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Ridgeback
Ridgeback was founded in London by South African Errol Drew in 1983 who, after spotting his first mountain bike in New York in 1982, stated: “This is the future of cycling”. Prior to this Drew owned London's Beta Bike Shop and the Madison Distribution Company which published the Freewheel Catalogue. Ridgeback was created in 1983 to bring mountain bikes produced in Japan1) into the UK. 2) Today Drew runs Delta Cycles, a bike parts distribution company in Massachusetts.
Ridgeback was the first mass produced mountain bike sold in the UK, predating the S&G Muddy Fox. Their claim that they are Europe's first mass produced mountain bike may only be correct in that earlier European mountain bikes didn't sell as well: Schauff, Bianchi, Centurion or Puch. Raleigh produced mountain bikes starting in 1982, but sold them only in the US 3).
Ridgeback today
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1983 Ridgeback
The picture of their first mountain bike to the right, supplied by Ridgeback, appears to match their 1984 Ridgeback XT catalog.
1983 Ridgeback XT
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1984 Ridgeback XT
XT to advertise Shimano's deer head gracing the Ridgeback's derailleurs. The next model down was the STD, shown below. STD should already have been marketing anathema by 1983, but perhaps in this early pre-AIDS awareness age, “std” simply meant “standard”, which Ridgeback thought was a solid, dependable image to attract people dissuaded by mountain biking's unconventional hippy reputation.
1984 Ridgeback STD retrobike
1984 Ridgeback XT
retrobike
1985 Ridgeback 501/531
Presumably Shimano told Ridgeback to cease and desist appropriating their XT brand reputation. In 1985, after discovering that STD wasn't the best association, they tried transferring some of Reynolds credibility into their lineup with the introduction of the 501 and 531 model numbers, using Reynolds 501 & 531 tubing. Funny, none of their bikes from this time bore the Reynolds decals. Ridgeback dropped Reynolds 4) a couple of years later. 5)
1985 Ridgeback 531
retrobike
Production Notes
[1]. ?