"I also don't believe that these mountain bike pioneers were really that pioneering - since the invention of the bicycle people have been cycling off road and enjoying the thrills of descending at speed. It is kind of a natural thing to do. To a certain extent the bikes that came before mountain bikes - BMX - were off-road bikes albeit with small wheels although you could get medium flavour wheels with a BMX."
This.
As someone who grew up in Marin in the 70's I agree completely. When I first saw the title of this post I immediately thought it should be changed to "The Hippie Parents of the Daredevils Who Invented Mountain Biking" <dang, you listening?> IMO, the only reason that mountain biking took off is because our parents saw us hitchhiking up Tam and bombing down on our BMX bikes and wanted to try it out for themselves. Hence, the adaptation of "Klunkers" and "Bombers" that fit their larger body frames. Almost all of these people were, first and foremost, road cyclists.
btw - I first bombed Mt Tam on a BMX bike in 1974.
This.
As someone who grew up in Marin in the 70's I agree completely. When I first saw the title of this post I immediately thought it should be changed to "The Hippie Parents of the Daredevils Who Invented Mountain Biking" <dang, you listening?> IMO, the only reason that mountain biking took off is because our parents saw us hitchhiking up Tam and bombing down on our BMX bikes and wanted to try it out for themselves. Hence, the adaptation of "Klunkers" and "Bombers" that fit their larger body frames. Almost all of these people were, first and foremost, road cyclists.
btw - I first bombed Mt Tam on a BMX bike in 1974.