Klunker

This is a replica of Gary Fisher’s bike that he used to ride at Mt. Tam when this sport was “invented by him” in the 70’s. Actually though, I would argue that the vietnamese have more of a claim to ‘inventing’ mountain biking from the 1950’s when they defeated the french at dien bien phu by using modified bicycles to haul the artillary up all the mountain sides. The french shouldn’t have built that fort in the valley in the first place, but they probably woudn’t have guessed that they’d be killed as the result of the application of a little ingenuity and bicycle parts. However, it doesn’t really matter at all who may or may not have invented mountain biking, this is still a cool bike.

Here’s an exerpt from the following link:

“The use of “pack-bicycles” during the Dien Bien Phu campaign can be seen as one of its most important innovations. For almost five months, about 20,000 pack-bicycles wound their way through high and dangerous mountain passes while the French bombed them from the air. At first, the pack-bicycles could only carry 100kg of rice, but this volume increased to 200kg and then 300kg. A volunteer from Thanh Hoa, Nguyen Van Ngoc, set a record by carrying 320kg on his bicycle, but this was soon broken by Ma Van Thang from Phu Tho Province, who carried 352kg. The pack-bikes proved their value on terrain that was impassable for trucks, and were an advantage that the French could never have imagined. — VNS”