Scabby Ritchey Ultra Dirt Drop Build

[dirttorpedo]

So the Ritchey Ultra is my "unicorn" bike. This is the first mountain bike I saw that I coveted deeply when I was just getting interested in cycling as an adult. It cost about twice the price of my first mountain bike - a Rocky Mountain Fusion - and it came with the complete Shimano XT groupset - in black! This one is black, but the one I'm familiar with was a lovely pearlescent white and the black XT bits looked stunning on it.

I picked this sad looking example from a member here a few years back and have struggled with what to do with it. I built it up as a commuter / ride the dikes with the kids bike initially and have thought about selling it to thin the herd. I consider it my shits n giggles bike now and have built it up as a drop bar gravel bike with some Suntour Command shifters, nitto dirt drop stem and Soma Portola bars.

It haven't really taken it for a long ride yet - I think the shifters need to move up the bars a bit to make the ergonomics just right.

 

[Prodigal Son]

That´s brilliant.

 

[Tsundere]

You just rekindled my love of dirt drop bikes, this is so nice, it would look nicer in white though.

 

[dirttorpedo]

You just rekindled my love of dirt drop bikes, this is so nice, it would look nicer in white though.

Since posting I tore it down, stuck it in the rafters and dragged it back out to rebuild it (likely similar to the posted photo). I have toyed seriously with a strip and fresh powdercoat in white to match the fork. Although I'm torn with powdercoating the whole thing black to respect its original spec.

Of course, to make it worthwhile investing in it I have to decide to commit to it long term. It's the same problem I'm having with my Cinder Cone and my Zaskar.