gravelinmygears 

I bought this bike a couple weeks ago. I reached out to an employee of Tom Ritchey and asked if he could verify the bikes origin. He showed the bike to Tom who said it was a “very early A bike” and that he built it with Columbus tubing. The crank has been precisely drilled to allow a triple. The fork seems to be unique to his early road bikes.

what’s it worth?

gravelinmygears 

Is there too much mystery to price it? No one seems to know what it’s worth.

rccardr 

I’d say it’s worth what you recently paid for it.
Willing, well educated and aware seller, enthusiastic and aggressive buyer. So, that’s market price.

gravelinmygears 

When I bought it, I thought it was a Peter Johnson frame and paid more because of it. For those that followed the San Francisco mystery bike saga, the seller raised the price in response to demand.

In the past two months, I’ve tried to purchase 70s Ritchey road bikes. I was quoted prices from 1500 to 5k!

I'm trying to land somewhere in between.

rccardr 

'Price quotes' are easy. What a buyer actually pays for an item is often something else entirely.
Do you feel like you get a good deal on a nicely made bike? Only you can tell.
Could you sell it for more- or considerably more- than you paid for it? Only the next purchaser can tell you that.

gravelinmygears 

These are all good points. Thanks for your insight.

habes78023 

I would think that whatever you paid, you likely increased the value by knowing what it actually is. People knew that this bike had value just based on the craftsmanship but not as many were willing to buy a bike for the mystery side of things. At the same time, quite a few of the other potential buyers of a frame like this are on the CR list and here, and during the long back and forth could have also tried to get it, so something to consider. Like rccardr said, you were the most enthusiastic and aggressive buyer, albeit in a possibly smaller pool of potential buyers.

It's a nice bike for sure. The higher end of 5k is going to be bikes that are all original and show very little signs of usage, essentially prestine, or sellers who don't actually want to sell. The lower end is going to be bikes that have been around the block and probably left out to dry, essentially condition is everything.

I don't know because I'm not a Ritchey expert to know if this bike has been repainted, or is missing decals, etc Several have suggested so and I would agree. But considering all of this, I would think you're probably looking at 2k+, maybe 2500 or so. Or at least that's where I'd list it on Ebay, 2.5k buy it now with best offer on and auto decline below 1500 so I can see what buyers are thinking, I also like to actually sell things, and not just list them for sale, so if I wasn't getting any bites, I'd move the price down after a week or so. Could also start a little higher, never know who is out there with the right money.

gravelinmygears 

This lines up with what I'm thinking. I think it's been repainted as the shade of green doesn't match up with the "Ritchey green" I'm familiar with. I'll most likely have it repainted and decaled - though the decals are another debate. Rick Stefani will decide, I guess.

I'm getting a lot of messages asking, "Whatcha want for it?" That I can answer. I was just curious what these have sold for and what folks expect to pay for one.

repechage

Early Ritchey graphics were.... meh.
Took a while for the TR herald to show. Well enough designed to be enduring.

gravelinmygears 

Well it has to be one of these and Rick says it’s the first:

3alarmer 

.
...here in the NorCal Bay Area, where Ritchey and a lot of other guys were actively producing frames for quite a while, Ritchey road bikes used to show up regularly on the SF Craigslist. I never noticed the prices, because none of the ones I saw listed were my size. I see them less often now, but I don't spend as much time on CL these days either. So I'm not well informed on current pricing. I know he did nice work, and I'm uncertain whether he's personally making any at this late date. Seems like he offshored production and focused more on mountain bikes, IIRC.

DMC707

Thats how you thin some lugs !!!

Nice

gravelinmygears 

That's what all the builders I talk to noted - very few people had the time and skill to build something like this. Otis Guy really thought he built it until I told him there was no serial number. Peter Johnson said it could only be Ritchey. It's so interesting to have such detailed work be a signature. Love it.