Tom Ritchey (born 1956) is an American bicycle frame builder, designer, welder and founder of Ritchey Design. He is an accomplished road and mountain bicycle racer.
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Ritchey began building mountain bike frames as a partner with Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly in MountainBikes. In 1983, the partnership dissolved and MountainBikes was sold to Fisher, who renamed the company Fisher Mountain Bikes. Ritchey began building mountain bikes and other frames for his own company, Ritchey Design, expanding into bicycle accessories. Ritchey was as an innovator of parts designed or optimized for mountain bikes, including clipless pedals and threadless headsets. Ritchey mostly built mountain bikes but he has also produced road and cyclo-cross frames, usually of butted chromoly steel tubing. He has produced frames made using aluminum, titanium alloys, along with composition frames using carbon fiber and titanium tubes.
In 1988, Ritchey was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame.
Ritchey was married to his second wife, Martha, on his ranch in Northern California on October 24, 2009. He has a son, Jay Ritchey, who works for Rivendell Bicycle Works in Walnut Creek, CA, plus two daughters, Sara and Annie.
Ritchey no longer makes a full line of frames, but he continues in bicycle design and engineering. One recent design is the Break-Away Bike, racing road and cyclocross bikes that separate to pack in a suitcase for travel.
Ritchey is known for his handlebar mustache.
In December 2005, Ritchey and Gary Boulanger were invited to tour Rwanda by bicycle. They were asked to develop a racing team, opening a bicycle assembly factory, designing a transportation/cargo-hauling bicycle, and establishing a mountain bike safari touring company. Three months later, Ritchey sent his friend Jared Miller to Rwanda to explore possibilities, and Project Rwanda was born.[1]
On September 16, 2006, the first annual Rwandan Wooden Bike Classic was held in Karongi. More than 3,000 Rwandans filled Karongi Stadium and lined the streets to watch the country's first mountain bike race. North American Tour de France pioneers Jock Boyer and Alex Stieda raced alongside Ritchey. Ritchey continued to help Project Rwanda by participating in Ride 4 Rwanda, a fundraising event in Santa Barbara, CA, on February 2, 2008. Ritchey joined 100 participants, many students at Santa Barbara Middle School, in a coastal bike ride to raise funding for bike parts and mechanical support for Rwandan coffee workers. Ritchey helped the non-profit organization Bikes to Rwanda.[2]
