frame eats up the chatter from chunky descents and other bumps, making it a smooth ride and leaving riding buddies chasing me as they bounce along. The geometry allows me to rip singletrack and the 40 mm tires it accommodates are all I’d ever need with the stability and precision handling on offer. On road, I feel great climbing, as if the steel is springing me toward the next pedal stroke and it’s an overall comfortable ride which makes it easy to put in long miles. I loooovvvveeee the mullet set up with a 44t oneby sram force chainring/crank in front and a 10-50t sram eagle cassette/derailleur in the back. It gives me the range to clear 20% dirt climbs and also stay in a fast group on the road, no longing for a bigger gear or spinning out. I’ve come across no problems with the frame or build and it stokes me to get out and ride, knowing it will be a fun time. I occasionally have to wipe friends’ drool off it from their gawking, but other than that I couldn’t be happier with the decision to rep Ritte and rip the Satyr.