Retro Ridgeback gallery and video walkthrough

2023 marks Ridgeback’s 40th anniversary and Madison had a bunch of retrobike beauties on display at their recent iceBike* trade show. For those who couldn’t attend the show, here’s our gallery and video for your delectation.

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By ben_haworth

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Retro Ridgeback gallery and video walkthrough

There’s a chap local to me riding what looks like a late 80s Ridgeback as his daily. I’m always a little envious when I see it. Not that is have thanked you for a Ridgeback back in my youth.

Don’t think they’re discs. They’re roller brakes

I’m sure they did a Ti bike back in 89-90. Think it was even Merlin fabricated. Really, really nice kit for the time.

Love the colour of that ’83 Standard. The head angle is fairly progressive looking too. If only the reach were longer and seat angle steeper, we could have fast-forwarded 40 years of evolution!

I still have the video and book of Nick Crane and two others riding the length of the Atlas Mountains on early Ridgebacks. Great stuff.

Re “We wonder if that bike shop is still there in Reigate..?”

Thre family retired a few yesrs back and sold the shop to Balfies Bikes.

In my childhood the finch family had two shops side by side an electrical goods shop and bicycle and moped shop. One son ran the bike shop and te other the electrical shop. The electrical shop closed sometime in the late 1980’s.

I still have the 5 speed Falcon flat bar Super tourist I purchased from Finch’s when i was 16, currenly in storeage in my loft.

Reminds me of my 1990 701LX. I rode it for years then got it resprayed in Ritchey-alike colours and got some lovely kit for it when my parents gave me some cash for my GCSE results. It was beautiful. Then my brother ‘borrowed’ it when he was late for college and left it unlocked and it got nicked. Still remember the feeling when I found out.

I’ve just “inherited” an old Ridgeback from a mate who passed away before Xmas, it’s got quite chunky rather than tapered forks so the plan is to retromod it with disc brakes etc fit a front pizza rack and use it as a pub bike 🙂

Nice! The Orange/Grey Ridgeback 601GS in the blurred manual caught my eye, looks like my first MTB. I can recall the exact feel of those Airgrips – through Pittards leather – jumpers for goalposts, happy days. I sold mine eventually to a schoolfriend. Replaced with a Raleigh steel road bike. I took the road bike to Uni with me for commuting, and appropriated my brothers Red/Yellow Ridgeback 601SIS for bimbling about on. I guess it wound up at the Recycling Centre about 2003.

First Mountain Bike was a Ridgeback 607 ’87 model I think. Biopace Chainset, Araya Rims, kenda tyres, shimano ‘light action’ derailleur
Did well on it until crashing into a stone wall and ‘shearing’ the front brake mount off.