In the Fall/Winter of 1973, Tom Ritchey built a nice frame for me when he was a senior in high school. He finished it during the Christmas vacation of 1973. Bob Hufford kindly posted photos of this bike at his website:
http://home.mchsi.com/
For some crazy reason, I still have the old notes I had taken while discussing frame dimensions, etc. with Tom. The frame cost $250. A couple of years ago, Brian Baylis repainted it with maroon (which I like to think of as 'burgundy') Imron, as it was originally painted by Tom. [By the way, given his incredible knowledge of bike frames, Brian knows much more about this frame than I do. We had some great discussions about it.] In addition, Tom gave me his oldest available decals, which Brian applied to the frame. The frame did not originally have any decals, as it was perhaps about Tom's fifth or so frame. Although the decals are more modern than 1973, I figured that they were applied with Tom's approval. I restored it with the mostly vintage parts, including some of the original components (I didn't include the seat post into which I drilled a hole for the rear brake cable). I have been slowly replacing the few nonvintage (mid- to late-1970s/early 80s) components with early 1970s parts.
The frame is Reynolds 531 with Prugnat lugs. The workmanship is, in my opinion, exceptional. Tom exhibited extraordinary skill at an early age. My racing friends and I used to call it a 'sculpture'! On top of it all, it rides really well -- it's a fast bike. Tom was (and I am sure, still is) a real artist. The photos are a strong testimony to his skill as a framebuilder. He certainly deserves a place in the list of great American framebuilders.
Jim Kadonaga
San Diego, CA