Gravel Grinder News: Ritte Launches Satyr Gravel Bike

Gravel Grinder News: Ritte Launches Satyr Gravel Bike – by MG

Today, Ritte announced the launch of its new Satyr gravel bike. Designed by master frame builder, Tom Kellogg, the Satyr is a thoroughly modern steel bike, with full internal cable routing, a T47 threaded bottom bracket and Reynolds’ latest 725 chromoly tubeset.

Here’s the official announcement from Ritte:

The Ritte Satyr Steel Gravel Bike

Half Man, Half Goat, All Party

The Satyr’s elegant tapered headtube flows seamlessly into the crown of the Enve carbon fork.

The road hasn’t always been paved. In fact, there haven’t always been roads. Or paths. Or trails. Or tracks. Somewhere along the way, we became less rugged, more fearful of the woods and deserts. We became serious and conservative, riding for structured training rather than fun. It’s time to balance it all out – the racing, the training, the woodland adventures.

The Satyr is a mythical forest creature known to the Romans as a woodland god (and a bit of a party animal), and it’s also the newest Ritte. The embodiment of fun and rowdiness, the Satyr was a man built atop the legs of a goat….and climb like a goat the new Satyr does.  

The Satyr owes much of its sylvan sprightliness to the guiding hand of the legendary Tom Kellogg, tapped by Ritte to design the frame. From custom tubing spec to geometry influenced by Tom Kellogg’s years of designing balanced frames for championship-winning racers, the Satyr climbs easy and goes down smooth.

With a T47 threaded bottom bracket, 12mm through-axle dropouts and flat-mount disc brake fitment, the Satyr is a thoroughly modern steel frame.

Taking cues from Ritte’s All-Road Phantom, the Satyr dials the dirt party up to 11. But you’d expect nothing less, this thing has horns! The Satyr clears a 700x43c tire to tackle tough terrain, but it turns in with an eagerness many road bikes can’t match.

The Satyr is equipped with a T47 bottom bracket and internal cable routing to keep your cables protected through the harshest conditions. Flat mount disc brakes with thru-axles front and rear keep you in control. The Enve gravel fork provides direct, confident steering input and comes in differing rakes to perfectly suit each frame size. The Satyr’s custom Reynolds tube set is stiff where you need it, but tames the trail chatter in a manner that only steel can accomplish. 

From the dirt roads of the Berkshires to the backcountry trails of the Sierra Nevadas, the Satyr has been in testing all year proving its capabilities. It’s the bike that truly can ride right out the front door – road to trail it gallops along happily, easily earning its name.

The custom seatstay bridge and beautiful tri-tone paint give the Satyr an elegant look.

The Satyr is the wild side of your drop bar stable, just begging you to turn every ride into a party. Egging you on – “slide into that corner,” “jump those roots,” “send it down that chute.” Is it a gravel bike? You could call it that. We just call it a bike for fun (and glory).

Features and Specifications
  • Tom Kellogg design 
  • Reynolds 725 tubing – varying tube specs for each of the 6 sizes
  • Enve forks – varying fork rakes by frame size
  • T47 bottom bracket
  • Full internal cable routing
  • Flat mount disc brakes
  • 43 mm tire clearance
  • 3 cage mounts (2 water bottle, one tool/keg type)
  • Fender mounts
  • MSRP $2250, complete builds from $3800
  • Build Levels: Shimano GRX 600; Shimano GRX 800; SRAM Force/Eagle 1x + Enve; Full Custom
  • Custom Paint Option
Geometry
On the Satyr, bottom bracket drop and fork rake vary by frame size. Click the chart to view a larger version.
Ritte’s Take on the Tom Kellogg Partnership and New Steel Bikes

Ritte’s two new steel road models are bringing it back to the basics. What pushes us to get out of bed before sunrise on a Sunday morning? It certainly isn’t wattage numbers or virtual leaderboards, and it definitely isn’t impressing our friends with how aero our seat tube junctions were.

With clearance for up to 32c tires, the Ritte Phantom is a great choice for road riders looking to expand their horizons.

You ride to be outside, to explore, for solitude, for friendship, for the dopamine, and to shred.

Ritte does too. They build bikes that don’t hold back. Bikes that make us happy. Bikes that don’t compromise fit or materials to meet manufacturing margins. Bikes that stand the test of time.

The new Ritte steel series was agonized over, for months to put together a package that’s ultimately a no brainer. These must be the first bikes you reach for, because they are ready for anything. They must carve into corners and be light on their feet, but they mustn’t cause agony – even after 6 hours in the saddle.

We engaged with those who truly know and lead by example. Tom Kellogg was gracious enough to loan his decades of experience building frames for world championship racers to craft the geometries for these new Rittes – giving riders telepathic confidence in their bikes. Every size has custom drawn Reynolds tubing and the proper rake Enve fork to ensure clairvoyant feel and feedback for every size rider – the closest you can get to custom.

Ritte designed the Satyr to be capable, comfortable, stylish and fun to ride. Sounds like a winning recipe to us.

…and bikes that last must look good doing it – gentle refinements modernize the features without ceding any of steel’s renowned attraction. Deep colors inspired by British sports cars round out the look.

Yet despite their show-ready looks these are bikes begging to be ridden, to carry you everywhere you want to go without hesitation. You’ve trusted Ritte to build you the best bikes for years, and these are our best steel bikes yet.

About Tom Kellogg

Tom Kellogg has been designing and building bike frames since the 70s. His singular goal–building the highest quality steel frames, has meant constant evolution to remain at the forefront of an ever-competitive industry.  By 1982 Tom was designing and building world championship-winning road and track frames. He has built countless custom frames under his own Spectrum Cycles brand, advised on production framesets and components for a very select few (including Merlin, Time, Reynolds, and more), and been an inspiration to many more cyclists and framebuilders alike.

After more than four decades building the finest metal bicycles available, Tom announced he would be closing shop in 2020 – having forever left his mark on the bicycle industry.

But as we all know, someone this influential couldn’t just fade quietly into the archives of bicycle history.

Who designed your bike?  Most take this for granted.  Obsession over bottom bracket drop, fork rakes, tube butting, bottle cage locations…are these the musings of a madman or a genius?  At Ritte, we knew it was the latter; and that there is no replacement for experience.

Our Initial Impressions
We’re looking forward to getting this great looking bike dirty!
Image: MG

Tom Kellogg is a legend in the frame building world, so we have high expectations of the Ritte Satyr. On paper and in person, it’s an impressive bike, with geometry that should work well on a wide range of gravel roads.

We just received one of the first production Satyr GRX 800 complete builds and are looking forward to riding and reviewing it. The bike features Shimano’s 1x GRX 800 drivetrain and hydraulic disc brakes, and Hunt 4 Season Gravel X-wide wheels shod with WTB Venture 40c tires. FSA provides the bar, stem and seatpost, and a comfortable Fabric Scoop saddle rounds out the spec.

With only brief test rides on our Satyr, we’re not yet in a position to comment in-depth on the bike’s ride quality and handling. What we can say however, is that it’s a stunning bike to view in person and a responsive bike in motion. The distinctive three-color paint, tight, clean welds and elegant, minimal dropouts are all sights to behold for detail lovers. And while it’s not the lightest bike in my shed, it’s got

Look for our review of the new Ritte Satyr to come in early January. In the meantime, head over to the Ritte website to learn more.

Please note: Information and images for this story were provided by Ritte.

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Author: MG

Matt Gersib is the 2014 Gravel World Champion in the Fatbike category. He's also finished some of the most challenging gravel events in the country, including the Dirty Kanza XL, TransIowa and the Dirty Kanza 200, among others. In 2015, Gersib was an inaugural inductee into the DK200 "1,000 mile club" of five-time finishers. In addition to his gravel cycling, Gersib is an accomplished mountain bike racer, with numerous race wins and championships, including the 2012 Nebraska State Marathon MTB Championship.

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4 thoughts on “Gravel Grinder News: Ritte Launches Satyr Gravel Bike

    1. Taiwan manufactured. Better mass fabrication from both a plant technology standpoint and superior fab workers than can be had in the US. That’s what happens when a nation like Taiwan puts their resources over the past several decades into building and maintaining state
      of the art Six Sigma manufacturing plants and educating their work force versus pissing away $700 billion US taxpayer dollars every year on bloated military industrial complex contracts marketed to the US’s stupid citizen base using fear and nonsense based propaganda. ?

  1. This is a review im really looking forward to – owning a Tom designed true race bike Merlin CR3/2.5 which is also an amazing bike for long days in the saddle regardless if used for climbing, descenting and creditcard touring on paved roads only limited by tyre clearance. Size L in both new bikes will fit me like a glove.

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