on 1/19/09 7:46 AM, David Estes at cyclotour...@gmail.com wrote: > Hi Jim, who are the "Marin" builders considered to be, past and present? > Ritchey, Fisher? Are the Fisher production bikes built that way, or are they > just re-badged Treks?
Just to jump in... The original Marin mtb's were Schwinn Excelsiors and similar. Long wheelbase, slack tubes and 26" wheels. When Joe Breeze crafted the first 10 frames, he basically measured those for reference, then beefed them up appropriately. Gary Fisher had his bikes first made by Tom Ritchey in a similar fashion. I have a (Fisher) Montare from '83 that reflects that (~46 cm chainstays). The early Stumpjumpers were similar. That was the de facto mtb geometry for the first few years. Look at the early Ritcheys on oldmountainbikes.com for reference. If you haven't seen Charlie Kelly's pages on the history of those days, go here: http://www.sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/mtbwelcome.htm Back east, the Fat Chance (and others) tended to be much shorter wheelbase, but they jacked the BB up to reduce pedal strike for their tighter, rootier conditions. (And there was a Cannondale "Beast of the East" which mimicked this). Keith was making the Santa Cruz Bontragers and Ibis was making shorter wheelbase bikes as well. Gotta remember, there was always a trails influence on Ibis, too. My personal belief is that they really were the groundbreakers on "compact" mtb frames. Well, them and Charlie Cunningham. Definitely Charlie. Around '90, things started to change a bit. Arguably, the MB series from Bridgestone influenced a lot of builders. But, I think everyone realized that a fire-road optimized approach was a bit limited. Almost everyone was shortening chainstays and bringing angles more upright. There was a lot of cross-fertilization of designs. Bikes stopped looking long and lanky. Of course, when the RockShox RS-1 came out, the world changed forever, and mtb design began to work with and optimize for first front suspension and then full suspension. When I ride my MB-1SS, it still blow me away with what a great handling mtb it is. I don't think that GP ever really got enough credit for how much that influenced pre-suspension designs. - Jim -- Jim Edgar cyclofi...@earthlink.net Three T-shirts Now Available: "I've Got Downtube Shifters..." S/S T-shirt Cyclocross - "More Cowbell" L/S T-shirt "One Cog - Zero Excuses" L/S T-shirt http://www.cyclofiend.com/stuff And a 2009 Calendar - http://www.cyclofiend.com/calendar Cyclofiend Bicycle Photo Galleries - http://www.cyclofiend.com Current Classics - Cross Bikes Singlespeed - Working Bikes --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
