I have 3 road bikes that I switch off riding. I tend to ride one exclusively for a month or more, then bring another one out and ride it for a while. Every time I switch, I remember why I keep that bike, because there’s something I really love about each one. I gave each a name.

“Lots of people name their swords bikes.”
“Lots of c**ts.”

You’ve already seen Dreadnought, my Battaglin built from Columbus MAX tubes, painted Ferrari red, with all polished Aluminum Campy Chorus kit. And you’ve seen Plastic Fantastic, my Carbon fiber Bianchi 928 with Veloce kit.

But my first serious road bike is a Ritchey Road Logic I bought new in 1997, at a discount because it had Shimano’s 7410 8 speed Dura Ace kit, which had just been made obsolete. I’ve been riding it for over 22 years now. I had it repainted about 12 years ago, from white to deep blue, but I keep the 8 speed kit, because it was the smoothest shifting drivetrain I ever experienced - one click of the STI and it was in the next gear - no grind, no “Campy Clank”, no sound but the click of the STI and it was instantly and silently in the next gear.

BUT, I got older and fatter, and 25 teeth in the back got to be not enough. I’ve dithered about upgrading it for at least 10 years. Last month I switched to riding it after a year or so not riding it (I’d saved it as a reward for losing weight, but that wasn’t gonna happen!). I finally decided to bite the bullet, and upgrade my 1994 technology to 2004!!! TEN speeds instead of 8! A 28 tooth cog, instead of 25!

I kept as much of the old 7410 kit as I could, replacing only the cassette, STIs and rear derailleur. New cables, of course. I carefully adjusted it on the workstand till it shifted up and down the cassette smoothly. Then, to get the STI placement on the bars right, I put it on the stationary trainer. The shifting was for shit, especially the front! It wouldn’t shift into the big ring, till I adjusted it so far that half the time it threw the chain off to the outside! Shifting to the small ring meant either dropping the chain into the gap between the rings, or throwing it all the way off the small ring! I was downhearted.

So, I put it back on the workstand and adjusted everything so it worked there, and hoped the road would be more like it than the trainer. I went ahead and wrapped the b bars.

Today, I took it for a shakedown cruise, 28 miles of San Mateo County rolling roads, using ALL the gears. It shifted just like the old 8 speed kit, but with 2 more gears! Sometimes, the only way I was sure it shifted was my cadence went up! And I’m in love again.

So, here it is, “Old Tom”, after Tom Ritchey, who might have even welded the frame up himself, right here in the Bay Area: