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Refurbing a Ralph Cycles MTB

While we all love the Shark around here we still often ride other bikes. The Ralph Cycles 17-inch hardtail shown here is being refreshed with a good, thorough cleaning and some parts replacement to bring it back to serviceable condition.

Ralph Cycles MTB frame circa 1995
Ralph Cycles MTB frame circa 1995

This particular Ralph frame was one of 6 built by Tom Teesdale in about 1995 for the Ralph Cycles racing team. This frame is serial #3 and I raced it inthe WORS series as well as MTB races in Minnesota and Iowa. It is in pretty darn good shape considering it was my primary MTB for about 3 years but has been mostly siting around since. Built from Reynolds 853, it is a strong, light frame and incorporates Ralph’s T-Bone seat stay that we used to help keep the seatstay flex down with the then powerful V-Brakes.

For this refurb job we are going to leave the color original for a couple of reasons.

  • I like it
  • Paint is still pretty good
  • Can’t get Ralph Cycles decals anymore

The RockShox Judy fork is a pretty stock unit but has Arlo Englund Air Cartridges in. Hopefully those still work but I am not opposed to going back to urethane or whatever the bumpers were. This will not be a competition bike any more and may even get a ridged fork.

More as the work progresses.

If you have an older but loved bike consider throwing some love at it! If you haven’t got the time, shoot us a note. We’ll treat the old girl like she was one of our own.