Tom Ritchey is a bicycle trade icon, mountain bike pioneer, product designer, and grasp body builder. Tom’s been a driving drive within the bike biz since welding his first mountain bike body virtually fifty years in the past. Now, beneath the title Moutain Bikes by Tom, he’s bringing again his coveted Bullmoose Bars and Bi-Aircraft Forks. The intent is that present homeowners of authentic Ritchey frames that don’t have the right fork and bars will be capable of purchase the right components as made by the OG himself.
Tom shall be launching this restricted run at this yr’s MADE Present in Portland and “accepting orders from present Ritchey House owners.” Does that imply you have to already personal a Ritchey to purchase a fork and bar? We’re unsure, however we’ll be there to cowl it!
“I’ve been witnessing this for years — the place folks don’t have the fork or bar that was designed to go together with their Ritchey body, and so they’re scrounging round for them. I began seeing alternative components for my frames that have been lacking particulars. They have been made by others, and so they weren’t doing them proper. Now, in any case these years I’m serving to these followers do it proper.” – Tom Ritchey
Added Bonus!
In addition to attending to see some handmade bars and forks by a grasp of the craft, Tom may even offer a brazing seminar. In addition to a quick lecture on complete design, and why custom-built framesets matter.
MADE Present attendees can watch the grasp in motion as Tom wields the torch on the Ritchey sales space #358. This can happen on Saturday, August twenty fourth at midday.
Some Tom Historical past
Not nearly designing one other double-triangle body, Tom needed to make a “purpose-built” bicycle. That meant a bicycle that included forks that had a selected rake and flex to deal with off-road using with confidence. It was additionally about task-specific, assertive cock pits that didn’t slip or give whereas using new terrain. Whereas he was producing the primary mountain bike frames he had already considered a complete resolution. He knew what was wanted for these new off-road machines.
Enter the Bullmoose Bar and Bi-plane forks. These signature bars and forks have been bought as authentic gear on the early Mountain Bikes by Ritchey. Because it turned out, demand for these bikes rose quicker than Tom might sustain with. So a unique resolution was reached.
“Buried within the legend of the “Hen Coop” bike and different frames of that period have been a number of hundred frames have been bought with out their meant forks and thus started their lives considerably incomplete.”
Got here to MADE and Meet Tom
Go to Ritchey at MADE, sales space #358, August 23-25, throughout the next hours:
Friday, August 23, 12:00-6:00 p.m.
Saturday, August 24, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, August 25, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
