THE LOGIC OF TOM

With his rugged cowboy looks and his trademark handlebar moustache, Tom Ritchey is something of a romantic icon of mountain biking. As he hits 60, he can still smoke most riders half his age, and rides solo into the legendary mountains of California whenever he gets – or rather makes chance, which means most days.

Tom and his Ritchey Logic brand have been around longer for than most mountain bike brands – since before mountain biking even existed, in fact.

Tom was an original pioneer of off road riding, and his familiar red. white and blue-clad Ritchey Racing team of the 1990s ruled the XC roost for many years.

All these years later, he’s still as passionate as ever about building and riding mountain bikes of every genre, and has steadfastly stood by his passion and belief in steel.

We sat down with the legend himself to talk about his passions of bikes and steel, and to see where exactly the Logic comes into Ritchey.

MBA: You were building and tinkering with bikes and bits since your pre-teens, what was behind that?

TR: Well, I don’t think up until the late 1970s that anything had changed much in cycling. For most people, I think, they got into the sport because they were fascinated by the bike, and their parents probably forbid them from having a motorcycle – and I was one of those kids.

Then, with living it the (San Francisco) Bay Area (Which is a wonderful cycling environment) and having a lot of cycling culture around me (other than perhaps living on the east coast) it was the number one