Ira Ryan, in an interview on the Rapha website, mentions that Quality is elusive. The search to attain Quality, or arête — as the Greeks describe it, continues to push us to excel and discover what we are capable of. Ira also considers that independent frame builders embody that search. This collaboration between legendary Portland builders, Ira Ryan and Tony Pereira, only serves to prove that point.
It’s not such a long-winded notion. The Greeks believed that the mind, body and soul each had to be developed and prepared for a man to live a life of arête. Anyone who has endured a physical trial like a long distance bicycle tour, for instance, is aware of the refined view of the world this can achieve.
The Rapha Continental riders regularly perform such epic feats, with a mission to document America’s most beautiful rides. Ira Ryan and Tony Pereira are not only 5-year-long members of the Rapha Continental squad and hardened long distance riders, they’re also builders who produce award-winning frames. They collaborated here to produce a bike specifically designed to conquer such rides. This ‘all-weather, all-terrain, all-the-time’ Continental will be sold as a complete bike only, marketed through Rapha’s ‘Bicycle Collection’.
The components consist of an SRAM Force gruppo, Chris King hubs, head set and bottom bracket, an FSA cockpit and, for the inevitable, the Topeak Road Master Blaster pump. It retails for US$5,000 and you can click through to order it via the Rapha Bicycle site, where you can also read Ira and Tony’s credentials.
