1990 Tom Ritchey weld, Tange Logic chromoly tubing.
P (project)-23 series prototype, 21 pounds. 16 inch seattube, 20 inch toptube.
140mm rear tandem axle.

I say it a prototype as the production P-23 has the toptube cable guides more toward the seat\ headtube.
The team bikes were made of a lighter Logic Prestige tubing.
The P-23 Ritchey was the NORBA 1991-1993 winner. This is one of the first ones.
Under 050 in #sequence and the only Ritcheys without letter designation are early P-23 bikes, so this must be one.

Custom chain tensioner and bash\climb-ring. 7 speed.
Shimano short levers, V-brakes.
Shimano shifter, Deore DX rear der.
ODI Ruffian hex off grips.
Sunour hex release axles.
SDG Bel-Air saddle.
Mosh half-step pedals
Fork is Ritchey Logic force directional.
Bars\ brace- TransX components.
Seatpost- Bontranger or Ritchey.
170mm crank arms, 12-28 shimano cogset.

The bike was built prime as a strength bike, not sure how I got as light as 21, say a bit closer to 22 pounds.
The bars are braced, the stem and seatpost are chromoly as well. Heavy.

Rim rear Mavic, spoke DT-Swiss, Deore DX hub.
Front, Alex double wall, Shimano Alivio hub.
Tires are IRC Mythos XC Kevlar rear and Notos XC front, both 1.95.
I am to return to running an oversize 2.10 front tire soon, kinda bmx's the ride, fake slack.

The chain is french? Came with the bike.

This is a custom chain tensioner I built from 16mm motion film projector parts. The bolt anchor shaft is 3mm wall steel and ground concave to fit the tube.

I bought the bike last summer for $150, because I liked the frame, spent the time to pull it apart, replace what needed. The bike sits @ $600, is super solid, simple, doesn't screw up, and there are not enough o's in smoooooth to describe the ride.

I did o.k. And I did most of it myself, with a little BF members good advice.
Thanks guys.

This a custom rock mounting ring I made from the original 46T chainring. The main grinding done on a mounted table grinder, teeth with diamond files, smoothed with emery papers.
The replacement drive ring is a 38T Blackspire Epic.
The seattube is oval where it meets the BB. This reduces flex and makes smaller diameter tubes possible. The 3 tubes in the main triangle are different in diameter.

Wahoo - another chance to show my baby off .



She's circa 1993, cromoly all the way!

Btw, Jeff. I remember that bike! An old school classic if ever there was one. I remember the Ritchey with the different diameter tubes, just not in that clour scheme. How does she ride? Beutifully I bet!

Mine was rigid forks until very recently when I renovated a set of Pace oroginals off eBay. I love how you made the bash guard. I was thinking of ditching my 32t middle for a 34t and the big ring for a bashguard but may try what you have done, to save a few quid .

You sould find say a say under 40t ring to over a 34T. Not too big, 36T will be too small without the teeth probably. 38 is not common.

I had to talk myself outta the suspension fork AGAIN after seeing your bike.
I will be running suspension after I have the headtube and BB gusseted. Really.

With fork, stem, seat-post chromoly, the whole bike responds with similar tensile recoil.
It is very smooth, quiet. I don't really need a suspension fork, but I've been increasing the hight of my drops (4 feet to level) and am getting sore.

I don't have the cash for a d'hill bike so this one will be the first and only custom light Ritchey DH bike. Hehe. I still have not hooked up with the welder my friend recommended tho-.
Winter project!

Thanks for the post, I dig your ride.

MORE PICS!....Anybody own a FatChance? Old Kleins?

I was not clear in my title- Please feel free to post your pics of classy ol' racers!

Wow! 90 views and nobody commented on how ugly the bike is. It's a bloody FRANKENBIKE! ( As one member called it after I mentioned my 'hybridization technique') .

And when I posted pics a year ago- it was called 'porky', ancient (true!) that it would 'wallow' in the corners and be slow. Bwaahhaaha!

The only thing they got right was it needed brake upgades. Done.

Give me your old steel, I will build me a MONSTER!

Looks neat (both of them).

Nice job on the chain tensioner

umm, I wouldn't take that bike off drops that are too big, man. those old-school bikes werent really designed for that kind of abuse.

The pic is the huge braze that joins first the 2 tubes and then to the collar. It's a solid metal piece @ the hole for the release ( well, it is split in 2 ).
I have to use hardened steel bolt, nuts instead of a quick release. It takes 100's of pounds of pressure to close the frame to set the seatpost. Alu threads rip out, steel nuts fly across the room.

The entire bike frame is Logic tubing, the only use Ritchey had for it later was forks, tube collars, cablestays way too heavy\ tuff to work with.
It took my mech 7 minutes, 5 drill bits (2 sharpened) to go though one 4mm wall of the frork chromoly next to a weld bead.
I held the bike, he was sweatin'!

It was hand welded by probably one of the most experienced chromoly mtb bike welder on earth.
Tom Ritchey, he was one of the most important figures in developing the mtb and good components.
It's hella strong.
And when gusseted, it will be nearly bomb proof.

I'm the first hard rider this bike has ever had, it was hung on a wall of the major lbs in town for years, not ridden, then by a kid and family recreational.
The 14 year paint wasn't even faded, just lost integrity and would chip out with minor hits.

I'm gonna be this bikes LAST rider, I will eventually break it, it is so much fun trying (no, i'm very nice to it.) 4 foot drop is me choosing the wrong trail done it a few times, bit bloody once or twice.
I tend to keep it 2-3 foot jumps, I'm also a light guy- .

This was my 1985 Fuso MTB.
Light weight, fast handled great, lugged built in Columbus SL road tubing. Definitely not built to take abuse. I only built 50 of these; I would be interested to know if any are still around?

When in doubt, do it yourself! Great looking bike!

Most good race bikes were ridden apart. Ritcheys were passed from racers to guys in training, run into noodles.
Most of the old racers (bike store owners) I've met say they started racing Ritcheys.
Crappy old bikes that were a pain to ride are around lots. Don't even have scratches, I got scratches, and little dents . Man I love steel.

I would contact you or some hot welder if I had a major failure. Ritchey rescue!, fire up the torch, it's cutting time! I may ask you at some point about some gussets I plan to have welded onto the frame.
Way I ride, i'm going to soften it eventually, then i'll strengthen it up.


Thanks for posting Dave.

Heres one for sale last year https://www.harpethbikeclub.com/Home/Classified

$1,299 for a used roadie. Dave you must weld up a sweeeeeeet bike!

https://www.theped.com/blowout.htm another! Pretty expensive for an old ride...

https://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=7993 #17.

Dave, your Fuso as a car would be a Lotus Elan. My bike as a car would be General Lee from the 'Dukes of Hazzard' YEEE- HAW!

This is also my first post on the forum, so I thought it would be a good intro.
I still use my old miele MTB from 90/91.
I finally got back into riding this year after about 7 years off. It used to be my primary means of transportation when I bought it.
It is more of a hybrid now with slicks and a 12-21 cassette.

I would post a pic, but haven't figured out how.

Frame/fork tange Cr-Mo
Deore LX/DX- Hubs,Crank,Deraileurs,Thumbshifters
Araya RM-20 rear/ Richey Vantage comp front rim
Deore XT pedals
Specialized stem/Handlebar
Controltech barends
WTB slickasaurus tires
kalloy seatpost and turbo saddle
New this year:
Deore v-brakes replaced Deore DX canti
Veulta chainring replaced Biopace
sram chain replaced a worn Sachs
HG-90 cassette replaced a 13-30

old school miele pic hope it shows...

Nice, and now you know how to post pics!
Clean machine, looks fast, light. Miele is known mostly for road bikes? (..of which I know little.)

Phatman - you're joking, right? Unless you're talking some kind of racing steel (??), I'd do anything on mine - they're bomb proof.

Jeff, I agree, you ding an Aluminium frame and you have to start thinking 'Hmm, wonder if it'll stress fracture there?' with steel? It's a war wound! Mine has loads of dings but you can't see 'em under the new paint job .

PS. That Miele's sweet as well, a real classic early 'steel is real' .

By all means experiment with gussets in a frame, but think long and hard about what you wish to achieve. Often all you do when you strengthen a frame in one place, you weaken it somewhere else.

In the early days of frame building around the turn of the last century; frame lugs were heavy cast steel; nothing more than crude pipe fittings. As tubing manufacturers made tubes thinner wall and therefore lighter, frame builders found that frames would break at the edge of the lug. The lug was way too strong for the tube.

The answer was to in effect weaken the lug by filing it down to make it taper to a fine edge, and to sculpt the lug into intricate lacey patterns. Later pressed steel lugs made this unnecessary. We always think the main object when we build a frame is to make it as stiff as possible, but really it is a delicate balance between stiffness and flexibility.

A palm tree will survive a hurricane whereas other trees bigger and stronger will get their limbs ripped off. A good steel frame is like a very stiff spring; stiff but with just enough flexibility. Aluminum and carbon fiber frames do not have this asset.

On my 1985 MTB I left out the chainstay bridge, an old cyclo-cross trick so that mud will not collect but rather drop through between the chainstays. Often if you leave this bridge out; with the constant sideways flexing the bottom bracket shell will crack. So to compensate I took a piece of seatstay tube; 5/8 in dia. And about 5 inches long. I placed it diagonally from the seat tube; just below the front derailleur; to the left chainstay (Opposite the drive side.) just in front of the rear wheel.

This really stiffened up the bottom bracket area of the frame, but because I had done so with a tube rather than a solid steel gusset this tube had the same strength and flexibility as the rest of the frame. Also the tube was mitered to fit the other tubes so the brazing area was spread out. (Sorry I don’t have a picture.)

To sum up; if you are considering gussets: Don’t make them too stiff, in other words way stronger than the rest of the frame. And spread the area where the gusset attaches to the frame.

I'll be really impressed when you switch your drive train over to 8 mm film!

I have a 1991 Fat Chance Wicked, Dupont Emron forest green that is O so sweet and an original Ross mtb from the 80's.

But I don't have a digital camera to take pics. It's on my list of things to buy.

I don't either, I have a 16 motion film camera, 35 mm static,-. I rode to my buddies house to take pics (friends, gotta have some) GET PICS! C'mon, be a showoff. No excuse, heck, i'm showing off a bike most people would call junk.

Being in in this part of the world, Vancouver island Can, it's a subtropic rainforest.. not many old bikes.
It's so wet,
you leave a steel bike outside a year, you'll find an orange puddle and a Alu\ rubber pile next to the wall.

I've only seen 1 other Ritchey, 2 vintage Klein in town running. All new Kona, Brodie, Norco.
Specialized and Trek are 'contenders' but not close to the market level saturation they have achieved elsewhere.

Need those pics! Ya..FAT CHANCE!
I double dare ya.

Thats funny, guess you know why, Super 8 is for track bikes. Hard thing is getting the optical mag to read chain grease.

All motion, no sound.

Not many mountains anymore, more of an urban bike, but the third and fourth pic down show what it was in the day. Still can't break the SOB.

https://home.comcast.net/~cheg01/diamondback.html

Wow! Thank you sir for spending the time to type, exactly the stuff I need!

I'm going @ the headtube first as I'll run suspension. I saw a very nice gusseting on this bike.

https://www.bikeforums.net/mountain-biking/69808-maintenance-my-bike-pics.html

My friend who has ordered $2500 of Col tubes to build REAL chopper cycles ....no BS,
has pro built custom DH bike from the mid 90's, the BB is gusseted\ braced to the dominant side of his body. Serious build.
I'll probably go nutz and do the bb AND the joins @ the rear drops.

This will be later, after I ride it way out...then go medieval on it .
maybe the whole thing will fail....maybe not....I'm gonna build the gussets out of....exactly the same chromoly. Am either going to find wasted frame, or ask Tom through his company to find me some metal samples. This will incorperate the tensile recoil I hope. Thanks for the advice!



(I think the WHOLE BIKE is Logic tubing, not Prestige Logic, heavy guage from what information I've seen.)

I cannot believe you got Maxxis Hooks. You ride vert^and pipe?
The people I see running those tires jump onto walls.

Smoooth ride I bet.

He.