One of the most storied brands in mountain biking and off-road riding, Ritchey’s agreement with the UCI for using the Rainbow Stripes ended late last year. Required to create new product branding, Ritchey’s marketing team has revealed the graphic design, that will now feature on its frames and components. 

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The Rainbow Stripe logo has been a symbolic and valid part of Ritchey’s product identification and brand identity since the early 1990s. With several UCI World Champion mountain bike riders, including the winningest of all time, Nino Schurter, being Ritchey component users, the brand had reason to use UCI World Champion Rainbow Stripes on its products. 

Now, the brand is moving away from the rainbow stripes as its agreement with the UCI to use the colours expired at the end of 2024 and is not eligible for renewal.

Ritchey’s new WCS product logo retains a similar design and font as the Rainbow Stripes version that brand followers have known for decades. The only change is colourway. Replacing the Rainbow Stripe colours are grey metallic stripes on Ritchey products, while the packaging will now feature blue stripes. 

2025 ritchey logo.jpg, by Liam Mercer

The WCS product range might be moving beyond the colourful differentiation and easy recognition of those iconic UCI Rainbow Stripes, but Ritchey's product engineering hasn’t changed. 

With its inarguable history, Ritchey can claim to be the original mountain bike brand. Founder Tom Ritchey built the first dedicated custom and production mountain bike frames during the sport’s origin moment in Marin Country, California, during the mid-1970s. Ritchey is largely credited with developing mountain biking and pioneering component standards that evolved the sport from fringe outdoor activity to its growth phase in the 1990s. 

unnamed (14).jpg, by Liam Mercer

Driven by the off-road riding obsession and engineering skills of founder, Ritchey has a proven history of innovation and integration. Creating mountain bike frames and components for adventurous all-terrain bike touring, multi-day mountain bike stage racing and UCI XCO pros. 

For riders who value the shape of Ritchey’s handlebars, the wraparound clamping design of its stems and the timeless appeal of its steel mountain and gravel bike frames, the new logo might be subdued. However, the brand legacy and engineering values remain unchanged.  

• ritcheylogic.com

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