Its a.... Sonic........Helmut Burns-London.
- Thread starter sinnerman
- Start date
manuelschafer
Old School Hero
darn 
cool
cool
narcotitlan
Rocky Mountain Fan
That is indeed a strong look! Super cool bike has there too. I’d like to know what he’s reading - private eye? Viz? Scientific American?
manuelschafer
Old School Hero
ace, just i dont have acces to that in prospect,
... can someone elude us on why people or especially messengers in the 80s (*particularly London?) faved 26" with road tires altogether which makes you think of Hybrids at a time where these were already a thing of their own ?
i mean much as like today chaps riding their mtbs in the cities with commuters rubber, but was it only a "make use and show" thing back then or was the shorter overall length of the bike a motivating factor in tight traffic where unconventional bars would have looked bizarre on a road bike...
maybe also some other facts as more stable compact rims *were/are indeed noteworthy?
furthermore,
we seem to get some infos out of this..
anyone to summarize and clue us in more until we get a better readable digital aid?
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manuelschafer
Old School Hero
Can you upload/edit your post with a higher quality scan/pics of this ?
PLEASE
@sinnerman edit,
@Rod_Saetan just seen that you supplied the scans, do you have higher resolution ones to read the whole at more ease ?
edit,
THNX
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narcotitlan
Rocky Mountain Fan
They rode MTBs with skinny tyres because they were cool! This was the 26” generation so made sense they used 26” for couriering too. They also were ideally suited to hopping off pavements etc. in my memory they were only really superseded by fixed gear/track bikes. Why? Because suddenly fixed was cool.
manuelschafer
Old School Hero
sure things yep,
my cb1 commuter and future touring bike, as of yet never with any slicks as otherwise factory intended
My conversion is periodically not a Bridgestone by Grand P. but it predates the large scale hybrid X-line idea and shallow drop/moustache bar wave....
my cb1 commuter and future touring bike, as of yet never with any slicks as otherwise factory intended
My conversion is periodically not a Bridgestone by Grand P. but it predates the large scale hybrid X-line idea and shallow drop/moustache bar wave....
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If we are talking about the 80s when the Mountain bike essentially came to be "mainstream", then we need to remember all the factors of that time too. The economy, the fashion, the bicycle industry, the infancy of the Mountain bike, so on and so fourth.
Certainly I think cool, and Fashion played a huge part, as did the surrounding propaganda from newly launched publications dedicated to the Mountain bike, like Mountain Bike UK, Mountain Bike International, and imported American publications like Mountain bike Action. But this new product, form of transport, freedom bike if you will, was also getting book press too, example "the mountain bike Handbook", "the off road handbook", "Richards Bicycle Book", etc., etc., in an internet free world, this was our only resource, and of course it played its part perfectly.
Add into this, the fashion led advertising and subsequent marketing from Companies like Muddy Fox, with a bike named Courier, Images in the press, the Likes of Frank Bruno sat aboard his Explorer, etc. etc., the Mountain Bike was always going to be used as an inner city form of transport, and most would never see a mountain.
Thankfully, for the first time, it was looked upon as cool, a bike you didn't have to be fit to ride, anybody could ride one. The bike boom had begun.
Couriers/Messengers/Dispatch riders, don't get paid fortunes, its hard graft, its dangerous, they take there lives into there own hands every single day, breakages cost money, time cost money, traffic delays cost money, accidents cost money, and all in a world where the pay wasn't great to start with, and to be fair in that world it can be quite cut throat to ensure your the rider that gets the next job. Every extra Job, gets you more pay.
A Bicycle courier lives with his bike, his bike is his best friend, his prized possession, and his sole avenue of income. But they don't do it for just an income, they do it for the thrill of the chase, to ride the bike, to stay fit whilst getting paid.
And if they have this lifestyle, they are pretty serious cyclists, there whole world invested in there machine.
The Sport of Mountain bike racing blew up and quickly, anybody could race, no Cats, etc etc, at the beginning it was all amateur, turn up, and race, simple as that.
And for those that thought outside the box, if they could utilize the mountain bike for work, they could have the same bike for racing at the weekends. And that was it really, it really was, as simple as that.
With a well built frame, you could have the advantage of lower weight and higher strength, you could have the advantage of more powerful brakes, and as time progressed, stronger wheels, components etc.
Bearing in mind these guys rarely take notice of road signs, traffic lights buses, black cabs etc, they were/are against the clock to get the parcel or post delivered on time on deadline, Tagging busses and black cabs, feet firmly strapped in, taking shortcuts down flights of steps, hoping curbs and dodging pedestrians, all part of the grueling daily routine. The mountain bike lent itself to this very well.
But then the weekend came, and they could race the same machine, with just a minimal swop of tires/wheels.
I think the magazines capitalized on this, helping show this in images and short txt, gave the "Mountain Bike" a broader use. Inner city kids, dads commuting etc, all helped move metal.
Frame Builders were getting requests, and so it began.
Certainly I think cool, and Fashion played a huge part, as did the surrounding propaganda from newly launched publications dedicated to the Mountain bike, like Mountain Bike UK, Mountain Bike International, and imported American publications like Mountain bike Action. But this new product, form of transport, freedom bike if you will, was also getting book press too, example "the mountain bike Handbook", "the off road handbook", "Richards Bicycle Book", etc., etc., in an internet free world, this was our only resource, and of course it played its part perfectly.
Add into this, the fashion led advertising and subsequent marketing from Companies like Muddy Fox, with a bike named Courier, Images in the press, the Likes of Frank Bruno sat aboard his Explorer, etc. etc., the Mountain Bike was always going to be used as an inner city form of transport, and most would never see a mountain.
Thankfully, for the first time, it was looked upon as cool, a bike you didn't have to be fit to ride, anybody could ride one. The bike boom had begun.
Couriers/Messengers/Dispatch riders, don't get paid fortunes, its hard graft, its dangerous, they take there lives into there own hands every single day, breakages cost money, time cost money, traffic delays cost money, accidents cost money, and all in a world where the pay wasn't great to start with, and to be fair in that world it can be quite cut throat to ensure your the rider that gets the next job. Every extra Job, gets you more pay.
A Bicycle courier lives with his bike, his bike is his best friend, his prized possession, and his sole avenue of income. But they don't do it for just an income, they do it for the thrill of the chase, to ride the bike, to stay fit whilst getting paid.
And if they have this lifestyle, they are pretty serious cyclists, there whole world invested in there machine.
The Sport of Mountain bike racing blew up and quickly, anybody could race, no Cats, etc etc, at the beginning it was all amateur, turn up, and race, simple as that.
And for those that thought outside the box, if they could utilize the mountain bike for work, they could have the same bike for racing at the weekends. And that was it really, it really was, as simple as that.
With a well built frame, you could have the advantage of lower weight and higher strength, you could have the advantage of more powerful brakes, and as time progressed, stronger wheels, components etc.
Bearing in mind these guys rarely take notice of road signs, traffic lights buses, black cabs etc, they were/are against the clock to get the parcel or post delivered on time on deadline, Tagging busses and black cabs, feet firmly strapped in, taking shortcuts down flights of steps, hoping curbs and dodging pedestrians, all part of the grueling daily routine. The mountain bike lent itself to this very well.
But then the weekend came, and they could race the same machine, with just a minimal swop of tires/wheels.
I think the magazines capitalized on this, helping show this in images and short txt, gave the "Mountain Bike" a broader use. Inner city kids, dads commuting etc, all helped move metal.
Frame Builders were getting requests, and so it began.
manuelschafer
Old School Hero
..that really is a great answer to the topic and guaranteed to the interest of many of newer generations
Now only there is the "white-bike-scan" left to be optimized for viewing
edit
also certainly worth the research reading albeit it goes to the opposite end of the wheelsize-spectrum-universe
That said super "educational-thread" aswell!
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/rewriting-mountain-bike-history.226245/page-13
Now only there is the "white-bike-scan" left to be optimized for viewing
edit
also certainly worth the research reading albeit it goes to the opposite end of the wheelsize-spectrum-universe
That said super "educational-thread" aswell!
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/rewriting-mountain-bike-history.226245/page-13
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