# Richman Mountain Bike?



## surly357 (Jan 19, 2006)

so, i was doing a little research (in my unofficial role as the only person who doesn't think schwinn missed the boat on off road bikes ), searching magazine articles for the semantic switch from 'clunker' to 'mountain bike'. in an old 'bicycling!' i see an early, tiny, 'mountain bikes' brand ad and in addition to tom ritchey the ad mentions eisentraut and jeff richman as builders for their frames. i'm not familiar with richman, any of you guys with the more esoteric collections have a richman built 'mountain bike' to show off?


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

I saw one on the top of a car while getting gas a year or so ago. The guy was headed to Mexico to get some cancer meds that were not FDA approved. I got his name but never followed up on it. It was pretty beat. It was an early one though with Mafacs and TA cranks, etc.

I'm sure Repack Rider could comment on whether he ever made any MountainBikes for Gary and him. Richman also had a bike in the "Art of the Mountain Bike" art exhibit in 90 or 91.


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## wv_bob (Sep 12, 2005)

surly357 said:


> so, i was doing a little research (in my unofficial role as the only person who doesn't think schwinn missed the boat on off road bikes )


Saw an early Sierra (IIRC) at an LBS this morning, since I dont have a cellphone no pics. Looked pretty cool to me though. It was in for repair, the derailleur was off, the hanger was stripped, but it looked like a few hours of love would bring it right back.


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## surly357 (Jan 19, 2006)

Fillet-brazed said:


> I saw one on the top of a car while getting gas a year or so ago. The guy was headed to Mexico to get some cancer meds that were not FDA approved. I got his name but never followed up on it. It was pretty beat. It was an early one though with Mafacs and TA cranks, etc.
> 
> I'm sure Repack Rider could comment on whether he ever made any MountainBikes for Gary and him. Richman also had a bike in the "Art of the Mountain Bike" art exhibit in 90 or 91.


yeah, i figure ck will come across this post sooner or later


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## datawhacker (Dec 23, 2004)

Richman from Art of Mt Bike Exhibit :


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## Repack Rider (Oct 22, 2005)

Before it became obvious that Tom Ritchey could make more bikes than any four or five other people, Gary shopped the project to Jeffrey Richman, who made a couple of bikes that went to a married couple.

The only photos I have of that bike are from 1979, showing from left, Alan Bonds' Excelsior, my Breezer, Mike Castelli's Richman and Gary Fisher's first Ritchey. These photos have already been posted in another thread.



















Bonus photo is Jeffrey's contribution to the Art of the Mountain Bike.


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## surly357 (Jan 19, 2006)

*thanks!*

well, now i know!


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## -Anomie- (Jan 16, 2005)

There was also this thread showing many photos of a much later Richman creation:

https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=445449&highlight=richman


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## Repack Rider (Oct 22, 2005)

I found this article from 1990 while doing something else, so I scanned it. Bicycling Magazine hired noted sports photog Dave Epperson to do a studio shoot of all the frame builders represented, but most of them passed up the opportunity to get a full page in a national magazine. This is who showed up for the photo session.


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## hairstream (Apr 20, 2008)

otis guy. cool.

thanks for the scans charlie.


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

Repack Rider said:


> I found this article from 1990 while doing something else, so I scanned it. Bicycling Magazine hired noted sports photog Dave Epperson to do a studio shoot of all the frame builders represented, but most of them passed up the opportunity to get a full page in a national magazine. This is who showed up for the photo session.


Good stuff. You couldn't get Charlie C, TR, or Steve P to show up?

What bike shop did/does Paul Brown own?


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## FairfaxPat (Jan 29, 2008)

Paul Brown had a shop in Novato until the mid 80's, when he moved to Santa Rosa. He continued bike business out of his home there, which he still does, in addition to a carpet cleaning company he started about 10 years ago or so. I recently ran into him in San Rafael at the Recyclery (local used bike store) buying old parts for bike builds.


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