Ultimate (vs.) Ritchey Road Logic II

So having written off my Canyon Ultimate CF in a crash I find myself with ~£2250 and the motivation to see if I can build a true race bike based around this frame. My goal being to build something with equivalent weight to my current setup (or as close as) while keeping the cost down and the durability up. If things go well I'll be racing the crit/road race season 2017 on it, if not then I'll buy another Ultimate CF for racing.

UPDATE: sod this, I'm going for the out and out race bike, the Ultiamte CF SLX (The aeroad is a little long for me and not quite tall enough, plus it looks HIDEOUS in my size). WEights updated.

Weights are indicative (i.e. from internetz) rather than actual, my weighing scales can't match @Dammit's. Items with a ? aren't yet purchased so open to ideas, OP will be updated to reflect discussion :)

note: I realise that, in my size, those frames weigh a lot more than those states for a 56!

why not throw CAAD12 in the mix for 'race what you can afford to replace' alu approach?

It's a fair point and, to be honest if the handling or something else doesn't work out on this that (or something similar) will be my race bike and this will be the other bike :)

Note: I'm already cheating at my own game by claiming I didn't run my F6R's on my Canyon for races... which obvs. I did!

Update: I've amended this, same wheel set used across both bikes.

What this has, of course, revealed is that if I did get the Ultimate SLX I could be on a UCI limit bike in my size... hmmm... but then if we get real, what we're talking about here is the weight of one water bottle, and I can easily get my weight down.

You could build a CAAD12 with Ultegra and Ritchey with 105 and swap wheels between with that money I reckon.

When I googled Ritchey RLII, this was the first result that came up.

The Flick Trix - Redline RL-II.

I really hope that's what you're getting.

I'm just here to compliment you on your list formatting skills.

Ditto! That's more interesting than the fact you're saving 15g by choosing lighter bar tape.

If this bike is solely for racing, as the original post suggests, why are you considering a RL? Seems like an odd choice when there are plenty of other options designed with racing in mind...

point taken and today I have cancelled my RLII order and made one for an Ultimate CF SLX... I'll add another column :D

So as you can see, the conclusion of this is that you can build a race bike on a steel frame at a competitive weight, for around the price of a top(ish) spec carbon frame, but will it be stiff enough in the sprints or will it squirm around? Probably the later.

I dare say the maths works even better in smaller sizes, these weights are indicative of a 56 but at 54 or 52 materials won't effect as much. So if you're interested in racing a steel bike, go for it and tell me what it's like. I might actually buy one for winter :)

What sort of power output in the sprint?

(Being the life and soul of the party I have been doing some reading about chainstays recently, stiffness thereof)

Genesis-Madison race on steel bikes at the highest level and do okay!

they ride zero plus pros will ride anything thats given to them, some even ride Colnago!

Well, I seen at least one of them riding the volare at the TOB!

IIRC the mad/gen guys can choose between the zero or the volare.

The little I've ridden the Rourke its absolutly rock solid under the hammer, even the guys at SBC mentioned how surprised they were at its stiffness.

Well above the 400W claimed to make the RL turn into a fish.

Okay so to conclude, the canyon won.