I was super stoked when Ritchey Logic forwarded me their legendary Swiss Cross bike. Who would be able to decline the opportunity to ride such a classic bike? On the other hand, I also was kind of worried whether this bike would match my kind of riding, roughstuff and long hours in the saddle. I’ve gotten word in the past from friends who had previously owned cyclocross bikes and cyclocross inspired gravel bikes, none of their feedback was on the positive side: unforgiving forks, harsh rear-ends and cramped positions. With these things echoing through my mind, I decided to toss these biased claims out of the window and just go out and ride this legend.

Originally conceived 25 years ago for cyclocross and mountain bike legend Thomas Frischknecht, the first incarnation of the Swiss Cross was a pure race machine designed for one thing: ripping through dirt towards victory. Twenty-five years later, the Swiss Cross is still one of Ritchey’s flagships. The tested bike features modern standards such as 12mm thru-axles, flat-mount brakes, wider tire clearance (up to 40mm, wider than your standard cyclocross bike, not om par with gravel bike standards), an English threaded 68 mm bottom bracket, Ritchey’s signature triple-butted tubing and a carbon fork with a straight 1-1/8” steerer to improve the overall compliance of the bike. You can fit the bike with 1X or 2X chainrings, depending on your preferred set-up and fit the bike with disc- rotors up to 160 mm.

The frame has a very distinct classic look because of the thin tubes used by the manufacturer, welds are top notch and like with all Ritchey frames cable routing is external. Another nice detail is the integrated seat clamp with the Ritchey logo stamped into it. The bike is only available as a frameset and not as a complete bike. The test bike came retrofitted with some quality Ritchey WCS components: WCS Carbon seat post and handlebars, a WCS aluminum stem and the comfortable Skyline saddle. The SRAM Rival 1X group set might not be the lightest, but it is a reliable companion for this build. Wheels are Ritchey’s own Zeta Comp wheelset, a hand-build quality budget wheelset that you can get for 300 euro and that features Ritchey’s previous generation WCS hubs (and yes they have a nice buzz) and DT swiss spokes. This wheelset is tubeless ready and was paired with 40mm Ritchey WCS Speedmax tires (a timeless classic thread).

I was really curious about how this bike would perform. Still marketed as a cyclocross bike, it is fair to say that it is probably not up to date with the standards a pro-level cyclocross rider would expect from his bike. For them this bike is just too heavy to swing smoothly over their shoulders and contend for a podium spot in a World Cup just like Frischknecht used to do in the late eighties. Conceived now more as a cross, racy-gravel and ‘do it all’ bike, it has carried over the longer wheelbase from Ritchey’s previous generation Outback adventure bike, a longer reach, a lower stack and a lower bottom bracket.

On the bike I immediately perceived the “slammed” and shorter position, giving it a racier feel than the bike I am used to ride. The first thing about the bike I noticed how nimble it felt compared to a lot of 700c gravel bikes I have ridden (including Ritchey’s own Outback) in the past. Coming from mountain biking this is one thing I can really appreciate as I always felt that gravel bikes (especially in 700c) are often sluggish, while piloting to twisty singletracks. When I took this bike over to some technical and twisty mountainbike flow-trails it showed its full potential. This Ritchey Swiss Cross pilots as a mountainbike and squeezes itself through every tight corner you throw at it. Remarkable.

Like I said before, I was a bit skeptical about how compliant this bike would feel on longer rides. Steel is famous for its ride quality as we all know, but this one felt particularly comfortable in the rear, even fitted with 40mm tires. I would dare to say that it almost felt as comfortable as my personal bike fitted with 47 mm tires. Something I also experienced while riding the Outback a couple of weeks earlier. The same thing applied to the front end, where the fork was doing a perfect job in keeping the ride smooth. Even the shorter position and the tighter head-angle didn’t seem to bother me too much on my time on the Swiss Cross, mainly because it is such a fun bike to ride.

Personally, I would however fit the bike with a 2X chainset, for both road and off-road riding it felt the gear drops where way too big with this 42-10 1X set-up and it was sometimes difficult to find a nice cadence as I’m used with my personal 38-11 set-up. This was my main issue with the Swiss Cross. My neck didn’t suffer too much despite the lower position as I expected. Another thing that impressed me about the bike was the “budget” Zeta Comp wheelset. Not being a light wheelset at 1750 gr it however feels rigid and reliable without feeling harsh and unforgiving and definitely a great wheelset for bikepacking adventures where you don’t want to take your fanciest wheelset.

So, if this is not a pure CX bike, what kind of bike is this actually? I would call it a racy adventurous all-road bike for people who like to go flat out everywhere, on the road, on gravel paths and on singletrack. So, for all you Racy Adventurous types out there, is the Swiss Cross the Holy Grail? Well, it might be, the only thing I think it lacks is that third bottle mount on the downtube. Looking at the bike this might be a tough one because of the bike’s wheel clearance, it is tight and probably why it feels at home on singletrack, so the third bottle mount might be a sacrifice you could consider. In short, this bike gets some big thumbs up for overall ride quality, classic looks and surprising me in general with its multifunctionality.

Words: Philippe Michiels

Photography: Philippe Michiels