New year, new project: rebuilding a 1996 Ritchey Project 20 mtb

My 2019 intention was to stop buying bikes/frames, sell more of my unused bikes and finish the unfinished projects I want to keep. I'm on the right track concerning selling bikes and parts and for finishing projects started, I have another 11,5 months. But after only 10 days I can already tell my "purchase stop" is a complete fail...

Just before this year started, a nice vintage 1996 Ritchey Project 20 mountainbike frameset (forks are of more recent date: 1998) caught my eye. I negotiated with the seller (he didn't want to ship overseas initially), bought the frameset, paid the bloody import fees and VAT (30% of the purchase price...) and now I'm sitting waiting for the frameset to arrive.

Correction: I haven't been sitting waiting. I've been searching the internet for era correct parts and the first of them arrived today.

The frameset (seller's photo)

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Scored parts (part I)

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This one I still had in the shed. Friskies loved DT Hügi, as far as I remember.

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DT Hügi

That sounded so Swiss I had to read up on that, as I hadn't heard of 'Hügi' before. There isn't much information on that on the internet though, but it does seem like this is the name of the guy who originally developed that ratchet technology, rather than being an acronym for something as I thought at first.

Thanks to Thomas Frischknecht, for me Ritchey will always be half Swiss. :-)

Can't wait to see this one finished, please bomb us with updates!

The frameset should arrive after the weekend. Hope there's no issues. You never know with stuff coming transatlantic...

Already ordered and on the way to my place: Ritchey Force Lite bars, Ritchey Logic crankset, Logic headset, lookalike seatpost (original Ritchey in 27.0 mm looks impossible to find) and a set of Grip Shift X Ray SRT 800.

Somewhere in my shed: Ritchey Force ahead stem.

On my wishlist: a decent (and not too spendy) Vector WCS saddle.

I might have a somewhat tatty Ritchey something saddle in my shed, as I'm an SMP convert I don't ever see myself using it so you're free to have it if you want (and I can find it).

Oh wait no, it's a 4za, which is a Ridley subsidiary, which sounded like Ritchey in my head.

Thanks for the kind offer mate. But as you mentioned: Ritchey and Ridley aren't the same. ;-)

Looking more for one like the second (starting from below):

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Pedals I've found cheap

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Not a real Ritchey but it looks like one, has the right size (and doesn't cost a ton).

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Crankset I won on ebay (45 GBP) arrived today. Hope I don't have to many issues sourcing that hidden bolt thing...

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Frame and forks arrived today. It looks gorgeous.

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Looks great and in lovely condition. What's the tubing?

Thanks @SideshowBob, tubing is Ritchey Logic WCS, a tubeset made by Tange for Ritchey. In fact it's Tange Ultimate prestige but with shorter butting to make it lighter.

"Project 20" is referring to the goal they had in mind: a mountainbike that only weighed 20 lbs.

The frame is indeed in very good condition but it has a tiny dent on the top tube. You can hardly see it but it's there (and thank God it is because if it wasn't, this frame would have cost 3 times the price I paid for it).

It makes me want to buy a vintage Mtb! but what I know about them could be written on a postage stamp :)

:)

I started mountainbiking in 1991 and those first 6-7 years I really was obsessed by the sport and the bikes. So if you need advice, just let me know. ;)

More parts arrived. Ritchey Force Lite bars and a pair of Gripshift X-Ray shifters.

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More came in this morning

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Gettting there but first issues occured: steerer tube is too short to put a cable hanger between stem and headset so will have to look for a fork mounted one. Similar problem in the rear: frame us v-brake specific so will have to buy one of those Nitto things.

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Wow love it already

However, I would go for a less road-y saddle

Like:

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The Flite looks great on this, the yellow on the Avocet doesn't really fit the color scheme imo (it's a great saddle though :) ).

You would not have wanted to mount the hanger on the steerer being sus forks anyway. Looking good so far.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ridewill-Bracket-Cantilever-Cables-Mounting/dp/B01DT5YM8S

Thanks you all.

Didn't know Flite were roady. ;-) My first bike was a Scott with an Avocet saddle but I changed rather quickly to Flite. And since than I've always been riding Flite as it's the saddle that fits my butt best. ;-)

@Brucy , thanks for the link. I ordered a similar one at SJS.