 | « on: April 04, 2009, 05:19:33 AM » |  Quote |
The first -successful- high quality fat-tire bicycle was built in
Marin County, California by Joe Breeze, who recognized a demand for
such a bicycle while riding rocky trails of nearby Mt. Tamalpais with
friends. They had used balloon-tire one-speed bicycles from the
1930s, 1940s and 1950s (Schwinn Excelsior) with coaster brakes. In
that pursuit, one of these trails got the name "Repack" because one
descent was enough to overheat the hub brake's, requiring it to be
re-packed. These Mt. Tamalpais downhill bikes were referred to as "my
mountain bike" in contrast to "my road bike" without giving the term
generic significance. This seems also to have been the case with
riders in the Santa Barbara area where fat tired bikes were also used
to descend trails, according to Joe Breeze.
Joe Breeze, Otis Guy, and Gary Fisher, all still in the bike business,
were top category USCF riders. Many of the Tamalpais riders were
members of road racing Velo Club Tamalpais, whose blue and gold jersey
carried the mountain logo. In October of 1977, Joe built a fat-tire
bike of lightweight tubing that was previously found only on better
road bikes, which he was also building at the time. It had all new,
high-quality parts and 26" x 2.125" Uniroyal "Knobby" tires on Schwinn
S2 rims and Phil Wood hubs. Joe built ten of these first Breezers by
June 1978. Breezer #1 has been on display at various places,
including the Oakland Museum, where it has been on permanent display
since 1985.
However the first Breezer was predated by a frame built for Charlie
Kelly by Craig Mitchell earlier in 1977. As the Breezer frames that
followed, it was made of 4130 chrome-molybdenum airframe tubing. Kelly
equipped it with the parts from his Schwinn Excelsior. These parts
included SunTour derailleurs and thumbshifters, TA aluminum cranks,
Union drum brake hubs, motorcycle brake levers, Brooks B-72 saddle,
Schwinn S-2 rims and UniRoyal Knobby tires (essentially, the best
parts found on clunkers of that day). In spite of this, Charlie chose
switch back to his Schwinn frame, which he rode until June of 1978,
when he got himself a Breezer, and for one reason or another the
Mitchell frame was not further developed.
In January 1979, Joe and Otis, who were planning another
transcontinental tandem record attempt, visited Tom Ritchey, who was
building their frame, and brought along Joe's Breezer mountain bike.
Peter Johnson, another noted frame builder who happened to be present,
was immediately impressed with its features, as was Tom who sensed the
significance of the concept, being a veteran road bike trail rider in
the Santa Cruz mountains. Gary Fisher got wind of Tom's interest in
fat tire bikes and asked Tom to build him one. Tom built one for
himself, one for Gary, and one for Gary to sell.
After building nine more frames later in 1979, Tom couldn't find
buyers for them in nearby Palo Alto, so he asked Fisher to sell them
in Marin County. Fisher and Charlie Kelly pooled a few hundred
dollars and started "MountainBikes" which became Gary Fisher Bicycles
as the first exclusively mountain bike business. It was Tom's bikes,
and Fisher and Kelly's business that made the introduction of the
mountain bike take hold. There was an obvious gap in the market with
most frame builders focusing on road bikes, which left this a field
open for innovation.
Fisher and Kelly tried to trademark the name Mountainbike, but through
procedural or definition errors the application was finally rejected.
Meanwhile in the 1980's Bicycling magazine had a "name that bike"
contest that excluded the name "Mountainbike", which was before the
trademark board at the time. ATB was the winner but it didn't hold
ground against the more natural "Mountain Bike" (aka MTB) name that
spread rapidly after the trademark application failed.
If anyone's name stands out as the builder of the earliest viable
mountain bike, it is Joe Breeze, who today produces Breezers. The
marketing push that first got the MTB rolling came from Tom Ritchey,
Gary Fisher, and Charlie Kelly. At first the USCF felt it below their
dignity, as did the UCI, to include these bicycles, but after NORBA
(National Off Road Bicycle Association) racers began to outnumber USCF
racers, they relented and absorbed these upstarts, as they certainly
would recumbents if they had similar public appeal.
Source: http://draco.acs.uci.edu
Marin County, California by Joe Breeze, who recognized a demand for
such a bicycle while riding rocky trails of nearby Mt. Tamalpais with
friends. They had used balloon-tire one-speed bicycles from the
1930s, 1940s and 1950s (Schwinn Excelsior) with coaster brakes. In
that pursuit, one of these trails got the name "Repack" because one
descent was enough to overheat the hub brake's, requiring it to be
re-packed. These Mt. Tamalpais downhill bikes were referred to as "my
mountain bike" in contrast to "my road bike" without giving the term
generic significance. This seems also to have been the case with
riders in the Santa Barbara area where fat tired bikes were also used
to descend trails, according to Joe Breeze.
Joe Breeze, Otis Guy, and Gary Fisher, all still in the bike business,
were top category USCF riders. Many of the Tamalpais riders were
members of road racing Velo Club Tamalpais, whose blue and gold jersey
carried the mountain logo. In October of 1977, Joe built a fat-tire
bike of lightweight tubing that was previously found only on better
road bikes, which he was also building at the time. It had all new,
high-quality parts and 26" x 2.125" Uniroyal "Knobby" tires on Schwinn
S2 rims and Phil Wood hubs. Joe built ten of these first Breezers by
June 1978. Breezer #1 has been on display at various places,
including the Oakland Museum, where it has been on permanent display
since 1985.
However the first Breezer was predated by a frame built for Charlie
Kelly by Craig Mitchell earlier in 1977. As the Breezer frames that
followed, it was made of 4130 chrome-molybdenum airframe tubing. Kelly
equipped it with the parts from his Schwinn Excelsior. These parts
included SunTour derailleurs and thumbshifters, TA aluminum cranks,
Union drum brake hubs, motorcycle brake levers, Brooks B-72 saddle,
Schwinn S-2 rims and UniRoyal Knobby tires (essentially, the best
parts found on clunkers of that day). In spite of this, Charlie chose
switch back to his Schwinn frame, which he rode until June of 1978,
when he got himself a Breezer, and for one reason or another the
Mitchell frame was not further developed.
In January 1979, Joe and Otis, who were planning another
transcontinental tandem record attempt, visited Tom Ritchey, who was
building their frame, and brought along Joe's Breezer mountain bike.
Peter Johnson, another noted frame builder who happened to be present,
was immediately impressed with its features, as was Tom who sensed the
significance of the concept, being a veteran road bike trail rider in
the Santa Cruz mountains. Gary Fisher got wind of Tom's interest in
fat tire bikes and asked Tom to build him one. Tom built one for
himself, one for Gary, and one for Gary to sell.
After building nine more frames later in 1979, Tom couldn't find
buyers for them in nearby Palo Alto, so he asked Fisher to sell them
in Marin County. Fisher and Charlie Kelly pooled a few hundred
dollars and started "MountainBikes" which became Gary Fisher Bicycles
as the first exclusively mountain bike business. It was Tom's bikes,
and Fisher and Kelly's business that made the introduction of the
mountain bike take hold. There was an obvious gap in the market with
most frame builders focusing on road bikes, which left this a field
open for innovation.
Fisher and Kelly tried to trademark the name Mountainbike, but through
procedural or definition errors the application was finally rejected.
Meanwhile in the 1980's Bicycling magazine had a "name that bike"
contest that excluded the name "Mountainbike", which was before the
trademark board at the time. ATB was the winner but it didn't hold
ground against the more natural "Mountain Bike" (aka MTB) name that
spread rapidly after the trademark application failed.
If anyone's name stands out as the builder of the earliest viable
mountain bike, it is Joe Breeze, who today produces Breezers. The
marketing push that first got the MTB rolling came from Tom Ritchey,
Gary Fisher, and Charlie Kelly. At first the USCF felt it below their
dignity, as did the UCI, to include these bicycles, but after NORBA
(National Off Road Bicycle Association) racers began to outnumber USCF
racers, they relented and absorbed these upstarts, as they certainly
would recumbents if they had similar public appeal.
Source: http://draco.acs.uci.edu
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