UCI rescinds Ritchey’s right to use rainbow stripes on its components

In a statement on the company website, accompanied by an Instagram post, historic bike and component brand, Ritchey has announced that it will no longer be permitted to use the UCI rainbow stripe flashes on its WCS (World Championship Series) line of components. The component range which includes bars, stems, and seatposts, will retain the same design, but the multi-coloured stripes will now be replaced by five dark grey stripes. References to WCS on the Ritchey website and packaging will now all be replaced by five blue stripes.

The rainbow flashes, according to the post on Instagram, have been a part of the Ritchey branding for 30 years. Long before the UCI trademarked the logo back in 2010, but certainly after it first began using it in the late 1920’s. This means the use of the rainbow stripes by Ritchey existed in a sort of goodwill grey zone, the agreement with the UCI to use the stripes has now expired and seemingly can't be renewed. Despite the storied history of the brand within UCI competitions, the sport’s governing body has tightened the net around the use of its now-trademarked logos, previously allowing Ritchey to use the logos as part of a goodwill agreement according to a statement given to Escape Collective by a Ritchey representative. 

The documentation on the UCI website regarding the use of the rainbows is now pretty unequivocal: ‘The rule is simple: if you are not expressly authorized to use any of the aforementioned assets, don't use them! The UCI and the UCI-appointed Organizing Committee will systematically take the necessary steps to make sure that their rights are being respected and that unauthorized use, if any, will be stopped.’

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The use of the assets - those being the rainbow bands, as well as the UCI logo itself - is now reserved for official partners. Clothing brand Santini for example can sell replica rainbow jerseys, while the kit sponsors of current world champions are permitted to do the same, in this case, Pissei for UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Tadej Pogacar. And Specialized for SD Worx-Protime and Lotte Kopecky, though the American brand appears to not be making the SD Worx kit available for purchase at the time of writing.

Not only is the use of the rainbow bands now heavily restricted, but even those allowed to use them are subject to very prescriptive guidelines, which goes some way to explaining why so many world champion’s bikes are so similar in recent years. Everything from bikes to gloves, sunglasses, and even facemasks has a ‘rainbow stripes zone’, with a clearly defined border into which manufacturer logos must not stray.

A final statement on the Ritchey site regarding the change states: ‘WCS will remain the backbone of the Ritchey product range. Its reputation as the standard of quality that cyclists have come to demand will not be diminished, despite the absence of the rainbow stripes.’