mazdaspeed

So today I was browsing craigslist like usual and saw a short ad with no picture. "handbuilt ritchey bicycle". Naturally I inquire. One thing leads to another and I brought this home As far as I know it's all original besides the tires.

At this point I just want to know more about it. When was it made, was it made by Tom Ritchey himself? Any history behind it? I don't know what I'm going to do with it but I'm definitely excited. Hope you guys like it too!















(nice lug, I guess the rest is fillet brazed?)

mazdaspeed

(shaped tube, seems unusual for an old mountain bike)





(dura ace hubs? No marks that I can see on the hub body)

well biked

I read an interview with Tom Ritchey recently, and I believe he stated that he built every fillet brazed Ritchey frame himself, no exceptions. That frame looks to be fillet brazed, so......

balindamood

Yup. Tom made that one. Looks early to mid-80's. There is a site devoted to old Ritchey's. I don't recall what it is, but Google always knows.

KonAaron Snake 

I would agree, special, and likely to appreciate when the Japanese embrace mtbs.

WNG

Nice find, it's in excellent condition. Lucky dog!

mudboy

Wow. Time machine quality.

tugrul

Oh my.

well biked

Here's a link to the TR interview I referred to in my earlier post, a VERY interesting read, IMO. He's definitely been an influential player in the world of bicycles for a l-o-n-g time:
https://www.xo-1.org/2011/01/tom-ritc...own-words.html

From the interview: "....... over the last 38 years, all the fillet-brazed (Ritchey) bikes that were ever built, were 100% done by me." Tom Ritchey

mazdaspeed

So he did build it, very cool!

cobrabyte

indeed

The Golden Boy 

That thing is... spectacular.

Inconceivable.

Oregon Southpaw

It looks like if you touched it, your finger would get red paint on it.

Just a perfect bike. The woodgrain stemcap pulls the whole room together, too.

mazdaspeed

All I did was wipe the dust off. Maybe this week I'll put in a more serious attempt at cleaning it up. I too am a big fan of the wood stem cap It does have some scratches and knicks here and there though, and there is some scraping on the chainstay where the chain came off at some point

mapleleafs-13 

I hear some of the older ritchey vintage mountain bikes are worth some good coin, i passed one up a couple months ago for 50 bucks, cause i don't deal with vintage mountain bikes, then one of my friends who's a bike guru told me some of them can go for about 2-3000 depending on the models. He told me there's a small market for it but people do pay top dollars if they're collectors.

Then i sat there and thought about it for a while. I was like naw, it's probably not one of the "collectors" ones as he said, but then again it was from the same household that i bought a Gios Torino Super Record from with mainly campy on it. I feel dumb to this day, and kept wondering in my head "Mayyyybbbbeee? that was the one, naww who knows...."

i believe i told Devinfan about the story when we went out on a bike ride a little while back, he laughed as well, with this look on his face

I just remembered looking at that red/white mountain bike and thinking "ritchey, kool", price tag said 50 bucks, i didn't really bother to inspect the bike any further. I don't really dabble in the vintage mtn bike area. Then i proceeded to go back to focus on buying the Gios torino.

i feel kinda dumb sometimes, i mean 50 bucks, jeezus, i've done way worse things with 50 bucks.

If it wasn't for my friend and devinfan telling me that it couldn't been really worth something i would not be in regret to this day. It haunts me in my nightmares at night sometimes....

tugrul

It shows up on a lot of mountain bikes. I've assumed it's a reinforcing sleeve, but I have no idea what the proper term for it is.

Sixty Fiver

Holy crap... can someone slip a little nitro under my tongue ?

Can I make a guess that the serial number has a 4B to start things off ?

Only Ritcheys I know of with that gorgeous custom twin strut stem is the Annapurna and Team Comp and the conventional Deore XT rear D points to it being a 1983/84 model as 85/86 had the failed Deore XT superplate and 1987 introduced indexed Deore XT.

The stock rims should have been Araya RM20 laced to Dura Ace low flange but full custom options were available and perhaps the bike was ordered with different rims.

Frame set is Ritchey custom 4130 which explains the flared seat tube, could only have been filet brazed by Tom Ritchey himself, and production of these was very limited to very low numbers.

This is considered to be one of the most beautiful mountain bikes ever made and cannot see that this bike has any flaws whatsoever and think this list should match parts wise to the original specs...

Deore XT derailleurs and frictionshifters, Magura shorty levers, Suntour XC pedals, Dura Ace low flange hubs, Avocet racing 2 saddle, Suntour XC post, 600 EX crankset with 175mm arms, 600 EX bottom bracket, 600 EX headset, and a gorgeous custom twin strut stem.

This bike is equipped just like the Team Comp which was built on a Columbus SP tube set and curbed out at 2 pounds less than the Annapurna which should be 28 pounds with stock tyres.

mazdaspeed

The cranks say tourney XT and are stamped takagi on the back. Where is the serial number supposed to be?

My googling yielded this:

https://www.oldmountainbikes.com/cata...85/inside.html

Mine seems close to the timber comp but not exactly. Hmm.

Sixty Fiver

And may I say... good god... what a score.

flash2070

That is a great MB! I'm not into MBs, but that one looks like a must have! Nice job!

Flash

Sixty Fiver

Serial number should be under the bb shell... would not rule out some substitution on parts or that the bike was purchased as a frame and fork and then built up with a different crank from what the complete bike was specified with.

List price on the bike when new was close to 2k and it may be worth more than that now as these early hand built mountain bikes have developed quite a following.

mazdaspeed

Yikes... at least you got the Gios though.

Sixty Fiver

The Timber Comp was fitted with a Suntour rear roller cam and had a Ritchey designed but not built twin strut stem... your bikes specs are a nearly perfect match to the Annapurna and as I mentioned, I believe that only 2 models came with the custom Ritchey built and colour matched twin strut which sets this bike apart from all the rest.

mazdaspeed

The serial number is hard to read but it appears to say "1 C 3". Anyway if this bike is worth that much maybe I should cancel my plans of spraypainting it flat black and making it a fixie! (just kidding). I did ride it around gently for a little bit to snap some pictures. It's the most stable bike I've ever ridden. I was coasting down the street at quite a low speed with no hands for at least a block.

illwafer

time to head over to ebay and get paid.