Ritchey SuperLogic Butano Ridge: A Pricey Offering

I have always seen Ritchey as a small shop business that produces good products that are within the expected budget for that particular product category. As in, “here is X type of product, here is what Ritchey is offering and at what price, and the first thought in my head is ‘yeah, thats about right.'” So when I saw a one piece handlebar that was over $700 from Ritchey I was little curious to say the least.

Before we get into the weeds, one thing I need to get out in the open. While this bar is 100% designed to have zero wires and brake cables or tubes showing, the Rudy XL front fork from Rockshox I am testing doesn’t have that capability. So please don’t let that cloud the fact the this bar is aero ready when it comes to hiding the cables from the wind.

I have been getting on the trend of narrower when it comes to my handlebars. Not because I’m chasing aero, but ever since I rode a 36cm width bar I tend to ride better with them. I find the handling on a gravel bike to actually be more stable in my neck of the woods with a narrower cockpit. And while 40cm is my new preferred maximum width, that is the narrowest these bars come in. While it was a big departure from the 36cm I have been using on a different bike, it’s still more usable than the 44cm I was on before.

The Butano Ridge here is the carbon evolution of the standard alloy Butano, drawing stylistic cues from Ritchey’s Solo Streem and Mono Curve road combo bars. It’s the first one piece handlebar Ritchey has made.

I used this new bar as a great excuse to finally update my ENVE MOG to a full SRAM XPLR AXS build for my review on the new 13 speed drivetrain. And I wanted to use this frame so I could add a dropper post and a slightly bigger front fork than the DT-Swiss that I reviewed a little while back.

Another reason why I wanted to add this bar was that I was about to kick the shit out of this bike on a bunch of single track around the Wasatch mountain range. It’s pretty simple to get on a couple of easy rides to determine if you like a new bar. But it’s another thing to take it on a bunch of rides that the bike probably wasn’t meant for.

When it came to comfort, I didnt have any issues. These bars allowed for plenty of movement for the shifter hoods to get where they need to be and also allowed for hands to go back from center, hoods and drops without having to fight my way around to get comfortable.

While I have become a major “hood rat” when it comes to hand placement, I still enjoy a good center hold when grinding it out on longer ascents and the shape of these bars, while still aero, hasn’t put my hands into any uncomfortable positions. And it seems like the bars have just the right amount of outward flare in the drops to where I can hit a quick decent on the dirt and be able to go from the hoods to the drops without feeling like I am losing control of where I’m heading.

Fully Integrated One Piece Design and Integration

The fully internal brake routing runs through the bar and integrated stem, compatible with both Shimano Di2 and SRAM AXS. A removable cable cover on the underside doubles as a mount point for Ritchey’s optional integrated accessory mount, sold separately.

Ritchey also offers cable guide/headset adapters for FSA ACR, Token A-Box/C-Box, ENVE IN-Route, and Acros ICR, plus a standard 1-1/8″ EC/IS/ZS adapter for external-routing headsets. Make sure you know what you need as these are very important to get right.

One thing that was new to me, and sort of caught me off guard, was the geometry is a shallow drop, short reach, and moderate 17.5° flare. While this is designed and built for more control it’s something you need to think about when are you measuring things up (assuming you are going to want these). If you are like me and usually ride a 90mm stem, you might want to rethink where your hands are going to be. I ended up about 10mm a little shorter than normal due to the handlebar curve that went inward.

Tech Specs

While getting a one piece bar can be tricky to nail, if you can, it’s really nice to not have to worry about more bolts that need to be tightened and having to make sure you remembered to add the carbon paste before you get to the point of remembering or not remembering if you got all 4 bolts tightened to 5nm before you bomb down a hill.

So far I have two things I would like to have seen be different, or at least, have more options.

First, while they do offer an add-on to the required adapter mount which is the Lollipop accessory mount, I’d prefer they just give me a one piece option. Give me a mount adapter that holds my computer and something underneath. Don’t make me buy something else and or add another bolt that I need to remember to tighten.

And then I would have also liked to a little more negative angle on the stem. I feel like 80° and or -10° as the only options may not a deal breaker, but for my current set-up, it results in a front-end that is just a little too high. Although this could just be my issue as that fork I mentioned at the start has raised my front end quite a bit.

Current Price: $718.95
For more information, or to buy, visit Ritchey’s website.

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