While at The Woods Cyclery last month, John documented a number of the shop’s employees’ builds. We’ve got two more employee bikes to check out, Robbie and his Ritchey Ascent and Dan and his Surly Bridge Club…
Robbie’s Ritchey Ascent
Bikes like the Ritchey Ascent are honestly best suited for the demands of most non-competitive riders. Be it gravel, ATB, touring, or mountain biking. Unless you live in a place that has crazy mountain bike trails and no dirt roads or XC singletrack, chances are, the Ascent is one of the best options out there. It’s a no-frills response to the mixed terrain bicycle. Robbie, who has worked at The Woods Cyclery for five years and manages the shop, built up a very unique Ascent that stopped me in my tracks when I saw it.
While it looks unassuming in its silhouette, there are several component specs that balance high-end reliability with budget considerations. For instance, he sprung for a SON hub on the front wheel and a Hope hub on the back, but chose motha fuckin’ BB7s for the disc calipers. Bicycle Pubes rejoice! Other considerations are the Shimano M550 cranks from the 1980s. They look like Middleburn, or rather, Middleburn looks like vintage cranks, but the M550 can be found in parts bins around the globe.
Other notable details are a heavy “twine” theme, down to the lacing on the Brooks B17. Tired of plastic, single-use zip ties? Twine it. Want to practice your knot tying? Twine it? Need a classy way to one-up your build cred?
T W I N E I T.
The brown Nissen Sim Works housing matches the honey Brooks so damn well, too!
Robbie’s a gem, a really friendly, smile-forward fella, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him in between his getting married and his car’s transmission blowing up. In what was for sure a hectic time, he made both Cari and me feel welcomed and at home. He even lent Cari his bike to ride at Brother in the Wild, which was very sweet of him.
Also, DYK the Ritchey Ascent is on sale right now for $1,349 for a steel frame and fork? What the hell are you waiting for?
Check out Robbie’s build spec at The Woods Cyclery’s Employee Shop Build Galleries.
@RobbieSherwood
Dan’s Surly Bridge Club
Hole. E. Hell. What a build! We’ve seen Surlys built to homages of vintage mountain bikes before on The Radavist, but as Dan was building up his Bridge Club at The Woods Cyclery, I kept thinking “YETI!” Not the carbon Switch Infinity bikes, or even the ARC throwback hardtail, which I quite like both of those offerings, but the early Yeti frames. Those early Yetis, before Yeti tapped Frank the Welder’s aluminum skills, were something special.
Think the Yeti FRO (for racing only) and the like, which were built in Southern California by John Parker.
Dan is training to be a pilot, taking classes in his spare time. “Aviation Dan” is his nickname at the shop. While others are chit-chatting in the shop, Dan remained laser-focused on his build, at one point asking me what color housing he should go with. “Purple,” I replied in agreement with his choice. Avaition Dan with his WWI Flyboy hairstyle – high and tight – pulled together the build just in time for me to photograph it. And damn, is it well done.
Silver Halo Vapour wheels, Middleburn cranks, those UmmaGumma grey Ultradynamico tires… juicy!
I asked Dan if he’d spent much time on a rigid mountain bike before. “This is my first deviation from road cycling,” he replied, expressing concerns of safety on the roadways with distracted, speeding, car-brain drivers. Again, we were in agreement. In a few other instances, we agreed during conversation, leading the others in the shop to exclaim, “You two are very similar in many ways…” while laughing. Well, yeah, we both are in agreement that this bike looks damn fine.
Dan bought the frame from Tom’s former business partner, whose wife had mounted a kids’ seat on it. The bike hadn’t seen many miles, but had endured some beausage on the head tube from the seat. Dan was stoked to build it up and ride it as his first mixed-terrain bicycle.
Personally, I think this is the best Bridge Club colorway to date. And Dan’s build spec does the turquoise color justice. It embodies that all it takes is a few nice silver parts to make just about any bike look classy! Cheers, bud!
@DanGregory
When you shop or visit The Woods Cyclery, it’s people like Robbie and Dan that make your experience so unique. Everyone at The Woods plays a role in working with customers to dial in their dream bike, offering options to fit any budget. Check out more at The Woods Cyclery.