Product Description
Rare version with rollercam brakes front and rear! A holy grail XC race MTB frame from the mid/late 1980's, handbuilt by the legend Tom Ritchey himself. The frame is fully fillet brazed with ultralight Tange Prestige 7/4/7 steel tubing. It comes with Tom's fillet brazed Bullmoose handlebar which mounts on a dual-expander "stud" for a super clean look (This was a TwinStrut handlebar in his catalogs). The Super Comp is easily identified via the highly peaked/pointy top to the seat cluster. The only other Ritchey with this pointy seat cluster is the Annapurna (and some Competition models). A feature WAY ahead of it's time, the seat tube is ovalized at the bottom bracket for stiffness. Most of these had U-brake mounts rear and canti front. This one being roller cam front and rear is pretty unique!
Fully original paint and decals. This one got a set of the earlier style "Ritchey USA" decals that are to my eye much more classic and tasteful than the newer decals they started implementing around 1987/1988. Tom was placing sticker-style decals over the clear coat in the 1980's, a sign of original paint.
The Super Comp was Ritchey's top of the line "Race" model from 1987 to 1989. It is part of Ritchey's "C" line of racing bikes which includes the Super Comp and the Team Comp it replaced (1984-1986). The Annapurna with it's bilaminate faux lugs was the top dollar "A" model during this era, but was more of a luxury sports car with exquisite details and a slightly higher weight due to its bilaminate faux lugs while the Super/Team Comp were purebred race machines. The Annapurna is a Rolls Royce to the Super Comp's Ferrari.
The frame number of 9C51 indicates it is a size 19" (1st digit is last digit of size), and was the 51st "C" frame in size 19. This makes it a 1987, the first year of the Super Comp.
Condition
Lovely unrestored condition! Overall it is in exquisite condition, with only two real blemishes plus minor to moderate decal wear. One is a VERY shallow dent on top of the top tube about an inch forward of the seat cluster. It was caused in shipping and really is quite minor. The other is driveside chainstay paint wear from chain drop. The top tube decals have wrinkling to the clear portions around the letters as well as some physical wear. Head tube and seat tube decals are quite clean with only minor wear. Minor paint imperfections elsewhere. I wouldn't even dream of repainting this! It's a toss up whether replacing the decals is worth it since they're over the top tube sticker style.
Details
- Frame number: 9C51
- Ritchey size: 19 inch, based on seat tube center to top of seat tube
- Seat tube: 18.5" c-t
- Top tube: 20.3"
- Head tube: 91mm
- Chainstays: 16.9"
- Head angle: 69 degree
- Seat angle: 74 degree
- Handlebar width: 24.5"
