# Your take on Ritte van Vlaanderen?



## DarkoBWM (May 29, 2010)

So Ritte van Vlaanderen (http://www.ritteracing.com/) is pretty new and not many people have heard of them, but for those of you who have (and those of you who have ridden their bikes, or own one), what do you think of them?

They seem like a really cool care-free type company who likes to have fun. (their ad campaigns are hilarious)

I have my eye on a Ritte Bosberg but I want to hear some feedback first.

P.S. according to Ritte, their bikes make you look sexier by 312% hahah


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## alexb618 (Aug 24, 2006)

thats a lot of money for a (nice) paintjob


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## Guymk (Mar 27, 2009)

Same as this:
Pedal force CG1
http://pedalforce.com/online/produc...13613&osCsid=58059146fc8d048eaa0a59f9c0bae886


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## looigi (Nov 24, 2010)

"Only twice in history has history assembled such a handsome, good-looking and terribly attractive group of men and women to race around on bicycles. The first time was in Belgium in 1967 and was the result of a top-secret eugenics program, so it doesn’t count. The second time was in LA in 2009…"""

Those Pedal Force frames look pretty good!


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## LandShark'n (Jan 10, 2011)

The young lady on the homepage sure is pretty, but I didn't notice any bikes.


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## backinthesaddle (Nov 22, 2006)

It's an FM015 Hong Fu frameset with a great paintjob. That being said, the guys @ Ritte are hella nice and very passionate about the sport and lifestyle!


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## orange_julius (Jan 24, 2003)

alexb618 said:


> thats a lot of money for a (nice) paintjob


Do they even do the painting themselves? These guys are really smart: with clever marketing, all they need to do is answer emails, give the impression of coolness, and rake in the money. Heck, they can even outsource the email and just bank in on the Flanders-mania in the US.


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## Fignon's Barber (Mar 2, 2004)

a bunch of guys from california pretending to be belgian because its cool doesn't warrant consideration in my book. kinda annoying, actually.


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## backinthesaddle (Nov 22, 2006)

Fignon's Barber said:


> a bunch of guys from california pretending to be belgian because its cool doesn't warrant consideration in my book. kinda annoying, actually.


Says the guy with the handle "Fignon's Barber"...


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## Hula Hoop (Feb 4, 2009)

One born every minute. So they take a $500 frame, have Hong Fu paint it and ship it.
So their cost might be $750. Add the cost of setting up a facade corporation and a
website and you have a $2150 price, $1400 gross margin or 187% gross return
per frame less those expenses. Great business idea!


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## Fignon's Barber (Mar 2, 2004)

backinthesaddle said:


> Says the guy with the handle "Fignon's Barber"...


sorry if my opinion differs from your's. that's what happens when you ask for people's feedback....you get people's feedback. :thumbsup:


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## olr1 (Apr 2, 2005)

Seems like the concept of adding value by thinking up a name and making it sound Italian by putting a vowel on the end has been supplanted by the Belgian angle...

Rapha-isation IMO.


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## Guymk (Mar 27, 2009)

I was looking at the frame specifications and the 2010 bossberg is the same as the pedal force cg1. The new 2011 bossberg has internal cable routing and a tapered head tube.


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## bmxhacksaw (Mar 26, 2008)

How come it is ok for Trek, Specialized, Cannondale, et al to take a frame that cost a couple hundred bucks to make and put a fancy paint job on it and sell it for thousands more but it's not ok for Ritte Racing to do it?


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## AvantDale (Dec 26, 2008)

Their Youtube videos are pretty funny.

http://youtu.be/f2oYddXY_vQ


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## robdamanii (Feb 13, 2006)

I think my favorite thing here is that some people think that EVERYTHING out there is just a cheap chinese knockoff frame.


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

*exactly*



bmxhacksaw said:


> How come it is ok for Trek, Specialized, Cannondale, et al to take a frame that cost a couple hundred bucks to make and put a fancy paint job on it and sell it for thousands more but it's not ok for Ritte Racing to do it?


have bike built in China
put label on it
mark up price

not every bike is a knock off, some companies design their bikes
some companies just rebadge

either way the mark up is ridiculous

Ritte is the SoCal version of HUP and I like Belgiaphiles over Italiaphiles and Francophiles


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## SRS (Jul 14, 2010)

backinthesaddle said:


> It's an FM015 Hong Fu frameset with a great paintjob. That being said, the guys @ Ritte are hella nice and very passionate about the sport and lifestyle!


Dont know why you say this is a fm015, Just compare them. They dont look the same and geometry is not the same...................:mad2:


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## Cinelli 82220 (Dec 2, 2010)

atpjunkie said:


> have bike built in China
> put label on it
> mark up price
> 
> ...


Agreed. Amazing how otherwise sensible people go crazy over their bike brand esp Colnago and Pinarello. Those forums are way nuttier than PO. Self-actualization or self-validation by buying and exclusive/expensive bike. Some student could write a good paper on this.


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

*well some folks*



Cinelli 82220 said:


> Agreed. Amazing how otherwise sensible people go crazy over their bike brand esp Colnago and Pinarello. Those forums are way nuttier than PO. Self-actualization or self-validation by buying and exclusive/expensive bike. Some student could write a good paper on this.


say part of what you re buying is the warranty

so you buy $2500 frame (that cost mfr $500) and they give you a good crash replacement cost
vs having the ability to by 5 Hong Fus for the same amount of cash

please note: I am a luddite and still ride steel in 85% of my stable


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## martinrjensen (Sep 23, 2007)

*wrong*

You can't "tell" us your a luddite on a computer based forum. You have to actually mail each and everyone of us a letter stating as such.


atpjunkie said:


> say part of what you re buying is the warranty
> 
> so you buy $2500 frame (that cost mfr $500) and they give you a good crash replacement cost
> vs having the ability to by 5 Hong Fus for the same amount of cash
> ...


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## DiegoMontoya (Apr 11, 2010)

Ned Flanders is more Belgian than Ritte.


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## DarkoBWM (May 29, 2010)

DiegoMontoya said:


> Ned Flanders is more Belgian than Ritte.


I'm pretty sure everyone knows they aren't Belgian...


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## skygodmatt (May 24, 2005)

They don't claim to be Belgiun....only in spirit.

Off their website: 

"Despite the name, we're not from Flanders. We do, however pay tribute to Ritte, our spiritual forefather."


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## DiegoMontoya (Apr 11, 2010)

I have no problem at all with what Ritte is doing. I hope they do well. Heck, if Specialized can market their crap as "McLaren" or whatever and sell their frames for $4k, Ritte and everyone else can do it too.


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## skygodmatt (May 24, 2005)

robdamanii said:


> I think my favorite thing here is that some people think that EVERYTHING out there is just a cheap chinese knockoff frame.


That's because most frames ARE just cheap $300 Chinese or Asian mass made ones. Bike companies have taken the "artisan" qualities right out. 
You can go buy a Chinese mass made Cervelo R5 frame for $5000 --if one was so inclined.
Or wait...no...the R5 American made version frame for a cool $10,000.


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## mtbbmet (Apr 2, 2005)

I talked to them @ Interbike. Asked where they are from. Guy said LA, Asked where the bikes were made (looking for taiwan, not china), he said LA. Shocked, I said "What, really? You guys make your own frames?" He said "No, we just paint them in LA."
So there's that. They sure are nice looking though, paint-wise.


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## DiegoMontoya (Apr 11, 2010)

skygodmatt said:


> That's because most frames ARE just cheap $300 Chinese or Asian mass made ones. Bike companies have taken the "artisan" qualities right out.
> You can go buy a Chinese mass made Cervelo R5 frame for $5000 --if one was so inclined.
> Or wait...no...the R5 American made version frame for a cool $10,000.


Time and Cyfac are still around.


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## Waves77 (Aug 15, 2010)

The Ritte guys themselves are not hiding the fact that these are the pedalfoce/hongfu/whatever bikes with a nice paintjob (debatable in my opinion). They have zero input on the actual design of the bike.

I also think the "hey let's pretend we're from Belgium" party line is retarded....

So yeah, I wouldn't buy one in a million years.


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## lampshade (Jul 18, 2002)

They have pretty decent marketing/paint.


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## pmf (Feb 23, 2004)

From their website:

"We get a lot of calls and emails that we can't always get to immediately, so please give us a few days to get back to you. (And if you don't hear back, just hit us up again.)"

Inspires confidence


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## gospastic (Nov 8, 2008)

I bought mine about a year ago but had no issues with communication. This is when they were selling online only.


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