This frame came to my by accident. A guy on facebook was looking for Ritchey Vantage Comp rims, which I had. after a short chat he mentioned he has a new Ritchey frame, of course I was interested, because it was in 20", my size.

After a few weeks the frame made it to me via the customs and I started unwrapping it.

The origin of the frame was again from Ray Schmal, the Brett Steelman partner, see here the story. This was my first contact to the finder, without knowing he has the Steelmans. 

MBA: "excellent in every area of performance"

Since this frame was in such a great, NOS condition, I decided to search the original fork and stem. Both fillet brazed masterpieces from Tom Ritchey himself: 

- Force Directional Fillet Brazed Stem with the ritchey-typical Noodle and

- Tange Prestige Fillet Brazed Unicrown fork. 

After many threads and network / community messages, I found the fork on Facebook and the stem was offered to me via a German MTB community , parts and money was involved, even a long shipment from US via Norway to Hamburg, this is Classic MTB enthusiasm foe: Steel Fights Back!

When it comes to riding, I pretty used to Team bikes (see example P21 Team). Steep, hungry, aggressive. The timber comp is more relaxed, I´d say balanced. The key thing to this is the slightly longer steerer tube. Together with the Salsa buldged bar and the Force Comp stem with 15°, the Timber combine all the character aspects of a Tom Ritchey fillet brazed frame - direct, light, slightly flexing, jumpy if you kick it - with an elegant rider for your easy weekend trail. And so we did, the first ride was a family trip (my kid on the P21 Team kids bike - LINK), my wife of the loong and faster Hollandrad and me on the timber. it was a nice easter spin along fields, rivers and less busy city paths. But after the trip I gave here some kicks and she proof what the MBA reported - excellent performance in every area - climbing, descending, cornering and shock absorbing.