NAHBS 2013: Ritchey Shows Unobtanium Fillet Brazed Steel Hardtail, Plus 650B Wheels & Tires

posted by Tyler Benedict - February 26, 2013 - 4pm EDT

Ritchey P-650b fillet brazed steel hardtail mountain bike

One of the nice things about being your own builder/brand is that you can build whatever you want for yourself, sellability be damned. And, while he probably could sell as many as he could make, Tom Ritchey built this fillet brazed show version of the P-650b as a one-off for NAHBS (and, likely, for his own use). The ones you and I can buy are standard tig welded.

Just visible at the top/left background is the 650B/700c breakaway tandem is inching closer to production, they’re mainly just finalizing the bags that the frame will go into.

More pics, plus 650B wheels and tires, below…

Ritchey Z-Max Revolution 650b tires and Vantage Wheels now available

The Ritchey Z Max Evolution mountain bike tire is now coming in 650B size, available in spring. $69.95, weight TBD. 27.5×2.1.

The 650B wheels are shipping and available now. The WCS Vantage Alloy are 1587g and retail for $799. These wheels are mounted to their WCS carbon rigid 650B fork, shown better in the complete bike photo at top, which is also available now for $499. 615g claimed.

The XX1 driver body will ship in a couple months for all of their compatible wheels. Check this post for more details on which brands are offering XX1 hub kits.

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Comments

burt - 02/26/13 - 5:02pm

I’d love to have that! Beautiful bike.

yesplease - 02/26/13 - 5:58pm

How is Ritchey not getting in trouble using Unobtanium, its trademarked by Oakley.

fanboy - 02/26/13 - 6:26pm

Ritchey is calling anything “unobtainium”.

Looks to me like Bike Rumour is using that as a term to describe the fact that normal mortals can’t actually “obtain” a fillet brazed Ritchey frame for themselves.

ccolagio - 02/26/13 - 7:18pm

gorgeous!

Mindless - 02/26/13 - 9:11pm

I would have feel awkward riding a bike with my name written on it 14 times.

Mindless - 02/26/13 - 9:12pm

..forgot to count stem, seatpost, saddle, bars.. top cap.. another 10 times? ;)

Ihatelogos - 02/26/13 - 9:15pm

I took off all the decals on my frame except the downtube.

tommy - 02/27/13 - 3:48am

the bike looks pretty nice. Pity i cant say the same for the new stem i bought from that company.. But I am saying nothing ..:P

Aaron - 02/27/13 - 6:38am

Put drop bars on it and the world’s greatest gravel bike would be born.

James - 02/27/13 - 8:36am

Am i the only one that thinks other than impossible to get, what the hell is “unobtainium”?

SmooveP - 02/27/13 - 10:11am

The term “unobtainium” predates Oakley, the movie Avatar, and this bike. I remember seeing it in a bike mag article in the early 90′s around the time manufacturers were trying to come up with the next miracle frame material. Beryllium, anyone?

Bruno - 02/27/13 - 12:26pm

This is Porn Stuff…..beautiful bike

Ajax - 02/27/13 - 6:36pm

650b

Yeah!

But where’s the thru-axle stuff?

MGK - 02/28/13 - 12:12am

Can we lose the red/white/blue color scheme and just doing a normal color? Please.

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