Anyone want to take a shot at this Ritchey Lug?

[jimi911]

Went on a short drive for this (and a 91ish XT equipped Peogeot). I need another project like a hole in the head, but I got up early and was on no sleep. Probably shoulda left it there.

Anyway, the one part of the bike that's weird is the lug ... can't figure out what this is.

Frame - Ritchey Design (original grey paint, "was" yellow Logic fork) Tig welded.
- Lower U (can't stop) Brake
- XT 735 mix (likely was all 735 orginally)
- Girven Flexstem, Scott AT3.
- I'd say its a 1988-1991
- Could be a Rocky Mtn import, but its probably newer than their last ones.
- Sorta looks like an Ultra
- The serial number is all numbers ... no letter, I think ... not clear.

The lug is the one thing that should define it. I can post some other pics of the thing, but its certainly a Ritchey design.

 

[jimi911]

Re:

Not too much traction ... Here's some more pics.

 

[jimi911]

Re:

I took the frame to our resident expert in Toronto. He builds and repairs bikes, has seen more than a fair share of old ritcheys. He took it apart and was pretty confident it was a bit of a one off. According to him, the lug on the top is actually machined to fit. the seat tube is all contour tapered to fit the lug, and also compressed into the BB a la brodie and other ritcheys.

He seemed to think it was a very early Ultra or some sort of prototype Ultra. He was pretty confident the bike was not a mass produced frame as the time it would take to fit the lug and mess with the lower seat tube would be too time consuming to make sense. I asked him it it could be be a repair, but he said no one would repair a bike with a lug like that.

Not sure where that puts it, but I suppose its something.