Ritchey Everest 1981. "Big Red"

Simplex FD, TA 180's with Campy bolts (the little things), Ritchey? BB with new bearings.

Just lovely....

Oxalic acid bath. Bumped the bucket taking the pic:



Time to flip:



Who says there isn't many pieces to a bicycle.
Cleaning:



Notice how the brake shoes were cut to avoid the rear seatstays.The front of course have a half a bump cut off each side. This was 2 years before there were options like the Suntour Mountech or Shimano's Deerhead group. Still a mishmash of road components.

Stunning, I will be following this build with interest. Tom is the Daddy of mountain bikes in my opinion.

Very nice! Reminds of my '82 stumpy build... Think I need a new early '80s project..

Love your work!

loving this

Got a bit done this weekend but still quite a ways to go. Finished with the OA on the bars followed by scrubbing off the OA with water, then coated the inside of the bars as good as I could. Waxed the bars to prevent any exposed areas from rusting up again. OA works great for removing rust but does nothing for protecting freshly exposed areas. Cleaned the shifters and brake levers followed by installing the bar, brakes, thumbies and levers. Closed a deal on a set of silver Ukai's laced to some early Phil Wood hubs so the wheels in this picture are now just place holders:



Part of my goal is to not make the bike look better than new. No extra polishing of the aluminum parts just a nice clean appearance. A few small concerns. First I have three pedal choices. Worn black MKS BM10's, NOS gold BM10's, or some silver Tioga Surefoot's. The gold looks too new for the rest of the bike, and I am not big on the color. The black have a bit too much patina and the silver look right match the rest of the components but I need to research what year they were actually available. Not sure they were an option in 1981 (off to research on the BMX websites):



Next, I have a couple Hueret Duopar Eco deraileurs and one Duopar. The Eco looks well faded but came with the bike. I am tempted to use the titanium Duopar just for the cool factor but it again is minty fresh. Trying to stay in the spirit of the project:





Probably go titanium just because I don't see another build in the future I will use it on and the original Eco looks a little too faded.

Very cool Tim, keep it up!

My wife goes to yoga to meditate. I go to the garage. Thanks for all the encouragement. Having fun.

Wow, loving this