The Ritchey Comp effect.

Weight reduction and bike fit was the goal here. Our Nukeproof Digger Factory 2020 came with a 90mm Zip Service Course Stem at 154g, unbranded 56cm gravel handlebar at 322g. Yes, you read that correctly, 56cm. That’s just silly wide for us and it did feel absolutely ridiculous. The Digger also came with a Brand X Ascend dropper post, which really was not for us, that weighed in at 591g. We have opted for the very tasteful 2020 Ritchey Comp finishing kit for this project. The Ritchey Comp range offers loads of options in range and sizes to compliment custom bike fitting and building. It is also offered at a very reasonable price per gram saving and looks really cool to boot. We have gone for an 80mm Ritchey Comp 2020 stem at 124g saving us 30g, a Ritchey Comp Ergomax 2020 42cm handlebar at 299g saving us 23g and a Ritchey Comp Carbon 30.6 x 400 seatpost at 277g saving a huge 314g. In total we saved 367g with these upgrades but we have done a few more that we will cover in another post. 

Ultimately, we saved a few hundred grams and the fit and feel is now superb, comfortable and agile. The bars are far closer for those all day gravel adventure rides and the handlebars offer comfort on the flat tops and flat drop sections. The flare is plenty enough but not stupid and not over the top like some on the market. They also keep the lever more upright which we prefer. Space is slightly limited at the centre of the bar due to the riser section (for a light bracket for example) but we will just pop it on the other side of the stem. The seatpost was a real winner with a big weight saving, more than 50% over the stock one and offers perfect adjustment and slight give for comfort. Those eagle eyed readers may see some other updates in these pictures over the stock bike but we will cover them off next time.