Tom Ritchey, In His Own Words

Chris Kostman recently posted a great article/interview with Tom Ritchey on the .  The article answers many questions about Tom's history of frame building (fillet-brazing & TIG welding).

Questions asked and answered include these and more:

Tom, did you build any TIG-welded frames yourself?

What else can you tell us about the origins of TIG-welding in relation to frame-building?

How many, if any, lugged frames do you think you have built ,and how and why did you make the shift to fillet brazing?

The full article can be found here: 

This is a great interview that has sparked some very interesting comments, such as:

Guitar Ted from
"Great post, Chris, and thanks for sending me the link. I enjoyed this thoroughly. Tom has amazing talent and what a prolific builder! That part still blows me away."

Owen W.
"Because of that cover story in the spring of 1981, I ordered my custom Ritchey a couple months later. It cost more money than I had to my name, but I had a new job for a non-profit overseas. I had the bike shipped to me in Thailand. It arrived in early Spring '82. I rode it for the next 30 years in Asia, until it was stolen a few years ago. I'm still in denial -- and still looking for an 80-82 built replacement.

LOVED the Interview. Very well done. Thanks for posting it."

Mark Manson
"Great article. One of the coolest racing bikes in existence is the one Tom built for his father in 1974. Thought-provoking, minimalist, purpose built. A stunning example of his pure design brilliance. "

Ed Felker
"thanks for this. I have a '95 Toyo-made Ritchey Logic that I just had
refurbished, I love that bike so much I'll never sell it and I get
lots of compliments on it."

Special thanks to Chris Kostman and the Rough Riders Blog for interviewing Tom and documenting this info.  We are very proud of our history here at Ritchey and it's great to read these great comments and see the excitement outside of our doors.