Ritchey Competition 1983
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It's always good to see an early mountain bike saved and authentically restored to its former glory. So congratulations on a job well done.Ductape":2duw7j5c said:
Here is some information regarding the use of the name 'Competition' by Ritchey, MountainBikes and others between 1980 and 1984, which may be of interest. Maybe some 'Stateside' members will be able add some more detail to the story?
Back in 1980 Gary Fisher and other MTB pioneers were also interested or involved in Cyclocross. Apparently Fisher had the idea of creating a lightweight fat tired Cyclocross bike that could be ridden over terrain that would be tricky for a standard Cyclocross machine. The problem with this was that the idea needed a lightweight but aggressively treaded tyre and rim, however the only usable fat tire back then was the very heavy Uniroyal Knobby that only fitted heavy 26" steel rims of the day.
In 1980 a letter from England arrived at Mountain Bikes in California. It was from English off-road bicycle pioneer Geoff Apps and among other things it told of the Finnish made knobbly snow tires that Apps used on his own bikes.
Below is a reply from Charlie Kelly dated September 1980:
So keen were Fisher and Kelly that they had Tom Ritchey build a frame in readiness for the tires' arrival. The letter below talks about what they subsequently achieved with this 650b wheeled Finnish Hakkapeliitta tired Ritchey:
Due to their racing success these bikes became known as the 'Competition'. Ritchey is reported to have made twelve of these 650b bikes and it appears that some were fitted with drop handlebars and others straight bars. Similar bikes using the Finnish tires imported from Apps were also built by a few other Marin frame-builders.
When lighter 26" tires and rims became available Ritchey switched to using those instead.
Due to these better cheaper 26" tires and rims Fisher stopped importing the Hakkapeliitta tyres from Apps around 1984. A situation not helped by the erratic supply and and high import costs from Finland.
Leonard Zinn discusses the original 1980s 650b wheeled, Ritchey Competition mountain bikes.
http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/07/ ... 50b_252332
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The only thing that I dont like about the whole build - catalog or not - is the TA chainset. It feels just a bit old fashioned on what was something so itchingly new.
legrandefromage":20thuhaa said:
Valid point, I wondered the same thing. Seems weird they would spec. it with TA's in 1983. The end of their era.
Other options were certainly available. I have never taken the time to put old cranks on the scale. Were the TA cranks and rings light?
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GrahamJohnWallace":3k3iffe2 said:
Ritchey was producing frames since the early 70's. "Mountainbikes" was just one of many chapters in his frame building career and far from his first. In the late 70's early 80's he was riding big wheeled bikes on and off pavement with a group of riders not connected to the Marin group. His connection to what was happening in Marin was supplying frames to Fisher/Kelley for their Mountainbikes company. I know Ritchey had built big wheeled bikes specifically for off road riding (call it whatever you want) in 1977 that predates the big wheeled frames you discuss in the above post.
No doubt the availability of quality 26" tires and aluminum rims that appeared thanks to the BMX Cruisers during this era, steered the future of mountain bike development for quite some time. There were other frame builders during the era doing the same thing with big wheels. Far from his first, I am fortunate to have an example of a 1984 Moots Mountaineer in the garage that Kent Eriksen built with enough clearance and adjustable cantilever mounts so it could use any wheel size up to 27".
The "Competition" name shows up a few times from Ritchey and Fisher. I know Ritchey used it to describe a bike built in 1977 long before any connection with Fisher. Of course there is the bike in the 1983 Mountainbikes catalog, and the ones you describe. Then Fisher uses it again in the 80's after the break up with Ritchey on a Fisher frame. It is a great name for a Bike.
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Re:
According to Tom Ritchey in the video below it was John Finley-Scott, inspired by 650b English Roughstuff who tasked Tom to build him a copy of one of these these bikes in the late 1970s.
The video shows a picture of the English Roughstuff or "Woodsie" bike that inspired J.F.S.
A likely interpretation of this is that the first 1977 650b Ritchey was in fact an English style Roughstuff bike with drop handlebars and relatively narrow road tyres. An 650b all-terrain bike yes, but not a fat tyred mountain bike. For that Ritchey would have to wait for Geoff Apps to send over Hakkapeliittas. In England these Roughstuff bikes date back to the 1950s, but without any supplies of fat knobbly tyres they never evolved beyond being gravel-track touring bikes. And were never what you would term 'competition' bikes.
http://vimeo.com/47207697
Relevant section from 8 minutes 30"
According to Tom Ritchey in the video below it was John Finley-Scott, inspired by 650b English Roughstuff who tasked Tom to build him a copy of one of these these bikes in the late 1970s.
The video shows a picture of the English Roughstuff or "Woodsie" bike that inspired J.F.S.
A likely interpretation of this is that the first 1977 650b Ritchey was in fact an English style Roughstuff bike with drop handlebars and relatively narrow road tyres. An 650b all-terrain bike yes, but not a fat tyred mountain bike. For that Ritchey would have to wait for Geoff Apps to send over Hakkapeliittas. In England these Roughstuff bikes date back to the 1950s, but without any supplies of fat knobbly tyres they never evolved beyond being gravel-track touring bikes. And were never what you would term 'competition' bikes.
http://vimeo.com/47207697
Relevant section from 8 minutes 30"
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No doubt Ritchey successfully made his mark in the cycling community as a racer first, a frame builder second. Then still at a relatively young age, he moved beyond frame building into creating and marketing components. As described in the video you linked above, by the mid 80's Ritchey had gone beyond relying on anyone else to supply tires and successfully created and marketed his own. I admire his accomplishments within the cycling community.
I have read what Apps contributed to the cycling community from the posts (mostly by you) I have read here on the RBUK forum, along with seeing his bikes that are posted on these pages. An eclectic and unique bike for sure. Hopefully he is/was able to have a long successful comfortable career while contributing to the cycling community.
As you enjoy researching Apps and his Clelands, So do I with the early Ritchey offerings. My passion is mostly about the early N. Ca. built bikes with an emphasis on Ritchey's in particular, but rest assured, I dig all bikes.
GrahamJohnWallace":3mk7mnas said:
No doubt Ritchey successfully made his mark in the cycling community as a racer first, a frame builder second. Then still at a relatively young age, he moved beyond frame building into creating and marketing components. As described in the video you linked above, by the mid 80's Ritchey had gone beyond relying on anyone else to supply tires and successfully created and marketed his own. I admire his accomplishments within the cycling community.
I have read what Apps contributed to the cycling community from the posts (mostly by you) I have read here on the RBUK forum, along with seeing his bikes that are posted on these pages. An eclectic and unique bike for sure. Hopefully he is/was able to have a long successful comfortable career while contributing to the cycling community.
As you enjoy researching Apps and his Clelands, So do I with the early Ritchey offerings. My passion is mostly about the early N. Ca. built bikes with an emphasis on Ritchey's in particular, but rest assured, I dig all bikes.
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I do believe that Tom Ritchie's contribution to mountain biking development is underrated in many of the mountain bike histories that I read.
Or maybe I am just reading the wrong books?
For it was his designs and not the Breezers that were responsible for creating what later became seen as the iconic look of the early mountain bikes. In doing so he established the proportions, geometry and riding position that were then copied by other makers worldwide. Many of whom knew next to nothing nothing about off-road cycling. He also established the mountain bike as a high quality premium product at a time when America was not known as a producer of high end bicycles.
In fact my first ever mountain bike in 1984 was a Ritchey copy. The design being openly copied by a UK bike manufacturer from Ritchey Montares used for a 1983 in a trans Sahara expedition.
Geoff Apps' foray into bicycle manufacture cost him more money than he ever made.
This was a combination of:
And whilst Apps' Cleland bikes were mentioned in many of the first books on mountain biking he/they have been written out of modern histories. Though Charlie Kelly on the Facebook for his new book acknowledges that by missing out Apps he also missed an opportunity to associate himself with the current 650b wheel trend when he said... "This 1981 letter from Gary Fisher and me to English MTB pioneer Geoff Apps shows clearly who was out in front of the 650-B tire size".
https://www.facebook.com/FatTireFlyer/p ... =3&theater
Ductape":2kapifqt said:
I do believe that Tom Ritchie's contribution to mountain biking development is underrated in many of the mountain bike histories that I read.
Or maybe I am just reading the wrong books?
For it was his designs and not the Breezers that were responsible for creating what later became seen as the iconic look of the early mountain bikes. In doing so he established the proportions, geometry and riding position that were then copied by other makers worldwide. Many of whom knew next to nothing nothing about off-road cycling. He also established the mountain bike as a high quality premium product at a time when America was not known as a producer of high end bicycles.
In fact my first ever mountain bike in 1984 was a Ritchey copy. The design being openly copied by a UK bike manufacturer from Ritchey Montares used for a 1983 in a trans Sahara expedition.
Geoff Apps' foray into bicycle manufacture cost him more money than he ever made.
This was a combination of:
- * indifference or even hostility from other UK bicycle manufacturers
* poor timing in making an expensive hand made product at the same time as inexpensive far eastern made mountain bikes started flooding into Britain
*and finally, being forced to end production in 1984, when his component supplier suddenly stopped supplying the French threaded freewheels that were essential to the Cleland design.
And whilst Apps' Cleland bikes were mentioned in many of the first books on mountain biking he/they have been written out of modern histories. Though Charlie Kelly on the Facebook for his new book acknowledges that by missing out Apps he also missed an opportunity to associate himself with the current 650b wheel trend when he said... "This 1981 letter from Gary Fisher and me to English MTB pioneer Geoff Apps shows clearly who was out in front of the 650-B tire size".
https://www.facebook.com/FatTireFlyer/p ... =3&theater
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