The Ritchey Project

Provenance & History: Personally acquired this bicycle in 1991 as collateral for a loan and have kept it safely stored and cared for ever since. It has effectively been a single-owner bike for the last 35+ years. As a lifelong road cyclist, I originally changed the hand grips, seat, and tires with the intention of doing some trail riding, but never actually managed to take it out on the dirt. Because of this, the bike has spent its entire life kept inside my house or in clean storage. It has seen very little time outside and zero trail abuse.

Condition & Specifications: A remarkably pristine, time-capsule survivor featuring Tom Ritchey's iconic, hand-crafted fillet-brazed construction. It retains the highly coveted, vibrant original Team Fade DuPont Imron paint with matching fillet-brazed stem and unicrown fork.

Components: Outfitted with a complete, original, period-correct Shimano Deore XT (M730 series) groupset. The drive-side crank arm is stamped with the date code "MJ", precisely verifying an October 1988 factory production window that perfectly aligns with the frame build. Non-catalog changes are restricted entirely to period-respectful comfort upgrades: Matrix/WTB tires, a Selle Italia saddle, and replacement Specialized grips. Frame serial number is 0C161 (20-inch Super Comp build sequence 161).