By Mike Cushionbury Tom Ritchey built his first 27.5-inch wheeled off-road frameset in 1977 (which he called a 650b) as a personal bike. It never caught on at that time but now, 36 years later, the industry and many riders have begun to create demand for the in-between wheel size.
- This topic has 31 replies, 22 voices, and was last updated 6 years ago by .
As per title really. Fail to see how this frame could deliver over say the pipedreams skookum 29er frame which is 853 and very well made.
The p-29er has tripple butted tubes and a lovely headtube but does it really justify its price tag?
Opinions please.
Posted 6 years agoIt is pretty.But the p cross is prettier.
Posted 6 years agoI got the P-650b and its sweet
Posted 6 years agoI’ve a P-29er frame at home waiting to be built.
It is pretty and a lovely thing.
There, I’ve said it now ….
(Should know what it rides like within the fortnight too !)
Posted 6 years agoYou seem to have a misunderstanding of the purpose in getting a Ritchey steel frame. It’s not that they’re necessarily better than cheaper equivalents (though they may be in a lot of cases). It’s that it’s a Ritchey hand built frame in the original Ritchey colours so enthusiasts in their 30s/40s/50s+ can have the frame they always dreamed of having back in the day, when Ritchey was making frames the first time round, but couldn’t afford at the time. I’m sure they’re great frames but mostly they’ll be bought for nostalgia and coolness value as opposed to because they’re better than the competition.
Now if I could only convince keith Bontrager to build me a modern interpretation long travel steel hardtail like the frames he made back in the day….
Posted 6 years agoTom Ritchey stuff (WCS anyway) is just brilliant kit. Still my go-to product when I can afford it. And the man was there at the dawn of MTBing…If I didn’t have one of Brant’s Ti Evos, I’d pick one of these up in a blink.
Posted 6 years agoIts like all the arcade nerds buying up old sea side amusement stock. Only to realise the games are well and truly dismal but they will swear blind that they secretly dont play COD.
**** nostalgia. Give me my inbred.
Sigh…
Posted 6 years agoI very nearly bought a P29er, but when I asked the LBS what they’d give me off the nine hundred quid purchase of frame plus headset they said “a fiver off the headset that’s it”. (Bloody daft all they had to do was charge my card, make a phone call and receive a box for me, I didn’t use any of their ‘resources’ at all. 50 quid and I’d have bought it).
So I bought something else. I still think they look damn nice tho.
There’s a video “review” of them on Youtube done by a South African chappie, it doesn’t say much helpful though. He says he thinks it’s marvellous but doesn’t say why so really you’re none the wiser.
Posted 6 years agoTom Ritchey stuff (WCS anyway) is just brilliant kit.
Not IME! Pedals that fall to bits after 2 rides, headsets that seize after 6 weeks. I gave up after that – overpriced rubbish.
Posted 6 years agoNo idea how much they cost but all the Richey frames look awesome-probably just the paint jobs to be honest. I’ve not looked at one any closer than the advert in the mag will permit.
+1 frank4short. That would interest me!
Posted 6 years agoLBS has sold/built 2 P-29ers. I’ve met both riders and they love them! One is geared (1×10?) and the other is a singlespeed.
IMO, the fade paint on the 29er looks much better than the other frames.
Posted 6 years agoanother +1 for a modern bontrager race. I’d order one tomorrow, and a bonty cross frame as long as it didnt have discs.
Posted 6 years ago
All of the ritchey frames look lovely. The paint jobs do, imo, catch the nostalgic eye of riders from a certain vintage.In that YouTube video it looks wrong as a built bike…wheels look far too big…frame itself looks nice but built up it doesn’t look right…
Posted 6 years agoI’ve got a P-29er and it is fantastic, a complete revelation in my riding and I’m not bullshitting. Glentress 2 weeks ago and I was hammering up behind guys on full sus trail bikes and overtaking them. and they weren’t slow riders either. I was absolutely flying!! It just rolls faster and is so capable for a 100mm travel hardtail
Plus I’ll be honest a big thing is that its a Tom Ritchey frame. A true pioneer of MTBing and guaranteed to be a future classic.
Posted 6 years agoNOBODY who drops £800 on a steel frame would ever admit to it being average.
I assume you have?
I got one of the last Bontragers made and trust me a good steel frame is nothing like a cheap steel frame.
Posted 6 years agoI got one of the last Bontragers made and trust me a good steel frame is nothing like a cheap steel frame.
I have one of the early bontragers, and a couple of others, and this makes me 😆
There is no magic. It’s just a well considered and engineered collection of (not very special) tubing and geometry, with some interesting attention to detail and for its time innovation. Price has got nothing to do with it.
What’s more scary is that a bonty frame in 1989 cost £1100 IIRC (Chipps can get his NTI price list out) which back then was a phenomenal amount of cash, and still is for a steel frame.
The P29er is a nostalgia-fest of a paint job. For that I like it. It’s also cheaper than a Bontrager and probably rides better.
Posted 6 years agoAnd the 19″ version which I have looks just fine size wise with its clown wheels thank you very much 😉
Posted 6 years agoMy Bonty snapped and I was genuinely upset. I’d love a ‘modern’ one, but in the absence I would buy the Ritchey if I waas after a new frame.
Posted 6 years ago
Good quality steel and I don’t mind admitting that I am tht guy who wants what I couldn’t afford in the 90s.Want! Go away!
Posted 6 years agoI love the look of these. If I can break my Kona Explosif while these frames are available then one will be at the top of my shopping list.
Posted 6 years agoI think they look great, although I’m not sure about the sliding dropouts on some of the frames. I also think it’s a shame they’re not fillet brazed – I saw a Youtube video of a pre-production frame which Tom Ritchey himself had fillet brazed, and it looked stunning.
Has anyone tried one with the WCS Pro rigid carbon forks?
Posted 6 years agoCan anyone give a ride report compared to other frames in the price bracket? I’m thinking in particular the steel Niner HTs.
Posted 6 years agoCheers 😉
I paid £720 for my frame from single track bikes which is somewhere near Edinburgh plus got a free headset thrown in for the price. Plus a quick Google shopping search shows an eBay shop knocking them out for £600 but that’s in the US.
Posted 6 years agoThat’s a bit more like it. I wasn’t best impressed with “a fiver off the headset” on a 900 quid sale that basically involved them making a phone call.
It’s tough in the bike business, I hear.
Good to hear you like your Ritchey.
I bought a Singular Swift for < half the cost of the Ritchey, which I have just sold, then a Salsa Selma which is fantastic for fast rides/races then a Yelli Screamy which is a brill bike for just riding and having fun. It all worked out in the end.
Still like the look of those P29rs though, the fade gfx are iovely. I think the solid gfx on the 27.5 are ugly.
Posted 6 years agoI don’t know I never rode a Ritchey and couldn’t be drawn on ‘better’ anyway.
There’s masses of opinion on the Swift here, just do a search. It’s an excellent versatile VFM 29er hardtail, perhaps a little old school in geometry.
Posted 6 years agoSold my Swift to get a Ritchey. Love the Ritchey but the Swift was just as good for half the price.
Like some say I’ve always wanted a Ritchey so was prepared to pay a premium.
OP – where are you based?
Posted 6 years agoI take it the only reason you like the Pipedream is because its cheap and has a 853 sticker?
try them and see what you like the best. Its not all about tubing.
Still have my Salsa over both anyday, but that because its right for me.
Posted 6 years agoOnly £800 for the frame? Makes my Jones steel look cheap.
Posted 6 years ago
Was it worth it? Most definitely :O)
Not light, not necessarily pretty but well stacked in the handling department which is why I bought it.
I’m like a kid in a sweet shop every time I ride it which is what ridings all about for ME.
Oh, and the P29 look lovely.
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