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  • The start of mountain biking…not in the USA?
  • walleater
    Full Member

    Gary Fisher invented the mountain bike. Him and only him. He’s told use over a million times, and at least twice on his own site here:

    http://fisherbikes.com/support/glossary

    ampthill
    Full Member

    It is the total dominance of the mountain bike that is so amazing. It truns on its heads so ideas people had about what a bike should be. You still here recumbent enthusiasts who seem to believe that we just need bike to be a bit more effecient. Style and user friendlness are what people want. I was a teenager when I got my first mounatin bike. I was fit and use to ride a drop bar bike regularly. But the mountain bike just made so much more sense in traffic. I suppose that road bikes have caught up but my mountain bike gave me for the first time gears I could reach with out letting go of the bars, easy to reach brakes that worked and a more upright position that meant I could look around. Rigid mountain bikes (and hard tails) are mega flexible. I toured, commuted, mountain biked and even time trialed on mine

    AV2010
    Free Member

    That’s a terrific film from NZ in ’57!

    Yes, Charlie, you’re right to feel a bit uneasy with the word ‘invent’. It makes it sound like someone sat down and thought it all out, whereas it was more like ‘evolution’.

    I was told the same thing; my bike would only appeal to a few cyclo-crossers, and thus would be a niche within a niche, from a marketing point of view.

    I believe that, at that time, (mid-late 70s) there were only two machines being built where the ethos was to use the highest quality and most efficient components for an off-road bike, potentially for commercial exploitation. Everyone I spoke to about the idea, both cyclists and motorcyclists felt that a bicycle intended for off-road use should be of the lowest quality and fitted with low-grade cheap components. This was on the principle that you would bust it anyway, so you may as well not pay too much for it in the first place.

    There must have been a few venture capitalists who turned me down who were kicking themselves a few years later!

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    RepackRider
    Free Member


    2retro4u
    Marin County, Cali

    Gary Fisher invented the mountain bike. Him and only him. He’s told use over a million times, and at least twice on his own site here:

    I agree that the rhetoric got a little heated for a while, which is what happens when you have public relations people enhance your legend. A lot of people contributed to the “invention” (design, really) of the mountain bike. Even though Gary didn’t “invent the mountain bike,” his contributions to the sport were and are immense, and I’m guessing that they are ahead of your own.

    Regarding the US v. UK simultaneous progress. The first MTBs reflected their birthplace in California, which is relatively dry compared to UK riding conditions, and the biggest influence on the design was racing. The bikes by Geoff Apps, Cleland, Highpath etc. were far more reflective of the conditions where they were used and the purpose for which they were used.

    The difference turned out to be the demographic of the afficianados. Mountain bikers were originally young Californians with a BMX. skateboard, motorcycle or road bike background. The English rider was more like a Rough-Stuff Fellowship member who never elevated his heart rate. The California/BMX/skateboard lifestyle of the ’70s was being sold worldwide and eventually morphed into the X-Games, but RSF rides were not quite as marketable.

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