1990 Ridgeback 704XT

Cheers, will take about a month or so to finish (the coffers are currently empty... )

Wow! Nice one, you've managed to get a really good shine on it.
Will be following this with great interest, keep up the good work

Great work on polishing up that frame - really looking forward to seeing this one finished!

(would like some pics of the decals so I can get Gil_m to do his stuff )

The new forum software has a 'Bookmark Topic' option.

This is just the type of thread I shall be bookmarking.

I really like the pre 1993 Ridgebacks and this one is the perfect one to have IMO. Looking forward to seeing how you get on.

I know a certain member of this forum that will be very envious of you right now... He had a long running 'wanted' out for one of these...

Yes, hope he doesn't mind too much....

It's a size too big anyway I think?



Thanks, Paul

Waiting for the fork to be done will slow it down a bit, but will get a few more bits in this week if alls well.



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If you mean boy"O"boy Steve, I gave him the heads up when it was in the 'xyz' thread but he's got no room for new projects atm.

Good news for you though Matty! I'm also pulling up a chair. Don't get too excited about many bikes on here any more but this has got my interest. Great start so far.

As much as people turn their noses up at brands such as Ridgeback I think this is probably one of the rarer bikes on here. Said the same a while ago about the 1990 Team Marin. Far more of the 'limited' bikes such as Fat, Goat, Roberts etc show up.

Why do people turn their noses up at Ridgebacks? When they first appeared in the mid '80s there were very few MTBs about. My brother in law blew his student grant on one similar to this in '85, but in grey.


I'd never seen or heard of 'mountain bikes' before and was blown away by it. Then I bought a Freewheel catalogue and the rest is history

When I bought that 704 XT it was right at the top of the range, only bettered by the Merlin titanium one, and the two previous Ridgebacks I had were of equal quality- XT throughout. Perhaps they are more remembered for their later models when they seemed to cater for the cheaper end of the market.

I'm so glad that this bike is going to get restored and used, as it probably would have stayed in the shed for another 20 years!
I was going to sell the other Prestige Ridgeback frame I have, a '89 604, but l'm now tempted to do it up

^

You know what to do then, Ian - build it up, or at least get some proper pics done so we can all see it...!

Slight prob though, l've sold all the parts