Old Skool x New School
Tom Ritchey, an icon of the sport and a framebuilding legend, visited The Bicycle Academy in September 2016 to spend some time hanging out, teaching students and to build a bike with us over a few beers… (Video by Alex Rankin)
Mike Rose of Dirt Magazine attended the event, here he sets the scene."This was my first visit to The Bicycle Academy and it didn’t disappoint, it was everything I had hoped it would be. It literally was the coolest workshop you could imagine. Walking in through the doors, at first glance there was just too much to take in. There was the smell, a combination of metal, gas, concrete and grease, but that may have just been my imagination playing tricks on me. There were bits of steel, vices, files, hammers, cycling posters, bike frames, half completed projects, photos, cool ‘shit’, helmets, toys… just stuff… good stuff, and it was everywhere. It felt like I was walking into some kind of secret world, but in reality this place is open to all."
"Softly spoken, full of character, honest and humble, one of mountainbike’s true pioneers started to talk… and talk… and talk. I think he must have spoken for about an hour, all from just that one first question, but we were all rapt, in awe. His relaxed Californian accent lulling us into a mountainbiking stupor."
Click here to Read his full report.
Event shots by Adam Gasson
Frame
Custom designed and fabricated 27+ steel hardtail mountain bike. Custom machined Ritchey replica integrated tapered headtube, Columbus ZONA 29er Downtube, and Top Tube, Reynolds 631 Seat Tube, Dedacciai DM ZEROUNO Chainstays, custom bent 4130 seat stays and BTR Fabrications bolt through dropouts and disk mount.
Designed by: Tony Corke and Andrew Denham
Built by: Tom Sturdy
Brazed by: Tom Ritchey, Andrew Denham and Tom Sturdy
TIG welding by: Paul Burford (dropouts and disk mount)
Assembled by: Tom Sturdy, Gavin Buxton, Aaron Ward and Adrian Bedford
Components
Forks: RockShox SID RL 27+
Wheels: Ritchey WCS Trail 40 650+
Tyres: Ritchey ZMAX Evolution 650x73b (tubeless) Groupset: Shimano Deore XT M8000 1×11 (boost) Pedals: Shimano Deore XT M8000
Brakes: Shimano Deore XT M8000
Bars: Ritchey WCS Bullmoose Carbon Bar/Stem Headset: Ritchey WCS Integrated 1.125-1.5
Seatpost: RockShox Reverb Stealth
Saddle: Fabric Scoop Ultimate
Studio Shots by James Hoppe