Red Kite Prayer features the Sam Hopkins Ritchey

Jim Merz has posted photos of this bike on the Classic Rendezvous mailing list a few times, and now its on Red Kite Prayer for those who dont move in those exclusive circles.

Back on the horse

When New Zealand went into lockdown I gave myself a good talking to about financial responsibility in uncertain times, then promptly bought this Ritchey frame.
One might ask why I need more than one, and I may yet try to justify that in a future post.

Ritchey rethink.

Given the high expectations that I had when I got my late 70s Ritchey frame in 2010, it might come as no surprise that I was initially a bit disappointed.
The 62cm frame has a short top tube for its size, so I figured that a 15cm stem would provide the reach that I was used to on my Ron Cooper.

Initially I was happy enough that I replaced the Salsa stem that I fitted originally with a more classic looking Nitto Pearl, and swapped the shallow, short reach Nitto 185 bars for a swoopier set of Nitto 175s.

This got me suitably stretched out, but I was never 100% satisfied with the way the bike turned.
In fast sweeping turns it railed a nice tight line, but in slow corners the front wheel would turn in and try to stand the bike up, which was occasionally alarming.

Being unwilling to admit to mistakes, even to myself, I persevered for about 18 months, then quietly swapped the Nitto stem for a fluted SR Royal 13.5 stem.

The slow speed handling is now predictable, and the shorter reach lets me ride on the hoods more.

As a bonus, the stem matched the SR Royal ESL seatpost that I had already fitted.

The final piece of the puzzle was finding a plausible set of Ritchey decals on ebay. 
The decal set came with detailed instructions which took a bit of time to digest but, by following the instructions,  the decals went on without a hitch.


The Ritchey has had few sets of wheels.
Lately I have been using 28 spoke Campagnolo Record Strada rims laced to wide flange Record hubs and shod with Conti Competition 25mm tubulars.
This wheelset is not strictly period correct, but it is too nice to be just lying around in my shed.












Now that the handling and fit are sorted I have had some good rides on the Ritchey, notably a gallop around the Ridge Rd loop with a bunch of weapons grade women friends, and last weekends Tour de Ranges.
In both rides the Ritchey kept performing long my turkey timer had popped.

 

Tom Ritchey, Waikaraka Park cycleway

Mt Richmond

Saturday morning, I took my under-utilised cyclocross  bike for an outing.

Avoidance strategies

Condor, Ron Cooper, Ritchey Swiss Cross, 1995 Benson, Ritchey fixed gear, GT Peace 29r

This weekend I have to assemble road bike from  box of parts so that CTB can ride it next weekend.
A simple enough task that I figured I could swap the Brooks Professional saddle off my '59 Condor onto the Ron Cooper before I got started.

Replacing a worn out Brooks Pro with another, more salubrious, example presented no great challenge; and nor did replacing it on the Condor with a nice 1960s Brooks B17.
The B17 looked a bit grubby, so I gave it a scrub with saddle soap, and when it had dried, a slathering of Proofide.

After lunch, other, similar, tasks seemed to become pressing.
My red road bike appeared unconscionably dirty, as did my Ritchey Swiss Cross. The Ritchey fixed gear bike was streaked with wintry road muck, unused since Gayle decreed she would be riding gears on our next ride and I, bringing only the blunt pocketknife of my athletic ability to that particular gunfight, followed suit.
These cleaned, it was apparent the the 29er singlespeed, neglected since my last visit to Rotorua with CTB, could not remain encrusted with dirt.
My vintage Ritchey missed getting photographed, but got a wash and had its tubular wheels swapped for a pair of nice clinchers.

Eventually I got CTB's Giant into the stand but I needed a beer. Fortunately, tomorrow is another day.

At last, my preciousss

Friday morning, a month and two days after I had paid for it, and seven years after I started looking for one, I collected the Ritchey frame from NZ Post at Mangere Airport.
It had apparently been there for two weeks, and might have lingered longer had I not availed myself of NZ Post's online Customer Enquiry Form.

Friday evening I set to work.
When building a new bike, I like to get my position sorted first, so I plugged in a dummy headset and fitted a seat and seatpost, and handlebar and stem.
The frame is a 62, 1cm larger than advertised, so with the seat at the correct height there is only a fistful of seatpost showing.
The 56.5cm toptube is extremely short for such a large frame so I didn't have to think twice about using a 15cm Salsa stem that was on standby for the tandem.

With the ergonomics sorted, I installed a Greatest Hits selection  of 70s and 80s Suntour that I had been fettling while the frame was in transit.

A set of 70s Cyclone deraillers came from CTB, the rest is Superbe ranging from 1978 to 83.

 I had built a set of Araya 20A clincher rims onto Superbe RH-1000 small flange hubs, but the 122mm rear dropout spacing is  narrower than I was expecting so my old faithful 36h tubular wheels were pressed into service.
With Clement Campionato del Mundo tubulars it is impossible to dislike a bike with these wheels.

Saturday morning, I wrapped the bars with white Fizik Microtex tape, soldered the cable ends and set out for a test ride.
Needless to say, it rained.

MORE PHOTOS

Headset	Cane Creek 100 Classic
Bottom bracket	Sugino Mighty
Crankset	Suntour Superbe Cw-1000 175mm, TA 41 & SR Royal 53
Pedals	Suntour Superbe Pro track PL-2000, with Christophe aluminium toeclips
Brakes	Suntour Superbe CB-4000 standard reach
Brake levers	Suntour Superbe CB-3200
Shiftlevers	Suntour Superbe Pro LD-3250 power ratchet
Front derailler	Suntour Cyclone FD-1300
Rear derailler	Suntour Cyclone RD-1700
Hubs	Campagnolo Record, wide flange 36h
Front rim	Fiamme Ergal
Rear rim	Mavic Monthlery Legere
Freewheel	Suntour Ultra 6, 14-24 or 14-26
Saddle	Ideale 2002 Titanium
Seatpost	SR Royal ESL 27.2mm
Stem	Salsa 15cm
Handlebars	Nitto 185 44cm
Handlebar tape	Fizik Microtex

The Ritchey is here

Collected this morning from the NZ Post depot at Auckland International airport.

Mine at last!

This morning I won the ebay auction for this lugless Tom Ritchey road frame.
I have been looking for one since about 2003 but this is the first one I have found in my size.
According to the vendor, it dates to the late 70s. With fully lugless, fillet brazed construction and a sloping fork crown it bears a strong resemblance to the lugless Ritchey frame from the Palo Alto Bicycles catalog.

Now that I have won the auction, I can start accumulating parts.
My plan is to use a set of original Suntour Cyclone deraillers that CTB gave me, with early Suntour Superbe cranks, brakes, shiftlevers and hubs.
The rear dropout spacing is 125mm, so a 7 speed drivetrain should be possible.
I have a dilemna regarding bars stem & seatpost, whether to go for period correct parts; or to use my 1990s Nitto-made Ritchey WCS stem possibly with a Nitto S83 seatpost.

MORE PHOTOS

Tempting...

2610_3
Originally uploaded by bensondoc

but a couple of centimetres too small, this 1976 Tom Ritchey road bike seriously caught my attention when I spotted it on ebay last week.
Despite going through the same process a few times before, I spent a while proving that there is no way I can set up a traditional 57cm road bike to fit me. Maybe if I was 20 years younger...

ebay auction #140297305713
The same photos on flickr

My unrequited desire for a Tom Ritchey road frame

The arrival of this frame (Item number: 130210111168) on ebay yesterday reminded me of the tragic lack of a handbuilt Tom Ritchey road frame in my collection.

If you have a 60-63cm frame like this (lugged or 'fake lugged' head tube & seat cluster; lugless bottom bracket with the parkbench chainstay bridge), don't think twice, email me now.

International shipping is not a problem.

My Flickr gallery of Ritchey road frames, variously culled from ebay and other sources.