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Who was the first frame pioneer?

KonaKurtKonaKurt Posts: 720
edited January 2009 in MTB general
Someone just asked me a question I am stuck on about MTB history.

Who was the first in history to produce an MTB specific frame geoometry, and in what year? Was it Gary Fisher, Kona, Marin or someone else....?

KK.

Posts

  • SarnianSarnian Posts: 1,451
    Joe Breeze, I think back In the mid 70's.
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  • KnightofCydoniaKnightofCydonia Posts: 957
    2 names i was told were important in history are gary fisher & gary klein :)
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  • cjwcjw Posts: 1,889
    edited January 2009
    Google...
    It was not until the late 1970s and early 1980s that road bicycle companies started to manufacture mountain bicycles using high-tech lightweight materials. Joe Breeze is normally credited with introducing the first purpose-built mountain bike in 1978. Tom Ritchey then went on to make frames for a company called MountainBikes, a partnership between Gary Fisher, Charlie Kelley and Tom Ritchey. Tom Ritchey, a welder with skills in frame building, also built the original bikes. The company's three partners eventually dissolved their partnership, and the company became Fisher Mountain Bikes, while Tom Ritchey started his own frame shop. The first mountain bikes were basically road bicycle frames (with heavier tubing and different geometry) with a wider frame and fork to allow for a wider tire. The handlebars were also different in that they were a straight, transverse-mounted handlebar, rather than the dropped, curved handlebars that are typically installed on road racing bicycles. Also, some of the parts on early production mountain bicycles were taken from the BMX bicycle. Other contributors were Otis Guy and Keith Bontrager.

    Tom Ritchey built the first regularly available mountain bike frame, which was accessorized by Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly and sold by their company called MountainBikes (later changed to Fisher Mountain Bikes then bought by Trek, still under the name Gary Fisher). The first two mass produced mountain bikes were sold in 1982: the Specialized Stumpjumper and Univega Alpina Pro.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_mountain_bike_and_mountain_biking
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  • RobGTRobGT Posts: 132
    I thought Gary Fisher claimed he was first to discover 'mountain biking'????

    Not sure about specific frames though.
  • SarnianSarnian Posts: 1,451
    I am sure Joe Breeze was making frames for Gary Fisher who was then building them Into bikes and selling them.
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  • KonaKurtKonaKurt Posts: 720
    RobGT: Yeah, this is something that confuses me. I have heard Fisher's name crop up alot in magazines and the like, but I'm not sure he was first to produce a specific geometry.

    Thanks guys.

    KK.
  • smackmypitchupǃsmackmypitchupǃ Posts: 133
    Joe Breeze? Not in the UK!

    The first UK foerunner must have been the Raleigh Bomber.... especially the fancy blue one.
  • SarnianSarnian Posts: 1,451
    If you want to know more about the history of MTB I can highly recommend Klunkerz, It' s a very good documentary.
    It's not a ornament, so ride It
  • SarnianSarnian Posts: 1,451
    SmackMyPitchUp! wrote:
    Joe Breeze? Not in the UK!

    The first UK foerunner must have been the Raleigh Bomber.... especially the fancy blue one.

    They were great my older brother had one, I had the Raleigh Grifter
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  • Daz555Daz555 Posts: 3,976
    SmackMyPitchUp! wrote:
    Joe Breeze? Not in the UK!

    The first UK foerunner must have been the Raleigh Bomber.... especially the fancy blue one.
    A true classic bomberadx.jpg

    http://raleigh-bomber.co.uk/resources/bomberadx.jpg
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  • supersonicsupersonic Posts: 82,708 Lives Here
    Fisher was the first to adopt the classic 71/73 degree frame angles on an MTB.
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  • breezerbreezer Posts: 1,225
    Ok its a 1992 model but still old 8)

    My Breezer http://www.complexdreams.com/pics/bikes/Breezer/
  • dave_hilldave_hill Posts: 3,877
    Joe Breeze built what is widely regarded as the first purpose-designed mountain bike frame in 1977. He and Gary Fisher started the company "Mountain Bikes" in 1978.

    You can read more about Joe Breeze and the other pioneers HERE
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