# Ritchey Road Breakaway 60CM S&S Case



## pherret

There are only a few threads with the Breakaway in a S&S case. Wanted to give people my packing and review of the Ritchey road frame and getting it in the case. I have had the frame almost a year and took it to Arizona already. Worked well and was able to get it through the airport without getting any surcharges. The guy did pull out the tape and give it the once over. The S&S case is 62in and within the limits but does require more breakdown to pack. I ordered the S&S compression members, security net and tube covers. The case is solid and does fit the Ritchey 60cm. You have to take the cranks, seat and fork of to get it to fit. I was able to pack my bike, helmet, tools, pump and shoes in the case. Weight fully packed is 48 lbs. I used the S&S tube covers initially but noticed my paint was getting nicked. I have moved to pipe insulation from Home Depot with velcro and my down tube and top tube with pipe insulation and the tube covers over them. The compression members were a little long and made closing the case hard. I cut 1/4 in of the extensions and it closes and still protects my bike. The top layer is the front tire. 

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The second layer gets very busy. I take a Lezyne CNC travel pump with my bike to make tire inflation easy. It is located on the right side of the case. One shoe past that with the rear triangle next. Shoes are size 13 so I like putting it in the case rather that taking it in my luggage. My helmet is in the middle of the frame and I do remove my rear derailleur and wrap it in bubble wrap and velcro it to my chain stay. To the left of that is a bag (Home depot) that hold my tools (Allen keys, Ritchey torqkey, pedal wrench, pliers, multitool, chain pliers, spoke wrench and screw drivers). Running from top right to bottom left is my fork which is parallel to the seat tube. Below that is my handle bar (levers velcroed to the drops) which is hooked into the rear wheel, another bag (extra tube, chain, couplers, extra chain links, frame pump) and my other shoe

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The next layer is my rear wheel with my cassette facing down. If you look at the pic you can see the tip of the hub protruding. I figured out that my down tube touches that and eventually rubbed of some paint when I was just wrapping in the S&S tube covers. 

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The bottom layer is my bottle cages in the top left, a bubble wrap bag with my non drive side crank arm, skewers, pedals and stem, and then my saddle. In the center is the front of my frame with head tube at the top and my seat post velcroed to the top tube. My crank is in the center

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The complete bike together weighs 20.7 lbs built with ultegra and 105 group and Aksium wheels. If you nick the paint you can't get touch up paint from Ritchey, but they recommend getting some testors model paint that matches. The only thing I wouldn't buy is the S&S tube covers. Hope this helps someone looking at the Ritchey and how to pack in a S&S case. 

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## flummoxer

This is awesome and possibly karmic as I'm just building a nearly identical bike, same frame and size, wheels and groupset at least. You obviously have style  Was hoping a hardshell case would fit, great info, thanks.


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## pherret

Did you pickup the one on ebay from bikewagon? I saw that as I am looking for a Ritchey breakaway cross with the red panels. Other tips I forgot to mention is to keep a diagram in the box for packing. Comes in handy. Also in some airports, you might be waiting at the bag pickup and it never shows. Check the over-sized baggage pickup. At Hartsfield I was waiting and started worrying, but my girlfriend said to check the over-sized bag area and there it was. When you pick up the pipe insulation, there are three sizes. I picked up all 3 as you can tailor for the tube sizes. The first time you pack or do a mock pack, use the protectors and label them with a silver sharpie. Other wise you will get your first paint nick. I love the white, but it is a pain to keep clean but looks great. I saw your post for the seatpost size and think it depends on your height. 250 would not work for me. I would think you want it at least 2in below the second collar.


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## 55x11

I have 58cm Breakaway Cross but same wheels, Aksium Mavic, those are bombproof!
I have been wondering about S&S case. Do you really need to take the fork out? I assume you also take off crankset and deflate the tires? How long does packing take you? The reason I am asking is that I have a soft-sided case and wonder about pros/cons of hard S&S case.


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## flummoxer

pherret said:


> Did you pickup the one on ebay from bikewagon? ... I would think you want it at least 2in below the second collar.


Yep, that's the one I got. Minor rust spotting inside the tube just at the very end but such a nice deal and am very happy as now that I've actually got my hands on it. I should have labeled the protectors before I took them off but too eager, still a good tip.

the 250 is definitely too short though I'm only 6'2", 2" below 2nd color is spot on with the 10cm total he recommends


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## pherret

I doused mine with two coats of frame saver when I got it. You don't need to label, it just makes it faster when you are packing up to go.


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## pherret

I have the soft sided case and decided to get the S&S case just to be safe. I need to take the fork out because I run a few spacers on it and it won't fit otherwise. The cross if I remember had a shorter head tube so it might fit. I do deflate the tires so I picked up a mini floor pump to inflate and remove the cranks. Packing takes about 30-40 minutes as I take my time to try not to create any nicks and get everything wedged in there without any movement. If I rushed I could probably get it done in 20-30 minutes. 

The Aksium's are great for the money.


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## maximus01

pherret said:


> I doused mine with two coats of frame saver when I got it. You don't need to label, it just makes it faster when you are packing up to go.


Nice ride, OP. I also bought one of the red frames from Bikewagon on ebay recently and I'm going to treat it with Frame Saver. Did you apply Frame Saver to the surface of the downtube coupler or not? I'm thinking that it's probably better not to apply anything to this interface (or that if you do, it quickly wears away) but am interested to hear others' thoughts on this.


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## pherret

I did. Since water sprays up from the front wheel right in that spot I coated it. I checked mine when I did this post and still had a light coating on it. No squeeking either. If it does I can clean it off but rather keep it coated just in case. Their directions mention not lubing the couplers itself. I did not lube the coupler and also use the torqkey to get it to specs. 

http://ritcheylogic.com/media/File/3706_BAB_supp.pdf


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