You always regret saving the money by buying the cheaper part.

Sounds like a fun day.

Was expecting a PST by @repackrider
and the usual ensuing argument….

I am in awe of the many people who improved the equipment and pushed the limits of what could be done on it, since the day my friend and I rented a garage to build bikes in, thinking the market was a dozen or so “MountainBikes” (our brand name) a year.

The article acknowledges the humble beginnings of the sport, my friends and I racing modified 40-year old bikes down two miles of 14% grade.

The 45th anniversary of that first race was a few days ago on October 21. We didn’t know at the time that there were other groups of riders doing the same thing as we were, but in their own areas. As soon as they heard there was a RACE, they started showing up, the first community of off-road bicyclists. The “arms race” to build a bike that would perform better on that course than 20 kg of plumbing supplies with wheels attached led to the first real mountain bikes.

I was never the same after I smoked a joint with Jerry Garcia. Of course, I was never the same before that either.

Here is a link to the story about my mountain bike trip to Canada’s NorthWest Territories with that bike.

There were plenty people all over the world doing what Gary et al were doing at the time.

I have been hearing about these people for about 40 years now, and I have yet to meet any of them. If there was someone other than Gary, Tom Ritchey and me designing and building high-quality balloon tire bicycles for off-road use, and selling them to the general public in 1979 or before, I would love to give them the publicity they deserve. Can you give me a few names?

Also useful to post a copy to repack rider when he comes here for his quarterly thread about how amazing he is to have invented riding bikes off road…

Don’t know how many times I have to deny ever making that claim, but here I am again having to do exactly that. The “invention” of off-road riding should properly be credited to Thomas Stevens in 1872. I wrote a whole book to deny that claim, but even that does not seem to be working here. It works everywhere else, so go figure.

Gary Fisher and I were RSF members in the ’80s, AFAIK the only ones in California. We corresponded frequently with Geoff Apps. I wrote articles that appeared in the RSF Journal.

If those guys had ever come up with the idea of coasting downhill, THEY would have “invented” mountain biking!

Has repack changed from claiming he invented mountain bikes to a more accurate one of the first to codify dh mtb racing?

A claim I am careful not to make and have denied making now for a long time. But still there are those who believe they have read something I never wrote, and I still have to hear from people who must now be in their 80s who did it before I did.

The video speaks for itself. It is the FIRST video of this sport, and it is an anniversary, so I put it up here. Nobody in it had any idea that this goofy sport would take off like it did.

Chipps killed a previously scheduled article in order to get mine about the recent Crested Butte adventure into the issue that was in print during my recent visit to the UK. It’s in the subscriber online version and the subscriber print copy, but not in the one you can buy at the news agent.

I paid a visit to STW HQ in Hebden Bridge, where in one whirlwind day I sat for a video interview with editor Hannah Dobson, went on a night ride with the local MTB crowd, gave a talk in a local pub, and was presented with one of the three bottles of rare whisky auctioned for charity.

I’m told that the bottle gifted to me raised 1070 pounds for charity, and I will toast all who contributed when I crack it with the other members of my band.  I expect that event will be followed by the most awesome jam EVER.

In the absence of a formal presentation, I spoke at a local pub to a standing room audience of about 40, then I sold and signed copies of my book.  After the talk, Bum Butter/Bikemonger Charlie Hobbs, who had arranged the appearance, passed the hat and it came back with 100 quid, fair pay for an hour of lecturing. When the talk was over, we drank and chatted until closing time, then retired to another pub down the street until it closed and we had nowhere else to go except home.

Hannah reported the next day that on her ride home she was felled by a sudden gust of gravity and a pedestrian sign that leapt into her path, but eventually identified the house she lives in and made it home uninjured, because she knew enough about crashing that you should be loose when you strike the road surface.

My article about that ride runs in the current issue of STW.

My lecture dates so far are:

7th October Sandiway Ales Brewery Northwich CHESHIRE

11th October Rapha Manchester

13th October Otec, Aylesbury Buckinghamshire

18th October Fort William

20th October Keswick, Lake District

29th October Velo Domestique, Bournemouth

1st November Brixton Bikes & Green Oil, Brixton, London

I put the wheel on the ground vertically with the valve up.  Starting at the top I force the tyre from both sides down to the bottom.  It doesn’t feel like it is creating any slack, but it works for me.  Pop the bead with just my fingers.

First time I had to pull off a tubeless tyre on the trail I broke all my levers.

That didn’t seem to go well.

Most of my Colorado riding has been in Crested Butte which is at 9000′ elevation.  Aspens were just turning last week when I visited, but it’s getting late in the year for high mountain riding. Weather can turn quickly.

Boulder is at a lower elevation, lots of good riding there.

Oh. So it’s safe to assume Charlie and Joe now have Ebikes.

Not safe, we didn’t.  There were only two ebikes on the ride, and only one made the top.  The bike I was on is a good part of the story when it runs in STW.

My roommate Gary Fisher was excited.  Reigning national champion John Allis was in town, wanted to go on a ride and was looking for a local guide. We hopped on our matching orange Colnagos and headed for the place where he was staying, a fifteen minute ride away from the house we shared.

On the way over, Gary discovered his frame was cracked. He had to abandon the ride. it was left for me alone to show the champion our local roads.

He wasn’t riding hard, not training, but on the hills he didn’t seem to notice the slope.  He never changed his pace and it was all I could do to keep up.  Fortunately, he needed me to show him the way back to town, or I may have finished alone.

What’s this bike all about then?

P1040949 by Charles Kelly, on Flickr

That is a 1935 Schwinn, which is I believe the first year that company offered a balloon tyre.  It was ridden by Tommy Breeze, son of Joe.  Probably the most dangerous bike on the trail, not even remotely suited for the terrain.

The kid’s father is a renowned bicycle designer, and this is what he rode.

One of the riders celebrated with a little LSD. He sat near the fire at the camp, shirtless and barefoot, wearing a towel over his head and grooving to whoever was playing the guitar at the moment. He was friendly, but conversations with him were not always…linear. The dude didn’t have a tent or a sleeping bag, all he had was a blanket. He heated a big rock in the fire, wrapped his blanket around it and curled up around his rock for the night.

It rained that night.

The next time I saw him, it was at the top of Pearl pass.  He had put on shoes and a shirt… and a full face helmet, and he was riding the most expensive carbon FS bike in the entire collection.

Looks like you will be able to read the story in Singletrack World.  Chipps bought it for the next issue.

That is a Charlie Hobbs shirt.  I try to get him a photo of me in it everywhere I go.

Mr. Lucas lives about a mile from where I do, in San Anselmo, California. See him out on the streets all the time. Using his own money, he built a beautiful city park in the center of town. Locals call it “Yoda Park” b/c there is a statue in it of the little alien.

So, how was it?

http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/ckimages/UK_2017.pdf

Joe and I had a great time riding in Sherwood Forest. I am now in Clitheroe. Got an email from Peaty, who lives in the area. I’m hoping to break into his busy schedule to have him join me at my talk here on the 23rd. Even if he can’t make it, some of the Singletrackers should.

Bike Biz takes notice. They must have received the press release.

London on 13th

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-evening-with-charlie-kelly-joe-breeze-tickets-35728942228

shout if you make it to Newcastle, would be a pleasure to meet you. Excellent riding to be had in Northumberland.

Tried a couple of shops in Newcastle, no response. Would like to go there, but I need a reason that pays me something. I’m told the Cycle Hub would be a good spot for us, but they don’t answer their mail.

Arriving at Gatwick on 11th July. Speaking at Look Mum No Hands on 13th.

Edit: your people need to be speaking to these guys: http://www.pedallingsquarescafe.com/ (don’t worry, they’re not all roadies)

Just looked at the site. Excellent idea, I will contact them forthwith!

Poster for the Scunthorpe gig.

Looks like we will be adding a couple of dates. I have an offer from a shop in London. I won’t post the name until it is confirmed.

Likewise, I have an offer from Scunthorpe.

I appreciate all the kind offers! As the schedule sorts itself out, I will try to add some of these locations.

Torn between invites from Isle of Man and Edinburgh. I may have to pick one or the other.

We have booked a few dates, looking to add a few more.

15th July in Dorset

16th July in Nottingham (Broadway, no link yet)

23rd July in Lancashire[/url]

Tentative dates:

London: Thursday, July 14

Nottingham: Friday, July 15

Sheffield (or Leeds or Newcastle): Saturday, July 16

Lancashire 23rd

My people are looking at the dates in between.

Thank you all for your interest.

You need to visit Loch Ness. It’s the law for visitors to the UK from the States and the Far East.

Been there, done that. Visited Fort Bill some years back along with Mr. Fisher. Would love to get there again.

That sounds a little small. Also, I think my riding will take place more in the countryside than in town, but I am open to all suggestions.

I use SPD pedals, BTW.

I spent most of my time at the Sea Otter Classic in the Breezer booth with Joe Breeze, who spotted me the exhibitor pass. Joe was showing a gravel bike, but he hates the term, so he made a sign for his entry that identified it as a “Stoner Bike.”

Sundayjumper: If nobody had noticed, WTB have been around forever. Right there at the start with Fisher & Ritchey.

vinnyeh: WTB was started by Charlie Cunningham, one of the blokes who invented mountain biking along with Repack Rider et al

Not exactly. WTB was started by Steve Potts, Charlie Cunningham and Mark Slate around 1984, five years after Gary and I rented a garage to build bikes on Tom Ritchey’s frames. Of the three, only Slate is still involved.

Steve Potts is a legendary builder who caught the bug after touring New Zealand in 1980 with Joe Breeze on two of Joe’s bikes. He apprenticed with Tom and Joe but now has his own cult following.

WTB had a major presence this weekend at the Sea Otter Classic, the biggest bicycle event in California. They are still very big in the USA.

Charlie Cunningham is indeed a legendary and early builder, but he had no interest in 26″ wheels until the market pressure from everyone ELSE in Marin County, and the BMX “Cruiser Class” market in Southern California inspired the manufacture of 26″ alloy rims.

Hard to imagine how my life would have turned out if it were not for mountain biking.

March turned out to be a pretty good month. MBA gave me five pages to play with.

A deep hole
A terrifying fall
Not a scratch

The downhill ‘Repack’ was one of a large number of Californian activities in which ‘Clunkers’ were used. Even though relitively few people were involved, it provided the perfect photo/video opportunity for promoting the new ‘Mountain Bikes’

In the ’70s most people who owned a balloon-tire “klunker” bike did not also own an Italian racing bicycle. My friends and I owned both, and it inspired the question, “What if that bike (the klunker) was built as beautifully as this bike (my Colnago)?

As soon as somebody did exactly that, the sport of mountain biki9ng was born.

Just a thought – rather than reminding us about what you did way back when, how about an update – you can’t have just been resting on your laurels since selling your slice to Gary in the early ’80s? Any more recent activities or contributions worth talking about?

No problem. My longtime friend and collaborator on the book, Joe Breeze, is the curator of the Marin Museum of Bicycling/Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. I volunteer as a docent there on weekends. One of the items on display is my own bike, built for me in 1978 by Joe Breeze. How much fun is it to guide people through a museum of bicycles, in which my friends and I are well represented!

I am working on a project to digitize my archive, which is the most complete collection of mountain bike history on the planet. I could not have written my book without my collection, but now I need to open my personal library to the world. The plan is to make it available online to people like the STW readers. We will have a Kickstarter page for the project, and contributors will have access to terabytes of information on the rise of our sport. One small contribution will open the library door forever.

It’s not just my stuff in the archive. Gary Fisher dumped his personal archive on me, although I have no use for a dozen weird trophies and his own paintings that even he didn’t want to keep. After that I will start on Joe Breeze’s collection. The total pile of paper is over a ton, and I have EVERYTHING, magazines, race results, press releases, and club newsletters, spec sheets. Picking any document at random from the collection starts you on a journey that always leads to…other documents.

I sell stuff related to the Repack races, posters and t-shirts.

When I am not doing that, I ride one of my bikes. All my bikes have one of my friends’ names on the downtube. Those names are Fisher, Ritchey and Breeze, and I do not pay for my bikes.