1983 Ritchey Annapurna
 

Big shoutout to Josh Orlando for bringing my 1983 Ritchey Annapurna back to life. He had to track down vintage shifters and period correct tires (WTB and Tioga).

Tom built this one custom for me, with extra touring eyelets and even my name on it. Paint is battered but original, because this bike has been a few places, as shown. Shoutout to my friend Steve Wilde, Ascended Master of Woodcarving and product designer for Gary Fisher, for the lignum vitae steerer plug, also a little battered by time.

Touring photos are from the Canol Road in Canada's NorthWest Territories in 1986.


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Tom made his own "lugs" by brazing a larger tube onto the head tube. This process prevented "undercutting" the bronze welded joint when cleaning it up.
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The steerer plug is made of lignum vitae, the world's hardest wood. It has suffered a bit in the 3+ decades since it was installed. Tom put my name on the bike, but some of it has worn off.
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Touring racks from Bruce Gordon, packs from Needle Works.
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These trucks were abandoned in 1944 shortly after they were used to build the Canol Road. The road itself was also abandoned at that time.
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That is only one side, and there is a moose between it and the other one.

Very cool

Cool bike, good memories.

Cool snippet of history! I vaguely recall there's a video out there somewhere showing Tom's headtube/lug technique that you describe. First time I've seen it in the flesh.

Kinda sad to see those trucks abandoned, but on the flip side, it looks like some enterprising vultures have been by over the decades to "repurpose" some parts.

Those trucks are in such a remote location that you can't drive a vehicle to them.

Amazing bike, and photos, and memories.

I hope you never tire of sharing stuff like this with us.

Thanks,

Jim

So cool Charlie! Nice that you were able to be reunited with it!

Amazing mountain bike art there. I went to MOMBAT twice and walked around there for hours. Your bike rivals anything they had and they had some amazing, spectacular vintage mountain bikes.

Absolutely LOVED your book, Charlie. Bucket list item is to one day join the Thanksgiving ride... Until then, got any more of your bikes that you can share with the forum? Peace, BB

Just this one, Breezer #2, which hangs on the wall at the Marin Museum of Bicycling. Breezer #1 is part of the Smithsonian Institution's Transportation Museum collection, so the Marin Museum had to show this one.

I don't collect bikes, but some of my bikes are definitely collectible.

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Also negated the need for accurate mitering of the tubes. If one stands behind my Timberline and sights down the top tube you can see it goes from off center right on seat tube lug to off center left on head tube. Even with the fillet brazing. lol...

My bike is straight. Pretty sure the tubes are mitered. Tom built a jig that lined up the miters, using the holes drilled for the bottle as the center line.

I saw the Breezer #2 this past weekend! It was awesome meeting Joe and hearing his story about you and the 10 bikes he built in the early days.

WOW. Now THAT'S a bike photo... Thanks, Charlie (and THANKS, Joe. I often refer to the Breezer #1 simply as "THE" bike)