Ritchey Montebello Review: Do I Even Need a Custom Frame Any More? – Tay Taylor | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.

Nearly five years after having her mind blown by the Ritchey Outback, Taylor is back in fine form with her Ritchey Montebello review. Revealing the Ritchey magic in this new all-road frame required a more fine-tuned approach, but in the end, Taylor is left wondering if her beloved Rock Lobster still has a place in her collection with the Montebello around.

The Ritchey Appeal

Most people aren’t looking at a Ritchey, or any frame-up build for that matter, as a first bike. Ritchey buyers usually want something more than just a custom parts spec – they may have even been considering commissioning a custom frame before landing on a Ritchey. And with Ritchey’s dedication to fabricating the very best steel frames on the market with custom-drawn tubing, in addition to designing their own carbon forks in-house, in some ways you’re getting more than you could with a custom at double the price.

Back in 2020, I reviewed the Ritchey Outback and absolutely loved it. The Outback’s unique ride quality, excellent build quality, and well-considered features left me a fan of modern Ritcheys, and I knew I’d eventually ride another. After years of revisiting the Ritchey site and wondering if I could get a Road Logic to work for me (probably not, given low stack heights and lack of fender mounts), the Montebello popped up, and I knew it was the one.

Potential for Displacement

In my own collection, the Montebello pretty much completely overlaps the purpose of my cherished Rock Lobster. I have that bike built as a distance road bike with 35mm tires and full fenders – exactly how I built the Montebello. Now that I’ve spent a solid amount of time with the Montebello, it has me questioning the place of the humongous crustacean in my collection. Is it possible that a newer production bike can do better than a custom from 12 years prior? I almost don’t want to know the answer to that question, but here we are.

Beyond my expectations, the Montebello took me in a different direction than I was expecting – a more expansive range of riding. Before this review, I probably would have told you I would like the Montebello as a distance road bike, with forays into dirt on the right tires, but primarily for long rides and definitely for recreation and not for utility. Turns out that wasn’t the whole picture. If we were to distill what separates an all-road bike from a road bike, it’s not just tire clearance and fenders, but practicality – and that’s where the Montebello surprised me.

Ritchey Montebello Quick Hits

Heat-treated, triple-butted Ritchey Logic steel tubing (with secret sauce)
External routing for mechanical drivetrains, internal for semi-wireless Di2 drivetrains
Ritchey Brevet fork with internal dynamo routing and cage/rack mounts
Six sizes, XS through XXL, taller head tubes per size than previous Ritchey drop bar frames
$1869 includes frame, fork, and headset

On Frame Flex and Fork Boing

Those familiar with my writing know I have a tendency to go deep on frame flex and overall system compliance. In my Outback review, I dove into frame compliance through the stacked spring analogy and the bicycle as a holistic system – one of my all-time favorite threads to tease out. This experience absolutely colored my expectations for the Montebello’s ride quality.

I had high expectations for the Montebello’s ride quality, and have to admit I was a bit disappointed when I got the bike built up and it didn’t sing in quite the way I was hoping. Considering the all-road intent of the Montebello and the fact that I’d built it up with 35mm slicks, I obviously had the wrong ideal in mind. The Montebello is not the Outback, and revealing its magic required a more fine-tuned connection with the bike.

The Outback’s springy fork, long rear end, and 53mm knobbies made for a drop bar bike that was at its best on rooty singletrack – but that bike, with those tires, was not exactly efficient, or joyful, to ride on pavement. The slacker head angle and reduced pneumatic trail made for a vague feel on pavement – but I understood that wasn’t where that setup should excel. In contrast, the Montebello with slicks is precise and zippy on-road, but out of its element even on Silca-Category-2-gravel.

Recalibrating my Frame Flex Scale

With the Montebello leaning more toward pavement, I found my flex scale better calibrated in millimetres than inches. While the Montebello’s Ritchey Brevet fork doesn’t boing quite like the Outback’s Adventure fork, it damps road chatter elegantly, which is particularly nice when you’ve got 50+ psi in your GP5000s. You can still see and feel the Brevet fork flexing forward when you stand up and bounce on the bars, but it’s not as pronounced as with the Adventure fork.

The Montebello’s frame is similarly smooth: not noticeably flexy, but quietly damping vibration while remaining precise and confidence-inspiring. I would personally be happy for the frame and fork to be a notch more flexy, but I understand why it’s been designed this way. It’s a bike you can confidently stand up and hammer on, and that’s what a lot of people want in a bike that might just be replacing their skinny tire road bike.

The ride quality is very similar to my Rock Lobster – both have a 34.9mm down tube, which challenges my assumptions around tubing diameters and smoothness. In fact, when I first got the Rock Lobster in 2018 I was blown away by how smooth it rode. Seven years later, my tastes are even more attuned to these differences, and the Montebello’s smooth ride presents an interesting dilemma. And that’s what leads us to…

The Custom Conundrum

People commission custom bikes for a variety of reasons, but the most common is seeking out traits that can’t be found in current production bikes. Things like fit or handling geometry, tubing selection and frame flex characteristics, tire clearance, or features or technology that are available but haven’t hit the mainstream yet.

With my Rock Lobster, a bike that wasn’t built for me but happens to fit just right, the considerations were a smooth riding tubeset, clearance for 35mm tires, accommodations for fenders, and – importantly in 2013 – disc brakes. That bike also has some features that are no longer standard in 2025: QR axles, post mount brakes, and a 1-1/8″ straight head tube. Built on a legacy of cyclocross racing, my Rock Lobster also has the cables routed on top of the top tube.

Future Becomes Past

While the Rock Lobster is a wonderful and capable bike that suits my road bike needs completely, it has over the past few years come to look like it’s from a different era. I would still choose a straight head tube and 35mm is plenty of tire for roading ATMO, but will admit that through axles are better in every way, flat mount brakes integrate nicely inside the rear triangle, and down tube cable routing looks much cleaner. Even a one-off steel bike gets old, it turns out.

And while the axles and brake mounts don’t present issues while riding the bike, options for groupset upgrades are dwindling as performance-oriented drop bar groupsets move to flat mount and hydraulic brakes. Case in point: the 105 Di2 group on the Montebello couldn’t be fit to my Rock Lobster without changing the brake calipers – not an insurmountable barrier, but one that folks looking to refresh older frames are running into. My Rock Lobster may have been from the future when it was new, but it’s no longer future-proof.

The Modern Montebello

Looking at its details, the Montebello is an all-road bike from the modern era, with many features I’d choose if I were commissioning a custom – and some you can’t even get in a custom. Notably, Ritchey chooses to spec straight 1-1/8″ head tubes on their frames, and pairs them with slender and well-considered carbon forks to match.

The straight head tube and fork steerer is something I appreciated on the Outback, having ridden plenty of tapered steerers and having yet to find one with the buzz-reducing qualities of a Ritchey carbon fork or a steel fork. With the Montebello that quality is less pronounced, but the frame and fork certainly match in terms of flex – which is an important aspect of a holistic system. If the Outback’s fork flexed like that of a rim brake rando bike, the Montebello’s moves like a lightweight steel example like my Rock Lobster’s.

Progress vs. Attention to Detail

The Montebello is a production bike that is, in a number of ways, better and more refined than the 12-year-old custom that I’ve poured so much effort into. Things like through axles and flat mount brakes. Nice forged Ritchey details and carefully chosen tube specs. A beautiful straight-steerer carbon fork with rack mounts. Internal routing for a dynamo wire. Accommodations for fenders. Some of these things are just “progress,” others are the benefit of Ritchey-level attention to detail in a production environment.

While I don’t doubt that my Rock Lobster would provide a very similar ride experience to the Montebello with a new group, the Montebello’s carbon fork drops a couple pounds from the overall system, includes dynamo routing, and contributes to the Ritchey’s sleeker silhouette. I love Ritchey’s forged head tubes, seat clusters, and dropouts – something custom builders either don’t have access to or need to put a lot of time into crafting.

The result of this thought process is questioning whether my now less-refined but still very cool Rock Lobster has a place in an evolving bike collection, even though it’s forever got a place in my heart. Just like with cars, sometimes modern bikes can simply do the things we modify and customize our older ones to try to do better.

Shifting Intent with the Montebello

Once I got the fit dialed in, I did exactly what I was expecting with the Montebello. First, I rode it up some mountains. I climbed and I climbed. I chose the easiest gearing option I could with the 12-speed 105 group, which meant a 50/34 crank and 11-36 cassette. I still use that 34/36 pretty often, but that’s because I love uphill! (OK, efficient bikes make me say that more often than inefficient ones.)

After a few weeks of mountains, I went back toward distance. I put aero bars on the bike. I rode a 200k rando event, and had a really nice time. The aero bars take pressure off my hands and wrists and help me keep my core engaged – helpful when my lower back is in post-masters-degree shape and not pre-kids shape. I can’t say I’m entirely excited about road riding in the truck-heavy outskirts, but getting back into my groove on distance riding was feeling really good.

Aesthetic… Sensibilities?

And that’s when I really blew things up. Tailfin offered to send us one of their new Aeropack Cargo setups, and I finally said yes. Like the aero bars, the Tailfin rack was a step away from my classic rando aesthetic sensibilities, but so practical on a modern build. Tailfin’s Universal Thru-Axle and seat post connector make removal and install a breeze – less than 10 seconds in either direction.

And so, I started riding the Montebello to work. Particularly in a time when I am most interested in riding practical bikes, day-to-day use is what brought the Montebello into the range of truly useful for me. I’ve long preferred to commute on bikes with bigger tires and more carrying capacity, but the Montebello with the Tailfin rack makes for a very enjoyable and efficient daily ride.

Spec Hits

I built this bike from the frame up around a Shimano 105 R7100 Di2 groupset, completing the build with Ritchey components, a pair of brass Sim Works Turtle 44 fenders, and a few of my favorite personal touches. It’s an understated build that leans more toward a modern functional aesthetic than my usual builds, and has performed flawlessly – with a few quirks.

Shimano 105 R7100 Di2 group. I’m saving the longer version of my thoughts on this group for a more-focused follow-up piece, but suffice to say I have been impressed and very happy with 105’s move to electronic shifting. While I am still not a fan of having to charge (and occasionally forgetting to charge) my bikes, 105 going Di2 has moved the group from “avoidable” to “completely acceptable” for me.

Sim Works Turtle 44 Brass fenders. I’m a staunch advocate for meticulously fitted metal fenders in wet climates. While the brass versions of Sim Works’ Honjo fenders are heavier than their aluminum counterparts, I had been wanting to incorporate them into a build for years, and thought they’d be great on the Montebello.

These come out of the bag a shiny gold, which was a lot – but I had plans. After radiusing the fenders and drilling all the holes, I put them back in their bags with pickling vinegar and pink Himalayan salt to accelerate the natural patina process. The initial result was interesting, and the finish is coming alive more and more with each ride. I love it. I later finished the install with my gorilla tape and HDPE “Fred Flintstone” flaps, as good fenders gotta have flaps.

I should also mention that the Honjo fenders went onto the Montebello without any custom touches. I pride myself in finding elegant solutions to fender mounting challenges, but this one was a breeze – just another point for Ritchey’s attention to detail.

Continental GP5000 AS TR 35mm tires. Rolling resistance matters, especially on distance bikes. Given the GP5000 has long been the fastest 32mm tire on the market, I was excited to try the more-volume-more-grip GP5000 AS TR on my Chumba SOCO review bike. I liked those tires so much that I kept them for personal use – so these are the same pair I ran on the Chumba. I run them tubeless, usually with 50-52 psi in the front and 55-57 in the rear.

Ritchey VentureMax bar. I just didn’t get down with the Ritchey Butano bar I originally built the bike with. I couldn’t seem to get the ramps and hoods in a place I liked while also keeping the drops at a decent angle. Even worse (aesthetically) was, despite the Montebello’s taller stack, I still ended up on the verge of needing a +17º stem to get the bars high enough due to the Butano’s shape – and went back to my trusted VentureMax, the actual bar off my Wolverine build from 2016.

King Cage Stainless cages. A constant on my builds over the years, the King Cage stainless cages are elegant and functional. For $29 I don’t think you can beat King in value, as these cages hold bottles tenaciously, last forever, and look great. I used the King Lowering Cage on the down tube to bring the bottles closer together and maximize space for my frame bag.

Things I’d Change

Head tube length. I hate to say it, but despite the Montebello’s stack height being 20mm taller per size than the Outback I reviewed years back, I still think it could go up. It’s nice that Ritchey’s put an XXL into the range, but there are still folks lamenting that it’s too short for them. It’s always hard for production models to reach the far ends of the fit spectrum, and, suffice to say, the Montebello continues Ritchey’s performance-oriented lineage. I’m glad I can at least fit this bike with a +6º stem.

Bottles, bottles. We’re in the frame bag era. The seat tube bottle location maximizes space above the bottle, but I would really like to see the down tube bottle cage pushed as low as it can go without needing to use a lowering cage. To be fair, I think the same thing of my Rock Lobster’s bottle locations.

A third set of bottle mounts. I get that this is intended as a road bike, and that another pair of bottle bosses adds cost and weight to the frame, but if it’s marketed as a distance road bike and has features like dynamo routing, I think it needs the under-down-tube bottle mount.

More excitement. This is certainly not anything to do with Ritchey, but I find the black 105 group and complementary wheelset to be somewhat drab, and really struggled with the aesthetics on this build. The beautiful metallic red paint is begging to be built with more classically-styled components, yet despite Ritchey’s Classic series offering wheels and components, options are still limited to put together cohesive complete builds.

More lights, fewer batteries. I also would like to have a dynamo system on this bike, as permanent lights are another factor that makes me more likely to ride a bike. Pipe dream: I’d like to keep the electronic shifting but never have to charge it. I’m all for the neo-rando era, but there are too many batteries for my lizard brain to keep track of.

To the Post-Gravel Future

Even though I spend most of my riding hours on bikes with even more tire, every time I get on good examples of modern, wide tire bikes like the Montebello, the Chumba SOCO (my review here), and the Fairlight Secan (our two reviews here and here), I am reminded why I keep coming back to them. My curiosity around these types of bikes continues, and I look forward to seeing how road bikes with wide tires evolve in the post-gravel future.

The Montebello didn’t grab me like the Outback did. I’m not shouting from the rooftops about its flex characteristics or how it’s shifting a paradigm for me. And yet, it has me questioning whether I need to keep one of the bikes I thought I’d never sell. Only my itchiness about a bike meeting both my aesthetic and functional needs has me questioning the Montebello. As a neo-rando bike, it is excellent, and I remain a fan of Ritchey’s attention to detail and ride qualities.

Do I Even Need a Custom Frame Any More?

I feel it apt to finish by addressing the question at the heart of this review: with the Ritchey Montebello in the house, do I even need a custom frame any more? If it’s a question of whether I feel comfortable finding a new home for my Rock Lobster, the answer would be, not yet – even though I’ll probably just be riding it on the trainer. And as for custom frames, period, of course we need them – because where else are the big companies going to get their ideas?