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.

It is pretty.But the p cross is prettier.

But what wheels would you fit?

I got the P-650b and its sweet

I’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 !)

You 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….

Tom 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.

Its 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.

Its 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…

I 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.

Tom 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.

No 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!

LBS 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.

another +1 for a modern bontrager race. I’d order one tomorrow, and a bonty cross frame as long as it didnt have discs.
All of the ritchey frames look lovely. The paint jobs do, imo, catch the nostalgic eye of riders from a certain vintage.

NOBODY who drops £800 on a steel frame would ever admit to it being average.

The most impressive thing about the bike is the headtube. The rest is just vanilla.

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…

I’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.

NOBODY 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.

I 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.

And the 19″ version which I have looks just fine size wise with its clown wheels thank you very much 😉

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=238621&hilit=ritchey

My 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.
Good quality steel and I don’t mind admitting that I am tht guy who wants what I couldn’t afford in the 90s.

@haggis

Want! Go away!

I 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.

I 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?

Can anyone give a ride report compared to other frames in the price bracket? I’m thinking in particular the steel Niner HTs.

@mattjg

Cheers 😉

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.

That’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.

Is the swift better than the ritchey?

I 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.

Sold 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?

I 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.

Only £800 for the frame? Makes my Jones steel look cheap.
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.