The Radavist

It’s cold and blustery in Santa Fe these days so, much like Hailey, I’m riding more pavement than I’d normally like and have put riding the mountainous trails on the shelf for the moment. Winters are great for water levels in the west, especially ones like the winter we’re having this year. Not much gets me out of the house on windy days, and battling headwinds in a 20º “real feel” is not this desert rat’s cup of tea.

Yet, living in a tourist hub, I often get hit up to meet with travelers passing through town. Sometimes, they want to catch up over a cup of coffee, other times; they have a bike they want me to see. The other morning, I got a message from Brian, who was returning from the Baja Divide with a unique bike in tow…

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!