Early 80's Ridgeback MTB Only One ?

Hi Guys , I've been asked to start a new topic in Readers Wife's, oh sorry, Readers Bikes, yes meant Readers Bikes (old habits die hard) I am now the proud owner of an early Ridgeback in all original condition down to tyres and possibly brake blocks as the anodising has yet to wear off the rims which normally happens pretty quickly.
Bi-plane forks, SR slingshot stem, Red-S brakes ( what are those please?) Cro-moly tubing, Oakley mushroom grips, Madison seat. Now I've gleaned from here that Ridgeback started in Canada in 83 and entered Europe in 84 so I'm guessing this is 84-86, I started MTB 87/88 and had never seen Bi-plane forks even then. Have never seen one of these in the flesh or tut inter web ! Could this be the UK's only one? Does anyone else own one ?
Cheers

Ooh!

Let's see the whole bike then!

Of course ..!

The first time I saw mtbs close up was in a shop in London, near Kings Cross. It was 1986 and they had Cannondale and Ridgeback. They had the 501 at that time so yours must be pre ‘86. I couldn’t wait to get away from London so I could justify a mountain bike.

Amazing! Such a good colour and the slingshot stem is bonkers.

I agree I love the colour and the stem is rad. If you look at the topic called 80s ridgeback you will see focomat 1c has provided loads of info about these early Ridgebacks and dated this as 84 and as Ridgeback was founded in 83 it makes this one of the first to be sold in the U.K.
one previous owner .
However as it is a 23” sadly it is to large for me so am starting to think I might move her on.

I've got an 84 Ridgeback in my garage. Bought new by me in 84. Bikes been heavily modified since I got it.. hub brakes.. extra bottle and pannier bag carrier mounts .. leather carry strap between top and seat tube etc ..
Paint... Definitely not original... It was painted stars and Stripes at one point.. jack Taylor bicycles did the work.. I'll dig it out one day... Gathering dust now..it went all over when I was younger.. pyranees mountains, Andorra, Scotland X3 at world's. Multiple local races, boltby bash, viking chase, Polaris challenge, Cleveland way, North York Moors nearly all of it... Hamsterley forest... You name it... Needs parts to rebuild it.. I'll find them one day

Yos_Sam said:

I've got an 84 Ridgeback in my garage. Bought new by me in 84. Bikes been heavily modified since I got it.. hub brakes.. extra bottle and pannier bag carrier mounts .. leather carry strap between top and seat tube etc ..
Paint... Definitely not original... It was painted stars and Stripes at one point.. jack Taylor bicycles did the work.. I'll dig it out one day... Gathering dust now..it went all over when I was younger.. pyranees mountains, Andorra, Scotland X3 at world's. Multiple local races, boltby bash, viking chase, Polaris challenge, Cleveland way, North York Moors nearly all of it... Hamsterley forest... You name it... Needs parts to rebuild it.. I'll find them one day

Click to expand...

A Jack Taylor painted Ridgeback in stars and stripes?! Start a new thread for this one

I'll have to unclutter the garage to find it at the back... Watch this space