An Original Ritchey

Repack Rider

Senior Retro Guru
I put this on MTBR so I should leave it here also. It helps to understand this bike if you have seen "Klunkerz."

Tom Ritchey built his first run of three bikes in 1979, one for himself, one for Gary Fisher, and one for a friend of Gary's. Over the next few months he built nine more, but he found that no one he knew wanted this kind of bike, so he asked Gary Fisher if he could help sell them, and Gary in turn asked me to help him sell them, and things got really crazy after that.

This is one of those nine bikes that Tom dumped in our laps in the fall of 1979 as framesets and forks, and Gary and I bought the parts and assembled the bikes and then found a few friends who could afford expensive "klunkerz."

The bike belongs to a longtime friend who is now a fire captain in the same department where Otis Guy recently retired. The owner helped me put on the last Repack downhill races 25 years ago.

Some of the original equipment is gone, the too-fragile by half Huret Duopar derailleur and TA crankset long ago consigned to the drawer, the Bullmoose bars upgraded to Steve Potts bar and stem. Thumbshifters are original, Magura lever handles have been replaced a few times but are the same configuration, saddle is original Avocet Touring II. I built the wheels myself almost 30 years ago, Phil Wood QR hubs and UKAI 2.125 rims. I must have known what I was doing, because they are the only set the bike has had.

Paint is not original, Ritchey supplied the decals.

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Wow. Would love to open the garage door to that every morning. Those fillet joints are lovely.
Couple of questions CK. What cantis are those and any chance of some pics? Are the tyres Uniroyals? And finally do you have another set of those wheels kicking around :LOL: ?

Great bike, thanks for sharing it with us.

Si
 
Incredible - I honestly didn't know such bikes were made as far back as the late 70's (shows my ignorance !) - I really thought that classic MTB look was from the 80's onwards...amazing !

Do you know what tubing has been used (I too love the bronze fillet welds !)

Very pleased to hear that the wheels are still going strong.

And the tyres look funny !

I'm guessing they're Mafac cantilever brakes ?
 
Dr S":3ftmf2yu said:
Couple of questions CK. What cantis are those and any chance of some pics? Are the tyres Uniroyals? And finally do you have another set of those wheels kicking around.

Brakes are indeed Mafac TANDEM cantilevers. I saw a set on eBay and the bid was about $15 last I looked, but it will probably go up. The tandem brake differed from the cyclocross brake in that it has a longer lever arm and a bigger shoe.

I'll have to check on the tyres, but I believe they are knock-offs from a company that bought the Uni molds.

There are not too many wheel sets like this one. Although tyres come in 2.125 widths, they fit on a 1.75 rim, which is lighter and has become the standard. Those Ukai rims are a true 2.125 and they are so stout that no amount of bad wheel building can keep them from being round. Good luck on finding a set of Phil hubs.
 
Repack Rider":naoug903 said:
Dr S":naoug903 said:
Couple of questions CK. What cantis are those and any chance of some pics? Are the tyres Uniroyals? And finally do you have another set of those wheels kicking around.

Brakes are indeed Mafac TANDEM cantilevers. I saw a set on eBay and the bid was about $15 last I looked, but it will probably go up. The tandem brake differed from the cyclocross brake in that it has a longer lever arm and a bigger shoe.

I'll have to check on the tyres, but I believe they are knock-offs from a company that bought the Uni molds.

There are not too many wheel sets like this one. Although tyres come in 2.125 widths, they fit on a 1.75 rim, which is lighter and has become the standard. Those Ukai rims are a true 2.125 and they are so stout that no amount of bad wheel building can keep them from being round. Good luck on finding a set of Phil hubs.

I found a slightly later pair of Phil hubs without too much trouble- the Ukai rims are the thing I'm struggling with- a while since there has been any on evilbay. I have been outbid on 4 pairs of Araya 7X the last few weeks alone. Starting to think the bike won't be ready when Klunkers is shown at the Cinema in town- my target for getting it rideable :cry:

Cannot decide on the brakes- I have drums and early Dia-Compes on standby. Must decide this week as I have to do the braze ons if I go rim brake :? :?

Cheers
Si
 
1988_Ben":rrv72y91 said:
Incredible - I honestly didn't know such bikes were made as far back as the late 70's (shows my ignorance !) - I really thought that classic MTB look was from the 80's onwards...amazing !
This bike served as the template for every mass-produced MTB until about 1985. Specialized did the R&D for the Stumpjumper for the price of four bikes, and the Univega Alpine Sport, the second mass-produced bike on the market was designed by a Ritchey owner.

1988_Ben":rrv72y91 said:
Do you know what tubing has been used (I too love the bronze fillet welds)
Tubing came on a big flatbed truck and was dumped unceremoniously in the driveway. Because we were not using a standard tubing set, Tom just ordered 20-foot sections of Chrome-Moly tubing in the preferred diameters and cut them to fit. Fork blades were Reynolds Old Continental Oval, but that was the only tubing that was specific to bikes.
 
Thanks for this great info Mr Repack !

I just had a look through some old books, and found my 1982 International Cycling Guide, which featured a similar bike in the listing of California frame builders (see below for scan).

One thing I can't quite believe is that the bike in this photo has Specialized StumpJumper tyres ??!! But again, maybe I'm just not aware of how much MTBs had evolved by 1982.

You can see the Mafac brakes. I wonder if that's one of your wheels ?!

This book also has a wonderful article about mountain biking written by Charlie Kelly. If anyone's interested, I'll be happy to scan it in, and post it on this website somewhere. There's a whole treasure trove of colour adverts and articles.

BTW, I was only 7 years old in '82, hence my very retrospective interest in the origins of MTBs. I think I was riding a Raleigh Striker at the time !
 

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1988_Ben":3r1t2haz said:
Thanks for this great info Mr Repack !

I just had a look through some old books, and found my 1982 International Cycling Guide, which featured a similar bike in the listing of California frame builders (see below for scan).

One thing I can't quite believe is that the bike in this photo has Specialized StumpJumper tyres ??!! But again, maybe I'm just not aware of how much MTBs had evolved by 1982.
There is a nice picture of an 82 Stumpjumper tyre + bike for that matter on MOMBAT
http://mombat.org/1982_Stumpjumper_1055.htm
 

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The Stumpjumper tyre was the first product from Specialized for the off-road market. It appeared in 1981 and the first advert for it ran in the Fat Tire Flyer. Specialized did not even supply artwork, so our house artist drew a tyre. My regular computer, which has that image on it, is in the shop right now but when it gets back I will post the 1981 ad for the Stumpjumper tyre.
 
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