About The Evolution Of Mountain Bikes
It's obvious from the name that the mountain bike was designed for riding on mountain slopes. The guys who invented them rode around on ordinary bikes, but wanted to take them offroad. Since there were no Diamondback bikes around, they had to invent the MB themselves. They didn't have many tools to work with, but they had a lot of imagination and determination.
The bikes they had to work with at the time were nothing special. They weren't the sleek racing bikes because those bikes had narrow tires that had no traction in the dirt. They had to start with bikes with fat tires.
What racing bikes have that fat tired bikes didn't have was a good range of gears. The first mountain bikes were hybrids. They took the derailleurs from the best racing bikes and added them to the clunky bikes they were using on the trails.
The upright handlebars of street bikes were no good for their new bikes. They started off by sticking straight steel bars on their bikes. Later, they added perpendicular pieces of steel to the ends, so they could pull back on the handlebars when they were climbing up steep hills.
Once they had the basic design down, these young entrepreneurs started building bikes from scratch. They began using lighter weight materials and adding refinements to the frame design. Before long, people who saw them riding around on these cool looking bikes started asking them to build one for them.
Only years later did the big companies start making mountain bikes. The Schwinn mountain bike followed the earlier brands. As a result, those small manufacturers established names for themselves and were able to compete. Today, they still hold a large share of the MB market.
All that remained to be invented was a helmet that was both cool looking and functional. A black helmet made for playing football just wasn't right for blazing down single track mountain trails. Helmet designers went to work and now there are dozens of lightweight helmets that look good and do their job as well.
If anybody thought that the mountain bike was just a fad before, nobody does today. They continue to dominate the market and people ride them on the road even more than off the road. With all the improvements that the big parts manufacturers have come up with, you can now get a bike with 24 gears and disc brakes.
It would be a big stretch to say that the MB is as important invention as the PC. Nevertheless, the two share similar histories. Both of them came from the minds of young enthusiasts with little money, but big ideas. They both say a lot about the power of ideas and determination.
Mountain Bike (Trials Bike) Trickster - Danny Macaskill
Mountain Bikes
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Frequently Asked Questions...
What is with these newer mountain bikes?
I've been noticing a lot lately these mountain bikes with only one column/fork coming down from the handlebar... what is this new technology called, and how does the axle not bend without being supported by both sides? i mean, mountain bikes take some real beatings... how is this practical (is it strictly for saving weight?)
Answer:
They're not necessarily newer, just seemingly becoming more popular. It's a Cannondale-owned patent called the Lefty. It's kinda funny because you need a Lefty-specific hub to work with the fork. And you can only run a disc brake, because there's nothing on the right side to post a v-brake or cantilever boss.
Most people don't like Cannondale because of this kind of stuff. They vaguely resemble the Macs of the bike world.
Here's the top-of-the-line Lefty. http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/headshok-1/lefty-max-3/lefty-max/2011-lefty-max-carbon-xlr
