1983 Tom Ritchey - first in the UK?

[hmmhmm]

A couple of photos of parts of the Tom Ritchey that Norman Hiller of Covent Garden Cycles brought back from the USA.
Photos dated March 1983, including the following captions:
-Specially designed handlebars
-Suntour Mighty shift levers
-Brake levers from a motorcycle
-Simplex long-cage derailleur
-TA 26-36-47 chainset
-Bear-trap pedals

 

[Ductape]

Frame and build look very 1982. MountainBikes II frame. Dig it.

 

[hmmhmm]

Re:

Found a contact sheet with a few more pix.

 

[Repack Rider]

Re:

This is the first Ritchey sent to the UK, to Richard Ballantine and Richard Grant. It had a Tange fork, and was painted gray.

 

[hmmhmm]

Re: Re:

This is the first Ritchey sent to the UK, to Richard Ballantine and Richard Grant. It had a Tange fork, and was painted gray.

Maybe so, but Norman Hiller brought one back from California himself after a holiday there. It might have pre-dated the one shown on the magazine but I didn't submit my 'off-road test' article and photos until March. I can't remember which magazine published it.

 

[Ductape]

Ironically I was just reading the March/April 1983 issue of FTF and CK talks about this rag above in the editorial. He also talks about getting a postcard from two English cyclists Tim Gartside and Peter Murphy who were riding their Ritchey's (implied) across the Sahara. I actually came back to this thread to see if the names matched.

 

[Repack Rider]

Here's a link to a .pdf of the 1983 article.

 

[Giom6]

Re:

Cool