#Ritchey

tag

John’s 1983 Ritchey Everest MTB: A Happenstance Acquisition

Reportage By: john watson

John’s 1983 Ritchey Everest MTB: A Happenstance Acquisition

What’s this? Another grey, size 23″ Ritchey? Well… yes!

Over the past year, I’ve revisited my love of handmade, vintage bikes and have honed in with particular interest on the work of Tom Ritchey, a builder at the fore of early mountain bike design. My goal in this case study of sorts is to provide a few examples of the major shifts in Ritchey’s production, primarily through the 1980s, with a single specimen representing these stages. My catalog of Ritchey frames includes a recently acquired anonymous 1980 model devoid of serial number, a 1985 Annapurna (arguably the finest bike model Tom ever brazed), and a 1982 Tam that is now being replaced by this 1983 Everest.

Earlier this year, we looked at my 1982 Tamalpais, built to catalog spec and in pristine condition. Yet one thing never really sat well with me about the build: the Bullmoose bars. You see, these early Ritcheys had a very unique Bullmoose that was more complex than the quill stem Bullmoose bars found in the late 1980s.

It’s a long story but one I’ll unravel here…

#crossneverleft: How to Throw a Cyclocross Race

Radar By: Fergus Tanaka & Brian Biggs

#crossneverleft: How to Throw a Cyclocross Race

Are you missing cyclocross? Maybe it’s February and you haven’t reached your quota of mud in your eye, or maybe it’s June and doing a gravel race is just 7 hours too long – do they even know what a cowbell is in Kansas? Why rely on your local promoter to line the local park with caution tape when you can easily do the same yourself? Organizing your own race is not only more simple than you think, but a great way to get people together and build community!

John’s 1982 Ritchey Tamalpais Mountain Bike

Reportage By: john watson

John’s 1982 Ritchey Tamalpais Mountain Bike

Vintage mountain bikes have a special place in our hearts over here at The Radavist. From vintage klunkers to fillet-brazed beauts, it just seems like bikes from the early years of mountain biking were ahead of their time in a lot of ways. When the pandemic hit, I found myself browsing forums, eBay, and emailing collectors to build up some vintage rides. I was inundated with all the tech that was coming out, yet wasn’t available to consumers, and just felt like revisiting my passion for old bikes would reinvigorate my love of 26″ wheels and friction shifting. This Ritchey is the most recent of three bikes that I built up over the past few years in the pandemic and was by far the biggest undertaking for me. The process included painting some Tom Ritchey fillet Bullmoose bars to match and fixing some shoddy paint on the frame itself.

This bike needed a complete build kit, as I bought it as a frameset, so I spent a lot of time speccing the build while utilizing some of the NOS components I’ve been sitting on for a few years. The end product is something I’m truly proud of and Cari and I had a lot of fun with the photos here, so enjoy!

Readers’ Rides: Luke’s 1985 Ritchey Ascent

Radar

Readers’ Rides: Luke’s 1985 Ritchey Ascent

Tom Ritchey is one of the founders of mountain biking and this year commemorates 50 years of Ritchey frames. That’s a huge milestone for any framebuilder and in that time, the brand has produced some lovely models, like the Ascent. Luke built up a beautiful Ascent and sent it in to be featured. If you’re a fan of Ritchey, don’t miss this one!

Bikes We Liked from the 2022 Sea Otter Classic

Reportage By: Josh Weinberg & John Watson

Bikes We Liked from the 2022 Sea Otter Classic

The good ol’ Sea Otter Classic can be an overwhelming experience with its plethora of products and bikes. Here at The Radavist, we try to sift through the dirt to find the chunks of gold, which is what we did this year, profiling a selection of bikes from vintage, to new, including some randoms we found meandering the wind-blown aisles of this lovely event. Check out some beauts below!

Ben Frederick’s “Love your Brain” Fundraiser and Jersey Pre-Order

Radar

Ben Frederick’s “Love your Brain” Fundraiser and Jersey Pre-Order

Earlier this fall we featured Fergus Tanaka’s touching story about Ben Frederick‘s fundraiser with Love your Brain, a non-profit organization that advocates for traumatic brain injury relief and recovery. Ben is also raffling off one of his custom Ritchey Swiss Cross frames. We’re bumping this today in hopes of elevating Ben’s raffle and getting more eyes on this project. The raffle runs through the end of this year and tickets for the frame and other prizes can be purchased from Ben’s website. Check out some more photos below!

Ritchey Pings D&D Cycles on Its New Sunset Fade Outback

Radar

Ritchey Pings D&D Cycles on Its New Sunset Fade Outback

In 2016, we launched the Heritage Paint program for customers to have their favorite Ritchey painted by our original paint master, Rick Stefani of D&D Cycles, in one of the four iconic Ritchey colorways he developed. On offer were Camo, Urban Camo, Team Fade, and Sunset Fade.

Sunset Fade was a quiet sleeper that proved to be a fan favorite. The gentle gradation from sun yellow to rich navel-orange-ochre sang of long summer rides followed by cold drinks and high-fives. What better frame to apply this paint job to than the ever-popular Outback (check out Morgan’s exceptional review!)

These frames have just shipped to suppliers worldwide, so availability will vary from tomorrow to two weeks depending on the region. Customers can get theirs from either their local bike shop or RitcheyLogic.com for just $1699, and it pairs exceptionally well with our Classic line of components.

Ben Frederick’s Ritchey Swiss Cross Disc and Love Your Brain

Radar By: Fergus Tanaka

Ben Frederick’s Ritchey Swiss Cross Disc and Love Your Brain

I was introduced to Ben Frederick by my predecessor at Ritchey, Sean Coffey, in the summer of 2015. “Get a load of this kid,” he said while showing me what appeared to be someone not only racing the pro/UCI cross field on a cantilevered steel bike but easily on the podium of these races as well. The iconic red of the Ritchey Swiss Cross sticking out amongst the sea of carbon contenders dressed in every color but that made it easy to spot him moving up through the field. “We’re sponsoring him now,” Sean said, and possibly the easiest introduction to a  soon-to-be friend as I’ve ever had.

Ritchey Outback Review: An Instant Classic (2024 Update)

Reportage By: Morgan Taylor

Ritchey Outback Review: An Instant Classic (2024 Update)

Over the years, having had the chance to ride a lot of different bikes, I’ve whittled my personal preferences down to a few assumptions about geometry and materials. Based on these preconceptions, I wasn’t sure I’d be into the Ritchey Outback.

Gravel bikes with carbon forks are pretty predictable in my experience: more capable and adaptable than the ‘cross bikes they evolved from, but too stiff to be enjoyable on rough terrain or long days in the saddle. Gravel bikes have also evolved to have longer rear ends than ‘cross bikes, and yet the Outback has the longest rear end of any performance-oriented drop-bar bike I’ve ridden.

I will also say that I’ve learned to keep an open mind about this stuff, and in the past couple of years I’m finding myself excited to ride bikes that don’t fit into neat and predictable categories. The chance to review oddball bikes helps me expand my experience and therefore become a better bike reviewer. I’m open to being surprised!

Well, there must be exceptions to rules and there must be challenges to preconceptions, and the Ritchey Outback fits into both of those categories for me.

Rapha Rapha
Shimano Shimano
Otso Cycles Otso Cycles
1Up 1Up
Shimano Shimano
Brooks Brooks
Paul Paul
RiG'd Supply RiG'd Supply
Leatt Leatt
Rivendell Rivendell
SimWorks SimWorks
Peak Design Peak Design