My local bike shop carries Rondo bikes. I am not very familiar with them but they do have a gravel bike. Their gravel line is called the Ruut. There are three frames, a titanium, a carbon and an aluminum. The one they have in stock right now is the carbon frame. It has a Sram Rival 1x groupset on it. Wheels are from Rondo. Priced at around $3000 US ($3500 Can)
I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with the Rondo Ruut or any other Rondo bike?
They seem very cool, for what that's worth. I was quite tempted when I was looking about 18 months ago. If it matches your budget and your desires I'd say go for it. It's certainly one of the more interesting options out there.
Not sure about the variable geometry thing because personally I know I would just set it and then not change it, but it can't hurt.
Wasn't it Bike Rumour's 'Bike of the Year' sometime ago? Their testers seemed to like it a lot. Personally, I think the flip chip fork is a great idea, it let you try bigger 650b wheels without experiencing wheel flops. The GT Grade is another bike that comes w/ similar flip chip fork.
Apparently one setting on the fork makes it racier and the second setting makes it more comfortable. Has anyone rode one to find out exactly how the bike feels in either mode? I agree that I would most likely set it in the non-race position and leave it.
My team shop is also a distributor. The owner has a steel frame and loves it. Hoping to take it out for a ride. My only worry is whether or not the frame will handle a 2x Ultegra crank. All their complete bikes are 1x
yeah, read the bike rumor reviess - very inriguing.
with the fork - I agree - I'd probably just set it and forget it. Nice to be able to tune it though.
I do something similar - by putting a beefy front tire on my steed. Raises the front 15mm and gives me about 1/2 degree slacker head angle, with about 10mm more trail. Its nice, because when I want that fat front tire, I want the bike to be more stable.
I bought the Rondo Ruut Aluminium like 3 months ago and I am very happy about it. The twinchip is cool and I did feel a difference when I put on the racier geometry. I left it now in this position but for a bike packing trip I would use the other one. The acceleration of the bike is not great but once on speed he maintains it very good. Would buy a lighter wheel set in the future. If you go for the carbon version that might not be necessary of course
The Rondu Ruut CF was at the top of my list for quite some time not for the flip chip options but for that geometry sweet spot, the chatter buffering design and because it's just not commonplace. But I could never get on one to test ride. I'd be very curious to read about your impressions of a test ride. But for $3000 I'd want to see at least SRAM Rival and a lighter wheelset. Personally I went with a used C-Dale SuperX for the racer feel, super light build and reliability.
I have about 1k miles on my Rondo Ruut CF2. Had an AL Niner RLT stolen and replaced it with the Rondo. Absolutely love it. Fell in love with the looks, took the leap of faith and ordered one. I did leave the fork in the more aggressive mode and still haven't changed it. Kept telling myself I'd switch it for the winter but just haven't. It handles beautifully. Raced Rebecca's Private Idaho 3 day on it. Do a lot of climbing and descending and a fair amount of single track with it. My old had Ultegra 2x but I actually like the Rival 1x and the shifting. Shimano brakes might have felt a little better but I have no complaints with the Sram setup. The wheels..... are so so. At some point I'll probably upgrade, maybe get a set of 650b. I had Stans Grails on the other bike and they were just so much easier to set up, switch tires, never lost air, and were decently light. Not a deal breaker, but most likely they first upgrade. Feel free to reach out with any specific questions.
My eBayed SuperX had some Industry 9 ULT 235's on it when I bought it (I don't think the seller really knew what he had there). The wheelset is like 1450g and super stiff. They also have a really wide internal, my Spec'd Roubaix 28c tires measure out to 30.5mm mounted. Great upgrade for the money.
