Re:
It's an undisputable fact the American companies and builders led in the development of the technology and sport that we call mountain biking - it took Europe at least a decade to decide that MTB/vtt/atb'so weren't just a fad, which allowed North Anerican builders to start producing viable bikes, and push design parameters much earlier.
Given that, there are simply more iconic, significant US-based bikes that date back further than the Euro bikes.
We can't rewrite the history - but we can acknowledge the roles that each company and country played in the development of mountain biking into a Global Sport. We just can get mad that the Americans led the way. It's favt-based history.