JamesP
Specialized Fan
Really excited to show you all my first retro bike rebuild.
I originally bought this bike back in 1995 when I was 19 from our LBS (Plympton Cycles) down here in Plymouth.
If I remember rightly I was first looking at buying a Sunn, from another store, but once I spotted the Purple Team RX with the Tioga’s butterscotch psycho’s fitted to it, my chose was made.
I remember paying the instalments each weekend once I was paid, and the excitement when I only had one more payment to make before the bike could be picked up. (My grandparents gave me the money, so I could walk back down and collect the bike) As you can tell there is a lot of history with this bike, which has made this rebuild really enjoyable to do.
I think the first upgrade I made back in the day, was the Tioga Psycho’s. They just seemed to soft, leading to loads of punctures. I know I didn’t go straight to the Michelin Wild Grippers, but can’t remember the make what I put on. (Panaracer or Hutchinson seem to ring some bells)
Most of the other upgrades were highly influenced by watching DIRT, the DCD, Crud Catcher and Cog Hog and the riser DH bars. I remember swapping from my SPD’s to a pair of anodised red Odyssey Shark bite pedals and starting to wear Airwalks / Vans instead of the Nike Poobah’s. The Shark bites aren’t my original pair, but I had to get them again as they match up to the various scares on my legs.
When I first started thinking about rebuilding the bike back in 2015, for some crazy reason I ditched the Halson Inversion forks, because they were in a bad way. (Still cant believe I did that) and thought I’d replace them with forks I would have upgraded to back in the 90’s. I knew it would have to be a pair of Rock Shox Judy’s. The search for a pair with a 1” steerer was tricky and then realised I could of repaired the Hanson’s left me feeling gutted I had thrown them out.
This left me stripping the rest of the bike and boxing them up for a later date.
February this year, I was just browsing EBay while having lunch at work. Then I found them, a pair of 1995 Rock Shox Judy SL’s with a 1” steerer, they did come with a red v-brake brace, and not the yellow cantilever brace I needed, but I could deal with that later. (Later given to me by the kind EBayer when I picked up the green DCD from him).
It was great to see forks and a front wheel back on the bike after many years of just a frame and rear wheel hanging up in the garage.
Now I had the forks, the only big issues I could see was removing the seat post and bottom bracket from the frame. I concentrated on the seat post first by squirting with WD-40 before riding to work, then turning the frame upside down and spraying into the down tube bottle cage holes in the evening. I eventually removed it, it didn’t look healthy, and also I needed a new saddle, so I replaced it with the X-lite post as well as getting the Planet X saddle.
I was concerned about removing the BB as I wasn’t sure if it had ever been removed.
I followed the same routine as with the seat post, and by the weekend I was ready to try and remove it. To my surprise, the plastic drive side retainer came off with no problem; the non-drive side was a different story.
My Park tool BB removal tool was to long to fit any sort of bolt into, to help keep it in place. After some research I found that the Halfords BB tool is stumpy, so you can put the crank bolt into the end to lock it on, after a bit of help from a breaker bar I managed to remove it.
Once I knew the seat post and bottom bracket was removed, I started to strip the parts down to clean and rebuild. Also searching for the replacement parts I knew I had on the bike. I decided to rebuild the bike as I had it, and not a build as it would of been from new.
My original idea was to get new decals made and respray the frame. But after reading a post by @ededwards, about when to respray or not, I chose not to respray and preserve the patina, which having this bike from new is my history riding the bike. The only part I was going to re-paint was the cantilever brace, I read on RB that the Fiat Broom Yellow colour was a close match.
I haven’t found any other info on the Team RX, or even seen any other bikes, only the MBUK review scans @doctorstewie and @boy"O"boy posted.
If you look at the MBUK review, you can see they called it Team RS in the title by mistake. Later on they do refer to it as Team RX.
I’ve really enjoyed rebuilding the bike; it has jogged a lot of great memories.
More pictures to follow
I intend to go for a ride soon, but i'll put some different tires on to preserve the Wild Grippers that are starting to show their age.
List of Parts
(FN) = From New. (OU) = Original Upgrade. (RR) = Rebuild Replacement to match original upgrade.
Frame: 1995 Ridgeback Team RS Competition (FN)
Fork: 1995 Rock Shox SL (RR)
Headset: Dia-Compe Aheadset (FN)
Stem: Standard (no branding) (FN)
Handlebar: Club Roost (OU)
Grips: Club Roost (RR)
Brakes: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Brake Pads: Kool Stop Eagle (OU) / (RR)
Cantilever cable hangers: Tektro (OU)
Brake Boosters: Tektro T-2S (RR)
Brake Levers: Shimano DX (OU)
Shifters: Shimano STX RC Rapidfire (RR)
Front Derailleur: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Rear Derailleur: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Cassette: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Chain: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Cranks: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Chainrings: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Bottom Bracket: Shimano BB - LP25 (FN)
Pedals: Odyssey Shark Bites (RR)
Hubs: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Hub Skewers: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Rims: Araya TM-18 (FN)
Tyres: Michelin WildGripper JET S (OU)
Saddle: Planet X Kevlar (RR)
Seatpost: X-Lite Classic (RR)
Extras:
Mr Crud, Cog Hog (OU)
Mr Crud, DCD (RR)
Mr Crud, Crud Catcher (RR)
I originally bought this bike back in 1995 when I was 19 from our LBS (Plympton Cycles) down here in Plymouth.
If I remember rightly I was first looking at buying a Sunn, from another store, but once I spotted the Purple Team RX with the Tioga’s butterscotch psycho’s fitted to it, my chose was made.
I remember paying the instalments each weekend once I was paid, and the excitement when I only had one more payment to make before the bike could be picked up. (My grandparents gave me the money, so I could walk back down and collect the bike) As you can tell there is a lot of history with this bike, which has made this rebuild really enjoyable to do.
I think the first upgrade I made back in the day, was the Tioga Psycho’s. They just seemed to soft, leading to loads of punctures. I know I didn’t go straight to the Michelin Wild Grippers, but can’t remember the make what I put on. (Panaracer or Hutchinson seem to ring some bells)
Most of the other upgrades were highly influenced by watching DIRT, the DCD, Crud Catcher and Cog Hog and the riser DH bars. I remember swapping from my SPD’s to a pair of anodised red Odyssey Shark bite pedals and starting to wear Airwalks / Vans instead of the Nike Poobah’s. The Shark bites aren’t my original pair, but I had to get them again as they match up to the various scares on my legs.
When I first started thinking about rebuilding the bike back in 2015, for some crazy reason I ditched the Halson Inversion forks, because they were in a bad way. (Still cant believe I did that) and thought I’d replace them with forks I would have upgraded to back in the 90’s. I knew it would have to be a pair of Rock Shox Judy’s. The search for a pair with a 1” steerer was tricky and then realised I could of repaired the Hanson’s left me feeling gutted I had thrown them out.
This left me stripping the rest of the bike and boxing them up for a later date.
February this year, I was just browsing EBay while having lunch at work. Then I found them, a pair of 1995 Rock Shox Judy SL’s with a 1” steerer, they did come with a red v-brake brace, and not the yellow cantilever brace I needed, but I could deal with that later. (Later given to me by the kind EBayer when I picked up the green DCD from him).
It was great to see forks and a front wheel back on the bike after many years of just a frame and rear wheel hanging up in the garage.
Now I had the forks, the only big issues I could see was removing the seat post and bottom bracket from the frame. I concentrated on the seat post first by squirting with WD-40 before riding to work, then turning the frame upside down and spraying into the down tube bottle cage holes in the evening. I eventually removed it, it didn’t look healthy, and also I needed a new saddle, so I replaced it with the X-lite post as well as getting the Planet X saddle.
I was concerned about removing the BB as I wasn’t sure if it had ever been removed.
I followed the same routine as with the seat post, and by the weekend I was ready to try and remove it. To my surprise, the plastic drive side retainer came off with no problem; the non-drive side was a different story.
My Park tool BB removal tool was to long to fit any sort of bolt into, to help keep it in place. After some research I found that the Halfords BB tool is stumpy, so you can put the crank bolt into the end to lock it on, after a bit of help from a breaker bar I managed to remove it.
Once I knew the seat post and bottom bracket was removed, I started to strip the parts down to clean and rebuild. Also searching for the replacement parts I knew I had on the bike. I decided to rebuild the bike as I had it, and not a build as it would of been from new.
My original idea was to get new decals made and respray the frame. But after reading a post by @ededwards, about when to respray or not, I chose not to respray and preserve the patina, which having this bike from new is my history riding the bike. The only part I was going to re-paint was the cantilever brace, I read on RB that the Fiat Broom Yellow colour was a close match.
I haven’t found any other info on the Team RX, or even seen any other bikes, only the MBUK review scans @doctorstewie and @boy"O"boy posted.
If you look at the MBUK review, you can see they called it Team RS in the title by mistake. Later on they do refer to it as Team RX.
I’ve really enjoyed rebuilding the bike; it has jogged a lot of great memories.
More pictures to follow
I intend to go for a ride soon, but i'll put some different tires on to preserve the Wild Grippers that are starting to show their age.
List of Parts
(FN) = From New. (OU) = Original Upgrade. (RR) = Rebuild Replacement to match original upgrade.
Frame: 1995 Ridgeback Team RS Competition (FN)
Fork: 1995 Rock Shox SL (RR)
Headset: Dia-Compe Aheadset (FN)
Stem: Standard (no branding) (FN)
Handlebar: Club Roost (OU)
Grips: Club Roost (RR)
Brakes: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Brake Pads: Kool Stop Eagle (OU) / (RR)
Cantilever cable hangers: Tektro (OU)
Brake Boosters: Tektro T-2S (RR)
Brake Levers: Shimano DX (OU)
Shifters: Shimano STX RC Rapidfire (RR)
Front Derailleur: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Rear Derailleur: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Cassette: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Chain: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Cranks: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Chainrings: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Bottom Bracket: Shimano BB - LP25 (FN)
Pedals: Odyssey Shark Bites (RR)
Hubs: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Hub Skewers: Shimano STX RC (FN)
Rims: Araya TM-18 (FN)
Tyres: Michelin WildGripper JET S (OU)
Saddle: Planet X Kevlar (RR)
Seatpost: X-Lite Classic (RR)
Extras:
Mr Crud, Cog Hog (OU)
Mr Crud, DCD (RR)
Mr Crud, Crud Catcher (RR)
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I was planning on taking it back to the trails I use to ride it on. Will definitely post some photos 
