syncrosfan
Senior Retro Guru
I finished this one a couple of weeks ago but never found the time to post the pics.
From what I could gather this is a '94 P-23 since it's fully TIG-ed (only the upper seat-tube junction is fillet brazed) and based on the serial number a former Ritchey worker identified it as a '94 model year. Frame size is 20" (a little small for me hence the monster 150mm stem).
I bought it off Evilbay as a frame plus fork fuselage. The puzzling thing for me was the paint-job as it was the later team bike color scheme and not the '94 team fade which was different. If it was a re-spray it must have been done at the factory as everything was under clear-coat and quite well done. Unfortunately the paint was peeling off and there was some serious amount of rust at the top tube close to the seat-tube. I got a pretty decent price for it so I decided to put in some work and restore it. Now many member here would say that an original team fade would have been a better choice, but for some odd reason I took quite a liking to the newer style team-fade that was on the bike when I bought it and decided to stay with it... For the component choice it was pretty straight forward: lots of Ritchey stuff and M900.
Here's the component breakdown:
Frame + Fork: Ritchey
Headset: Chris King No Logo
Stem: Ritchey Force (custom painted to match the frame)
Seat-Post: Ritchey
Seat: Ritchey Vector Pro Ti
Handlebars: Ritchey Force-Lite
Brake levers: Ritchey logic
Shifters: XT rapid fire in Gorilla Billet perches
Grips: Ritchey
Brakes: Ritchey Logic cantilevers with Tune titanium and aluminum hardware and Avid tri-dangles
Cables: Shimano XTR
Chain-set: Ritchey Logic with Ritchey and Salsa chain-rings
Bottom bracket: Sampson Stratics Titanium
Front Derailleur: XTR M900
Rear Derailleur: XTR M900 with Avid Rollamajic
Cassette: Hugi System alloy cassette
Chain: Shimano HG 70
Wheels: XTR M900 hubs on Araya M400 rims
Tires: Ritchey Speedmax
Skewers: Ultimate Machine Ti
Pedals: Suntour XC pro with titanium spindles
Bolts: alloy and titanium
Weight of the build: 21.4 lbs
Assorted musings from the build: The Ritchey Cantis are a lot more of a pain to set up properly than XTR cantis but once set-up they work quite well. This is the only rigid bike I have and it is quite a lot of fun to ride even though it is on the smaller size for me (runs a lot twitchier than other bikes I have but in a fun way). It is quite light for a steel bike (but it is a Ritchey and they're known for light steel bikes). I know the Hugi alloy cassette is questionable but I had it and wanted to give it a try.
I originally wanted to do a Ritchey 2x9 drive-train but when trying to set-up the Sachs Ritchey shifters they were so sketchy that I changed plans and went with a Shimano Rapid-Fire setup and a 3x8 set-up. I really like the Ritchey Vector saddle as far as comfort goes.
From what I could gather this is a '94 P-23 since it's fully TIG-ed (only the upper seat-tube junction is fillet brazed) and based on the serial number a former Ritchey worker identified it as a '94 model year. Frame size is 20" (a little small for me hence the monster 150mm stem).
I bought it off Evilbay as a frame plus fork fuselage. The puzzling thing for me was the paint-job as it was the later team bike color scheme and not the '94 team fade which was different. If it was a re-spray it must have been done at the factory as everything was under clear-coat and quite well done. Unfortunately the paint was peeling off and there was some serious amount of rust at the top tube close to the seat-tube. I got a pretty decent price for it so I decided to put in some work and restore it. Now many member here would say that an original team fade would have been a better choice, but for some odd reason I took quite a liking to the newer style team-fade that was on the bike when I bought it and decided to stay with it... For the component choice it was pretty straight forward: lots of Ritchey stuff and M900.
Here's the component breakdown:
Frame + Fork: Ritchey
Headset: Chris King No Logo
Stem: Ritchey Force (custom painted to match the frame)
Seat-Post: Ritchey
Seat: Ritchey Vector Pro Ti
Handlebars: Ritchey Force-Lite
Brake levers: Ritchey logic
Shifters: XT rapid fire in Gorilla Billet perches
Grips: Ritchey
Brakes: Ritchey Logic cantilevers with Tune titanium and aluminum hardware and Avid tri-dangles
Cables: Shimano XTR
Chain-set: Ritchey Logic with Ritchey and Salsa chain-rings
Bottom bracket: Sampson Stratics Titanium
Front Derailleur: XTR M900
Rear Derailleur: XTR M900 with Avid Rollamajic
Cassette: Hugi System alloy cassette
Chain: Shimano HG 70
Wheels: XTR M900 hubs on Araya M400 rims
Tires: Ritchey Speedmax
Skewers: Ultimate Machine Ti
Pedals: Suntour XC pro with titanium spindles
Bolts: alloy and titanium
Weight of the build: 21.4 lbs
Assorted musings from the build: The Ritchey Cantis are a lot more of a pain to set up properly than XTR cantis but once set-up they work quite well. This is the only rigid bike I have and it is quite a lot of fun to ride even though it is on the smaller size for me (runs a lot twitchier than other bikes I have but in a fun way). It is quite light for a steel bike (but it is a Ritchey and they're known for light steel bikes). I know the Hugi alloy cassette is questionable but I had it and wanted to give it a try.
I originally wanted to do a Ritchey 2x9 drive-train but when trying to set-up the Sachs Ritchey shifters they were so sketchy that I changed plans and went with a Shimano Rapid-Fire setup and a 3x8 set-up. I really like the Ritchey Vector saddle as far as comfort goes.
