Tom Ritchey has the best mustache in the world, beating out Tom Selleck peak Magnum PI by the width of a mustache hair. True Facts and local legends: Tom Selleck’s sister might have lived in a contemporary cottage down the lane from where I spent my summers. We never saw Tom, but we did see a red Ferrari now and again. No, we didn’t. I couldn’t even afford a Ferrari matchbox car, all my matchbox cars were second hand from yardsales, and damned if any kid was gunna sell his Ferrari to a spud like me. True Facts for real: these bars have a short reach and a shallow drop. So shallow that they make Jenn from the Varsity Cheerleading squad seem like a regular Rumi. They have a bit of the ole Ritchey anti-ergo return bend to them, but way less than the Venture Max bar, which is downright terrible, like Marcel Duchamp dropped an overcooked noodle and took a photo of it and had someone make a handlebar out of it. Look, I wanted to hate these bars, just cause the drop is so shallow that they look a bit naff. But I have embraced them, like I have embraced the sordid squall of Unsane. It’s a perfect offroad or gravel or road drop bar. Unlike many flared bars, it’s safe for getting sendy off road. Not sendy-sendy gnar-gnar but ride it on singletrack and don’t huck off your garage with a 12” travel Avalanche fork and you are gunna be ok. Perfect intro dirt drop for folks who are unsettled by the idea of drop bars in general, but fine for riders with advanced DGAF about classic dirt drop vibe credentials as well.
