I have to say this every time I show up here. Everyone rode off-road when they were kids. Millions of people had the opportunity to “invent the mountain bike” and didn’t do so.

What everyone ELSE didn’t do was organize a regular series of competitions with rules and prizes. Then use what they had learned from the competition, sorting out the machinery to design a bicycle specifically for that purpose, rather than use a modified version of something made to do something else.

And then finally to have the minerals to open a business whose only purpose was to build and sell these new bikes. How many of my critics did that? The name of the sport comes from the name Gary and I thought up for our business, MountainBikes.

A lot of people slag me here, and not one of my critics can point to something he has done that was worthy of hundreds of magazine articles and several books. None can identify anything remotely approaching my contributions to the sport. If you think I have a big ego, you have not met my former colleague.

I was a rock band roadie for 42 years. I have been insulted by professional insulters who used insult-enhancing drugs. My critics here have a long way to go before they bother me.

So who won the casual ride?

Gary Fisher and I had a third roommate named Alan Bonds. Alan was the winner.

My town in California has a castle on a hilltop. The light was very nice as I was riding home.

ZOIC Bicycle clothing has a line of faux-flannel jerseys.

http://zoic.com/mens-mountain-bike-clothing/tops/hybrid-shirts/tradesman-flannel

What I love best about Repack Rider is his modesty.

You have the wrong guy. You’re thinking of Gary F.

Off-road riding and racing long before that
Really cool and all that but don’t be giving me the day it all started bollox

I have only been hearing about all these people for 35 years. I am well aware that every bicyclist on the planet took an old bike out in the woods before my mates and I did.

What all those people who rode on dirt before it took over my life and my friends’ lives, failed to do, was sit down and design, then build, then offer on the market, bikes made for that purpose. If they had, we would not have bothered to build our own, we would have just bought bikes from a bicycle dealer like everyone else on this forum has done, and we would not have given a thought to how they were designed and arrived on the market.

That race 40 years ago started my friends and me in that direction, although it would be a couple of years before we got to the point of building and selling the bikes.

Anyone asked Tracey Moseley or Richie Rude? I suspect they would rip that record to pieces.

Retired pro racer Marla Streb lowered the women’s record. Myles Rockwell, who was world DH champ in 2000 and who grew up in the town where the races took place, gave it a few tries on modern equipment. The records still stand.

Nice of Mr. Stevenson to mention my book[/url], in the Breezer item on that list.

Here is an article about my bike, Breezer #2[/url], which you can see in the back of the blue 1954 Dodge pickup truck that Chipps Chippendale noticed[/url] at Sea Otter.

that Breezer was based on existing designs that had been around for ages.

Not exactly. Joe had to design the bike from scratch, because previous bikes that used wide tyres were not built from straight tubes, or equipped with derailleurs or threaded bottom brackets.

There were probably any number of people who COULD HAVE made that design, but Joe was the one who did. When he built that bike, he was a great downhill racer, just the kind of person you want doing it. A road frame builder would not have understood how I planned to use it.

The Series I Breezer[/url] was the first original bicycle design in a 40-year career that has made Joe Breeze one of the most respected bicycle designers in the world. It was the first real “mountain bike.” If it were easy, anyone could have done it, but for some reason they didn’t.

I went to the NAHBS yesterday. If you’re not into what is on display, don’t go. It’s like all the good stuff in a trade show without any of the crap. No one is pushing you to buy what you are looking at. You can talk to the builders for a long time, and they won’t push you out of the way to make a sale.

I saw dozens of my bike-junkie friends, could have gone to an awesome party afterward but my friends and I were whipped and just headed home.

The spring in the pedal is adjustable. Adjust it.

Had Jacquie over for dinner last week. My wife works directing visiting nurses, which is something Charlie will need, so she was able to make suggestions for Jacquie regarding his home care.

Mutual friend visited Charlie a few days ago, said he had a long conversation. That represents considerable improvement over the state I saw him in a couple of weeks earlier, so progress is steady.

Let me know if you plan to drop by the bicycling museum in Fairfax. I volunteer there a couple of days a week.

Must be a spot of bother choosing which championship jersey to train in.

I hate Vegas. I just spent a week there in connection with the bike show. Didn’t go riding, didn’t bring a bike, the show took up all of my time except for the evenings, when you try to find someone with an expense account to buy you dinner.

I wrote an amusing account of my experience.

Oh no don’t get Repack on this please.

Too late. Google is everywhere.

It’s ‘cross. Doesn’t do much for me.

In 1980 Gary Fisher was second in the California state ‘cross championships, riding a Ritchey.

I have a friend who coached American teams in Grand Tours in the ’80s. He knew all about steroids. He explained that steroids don’t make you stronger, they reduce your recovery time after a workout. He pointed out that some of the cycling stars of the ’70s displayed secondary side effects of steroid use. The most common is the “moon face,” a rounding of the face that is an aftereffect of excessive use. Take a look at sprinter Ben Johnson, DQed from the Olympics, and moon-faced from steroid use.

Stage races are all about recovery. One bad day and you’re cooked. That’s what makes steroids so popular in that sport.

Steroids help weight lifters and strength athletes pack more workouts into a given span of time. They don’t make you stronger, they just let you work out more than you could otherwise.

Men paid to join and paid to un-join. Saw this article today which indicates that less than 1% of the female profiles belonged to actual women, the rest generated by employees.

For a long time I moved pianos. Sold the business last year and walked away at the age of 68. I had no residual injuries, nothing hurt on my last day, and I never missed a day from injury.

The reason I sold the business is that not that I couldn’t do it any more. I wrote a book about my mountain biking adventures[/url], and the publicity efforts would not permit me to run the business effectively, so I sold it to my employees.

I’ll be 70 in a few months. I would like to continue to get older because the only alternative really sucks.

I still ride my bike, a lot, and I play in an amplified band. These are not activities my father participated in at this age.

Now that the kid is grown and gone, I get to party again like it’s 1999.

A lot of fascinating items in this discussion. Since I can’t conveniently visit the UK entries, here are a couple from my part of the world.

The Museum of Jurassic Technology[/url] is not like any museum I have ever seen.

Closer to home, more of interest to bicyclists and run by my good friend Joe Breeze, is the Marin Museum of Bicycling[/url].

I’ll be 70 in a few months. I never came close to any kind of MLC.

I got everything anyone could have asked for and I’m still getting it. I was a rock band roadie and a bike bum for long time before I got married, so I partied hearty. After that, I’m happy with the way my family turned out.

Is there something I missed?

Measuring your rides seems like a geek approach. I don’t race anyone, I have no “goals,” other than to ride bikes for a lot longer.

Five to ten minutes, depends on which way I want to go.

Lot of people on here live next to a trail. I hear that surfers like to live near the beach.

just back from california.

Ate out and went to pubs alot came across this issue precisely zero times.

who would have thought americans with better manners than the brits.

Smoking is illegal in California in any enclosed public or commercial space. When the law was first proposed, pub owners were sure their businesses would suffer. It didn’t happen, people will still drink. Now they step outside to smoke, or in some cases, there is a designated outside area attached to the pub.

When I was a child, the majority of adults smoked tobacco. Now I can’t think of a single adult in my immediate circle who smokes tobacco. Of course, being a cyclist, my friends are not in a smoking demographic, but nowadays in California only a small minority uses tobacco.

toppers3933 – Member

I’ve been reading all the jack reacher books over the last few months. Totally brainless but a bit of a change from the usual mountaineering and history books i usually read.

Interesting how the character evolved. Jack used to wear a watch. Then at some point he didn’t need one because he always knew what time it was! Don’t know what his body count is, but in a few of the books they needed a backhoe to dispose of them.

Can’t handle midget Tom Cruise playing the role in the film, since Reacher is always described as huge, and much of the narrative is devoted to reactions to his size. I would have suggested The Rock (Duane Johnson) but he is now pumped up to cartoon levels. Maybe Dolph Lundgren, but he’s getting a little old.

Oh yeah, I wrote a book myself, and it’s about[/url] mountain[/url] biking[/url].

My most epic ride was in Canada’s NW Territories about 30 years ago. More grizzly bears there than people.

But I tell people that I had the best bike adventure of the 20th Century (Thomas Stevens, mentioned above, owns the 19th Century). Over a period of six or seven years my friends and I took our town bikes out on trails, modified them for off-road, invented downhill time trials to settle local arguments, designed and started building bikes specifically for the purpose of racing them downhill on steep dirt roads, and then named the result a “mountain bike.”

Mike Finnigan is a longtime friend. He went on from this band to become the world-class sideman for such acts as Dave Mason, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Joe Cocker and Bonnie Raitt. This is the band he was in in 1972, Finnigan and Woods. This cut from their album “Crazed Hipsters” is the most rockin’, burning cover of a Dylan song ever. You will forget Hendrix’s “Watchtower” after you hear this one.

I’m not the first to point out that “California” is a bit vague as a destination. Which PART of California will you be in?

I’m in Marin County, if you’re coming this way we have some cool trails and the new bicycle museum.

Never met George W. Bush, but it is well known that he is a passionate mountain biker. Politically we could not be farther apart, but when I was asked to sign a copy of my book Fat Tire Flyer for him, I was honored by the request.

I was not expecting a personal handwritten thank you note, which reads:

Dear Charlie,

Thank you for signing Fat Tire Flyer. It is a very interesting history of the sport I love. I’m rollin’ as much as my 69 year old legs will allow — Ride on!

George W. Bush

No two people are farther apart politically than George W. Bush and I. But he is a mountain biker, and when you get a request from a former president for a signed copy of your book… You deliver.

Mr. Bush responded with a very nice hand-written note.

Dear Charlie,

Thank you for signing Fat Tire Flyer. It is a very interesting history of the sport I love. I’m rollin’ as much as my 69 year old legs will allow — Ride on!

George W. Bush

@Repack/Charlie – you do you run a regular search on:
STW+”invented mountain biking”?

I regularly check search terms “California,” “San Francisco,” and “repack.” Most of the conversations here are about subjects and places I am not familiar with, so I look for the ones I might have something to say about.

What happened to your pic, anyways?

Wanna-be rockers complained that my avatar was rubbing their faces in the fact that I get to play really loud in public.

This guy told me he invented mountain biking. I didn’t want to argue.

If you’re further north, there is another excellent cycle museum on Bainbridge Island in Seattle, well worth a look if you’re in the area.
http://www.classiccycleus.com/
It’s attached to a fine bike store too.

Great tip! I hadn’t heard of that one. They are a little light on my era of MTB, but they do have a rare Cunningham bike. Allow me to return the favor.

Probably one of the best collections of historic mountain bikes is at First Flight Bicycles which is located in another terrible place for a bicycle museum, i.e. 3000 miles from where I live. Check out the Museum of Mountain Bike Art and Technology, MOMBAT[/url].

That is, plainly, complete anglo-centric tosh as it suggests only folk who speak English go mountain biking.

The letter “K” does not appear in the Italian alphabet. A literal translation of “mountain bike” would be “bicicleta de montagna.”

They don’t call it that any more than we call them ATBs. In Italy they still call it a mountain bike, even if they have to borrow a letter from our alphabet to do it.

Whilst we are naming stuff and there are some old codgers about; where did the term ATB fit into the timeline exactly and who killed it off?

I’ll take that question.

When Gary Fisher and I started our business, it was called simply “MountainBikes.” We attempted to protect that name by trademark, but our trademark attorney screwed up the application, and it was denied.

Only Gary and I and the attorney knew that, and it was not in our interest to make it known to anyone else. For a year or so we “bluffed” the entire industry, which assumed it was a trademark. Gary was at the time employed by Bicycling Magazine, which was a conflict of interest but it worked in our favor. He convinced the editors that if you called it a “mountain bike” you were infringing on our name.

So Bicycling held a CONTEST in 1980, announced on the editorial page, as to what to call these new machines that they didn’t want to call “mountain bikes.” Two issues later they announced the “winner.” The new name was “All-Terrain Bike,” abbreviated to ATB. Or, in French, Velo tout-Terrain, VTT.

Unfortunately, the name Gary and I had chosen was less of a mouthful, and as far as the cycling world was concerned, it was the name of the sport and the machinery. It wasn’t long before other bicycle companies picked up on the fact that we could not prevent them from calling the mass produced copies of the bikes Gary and I sold “mountain bikes,” lower case and two words.

So we added a term to the dictionary. One other term we added was “Unicrown.” Charlie Cunningham and Steve Potts had come up with a way to eliminate the fork crown by bending the top of the blade and attaching directly to the steerer. Since it was a one-piece construction that replaced the fork crown, I came up with the name “Unicrown,” with the idea that we would protect that name a little better than our company name, and stamp a little unicorn logo on our product.

This took place just as Gery and I parted company, and Gary did not follow up on the trademark. In addition, the design spread all over the industry, but since it was one of those “old is new” things that had actually been done before, the modern designers could not patent it. But the name stuck.

Yeah, it’s all cool, we know the klunkers were the start of it.
You don’t have to bite to every wind-up

Sorry if I overreacted to bait dragged through the water, if you know what I mean and I think you do.

The “klunker” era was incredibly brief, just a couple of years from the first modified ’30s bikes to the step of designing and building bikes specifically for the purpose. The passionate intensity of that era, the crude bikes, the first DH races etc., has captured the imagination of cyclists all over the world.

One guy who does not get as much international credit as he should is Alan Bonds, who shared the house with Gary Fisher and me. No one mastered the arcane craft of klunker modification better than Alan, and there are people now 40 years on creating replicas based on his ideas.

Take a look at Alan’s website[/url] for the most beautiful “klunkers” every built.

Didn’t you come on here before with a similar thread and if I remember a few postors refuted some of the claims you made?
Or I might be completely mistaken.

Bring it then. Be specific.

I never claimed no one ever rode on a dirt track before I did. But there was a time when there were no mountain bikes, and now there are.

What, in your opinion, made the difference between then and now?

Which bikes did Steve Potts design ? I have not heard of him before

Perhaps you have heard of the company that he started with a couple of mates in 1982, Wilderness Trail Bikes. Steve has left WTB, and is now an independent frame builder.

A couple of things the video revolution has revealed.

First, there are no UFOs. The meteor over Russia a few years ago was caught on hundreds of video cameras, even though it only took a few seconds, and no one was looking for it. If UFOs were up there, you would have hundreds of YouTube videos of them.

Second, the people who claimed that police beat the snot out of them before video was everywhere were probably not lying.

There’s a bit of a story here.

As far as I can find out, every kid who had access to an old bike and a dirt track rode one on the other. So did I.

If all that was “before mountain biking,” when did mountain biking start? I would say it started when my mate and I called the bikes we built for that purpose by that name. Can’t call the sport mountain biking before you call the machine a mountain bike. My mate Gary Fisher and I came up with the name. We weren’t using old bikes, we built them new, to the same standard as a Tour de France bike

Big difference between that and an old bike on a track