Rewriting Mountain Bike History?

[Rikoned]

The TV series "Mobile 101", whilst focusing mainly on the mobile phone, gives an insight into Finnish international trade and Nokia corporate culture:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14956742/
You can watch it on Channel Four:
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/mobile-101/on-demand/75563-001
Here is a screen shot from the opening credits:


After WW2 Finland had to pay $300 million (1938 prices) war reparations to the Soviet Union. Nokia alone contributed 25% of this total by selling the Soviets cable they used for their electrification expansion programme. This relationship with the Soviets excluded Finland from the Marshall plan.

In the Cold War Finland was neutral. This delicate balance meant they traded with both the West and the USSR. Trade with the Soviet Union accounted for 15-25% of Finland's total foreign trade. They swapped goods (lots of Soviet oil) rather than hard cash.
See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_trade_of_the_Soviet_Union#External_linkshttps://www.researchgate.net/public..._behind_the_Finnish_miracle_the_rise_of_Nokia
Back to bicycle tyres...

In the 1980s Nokia made all the studded winter bicycle tyres in the world.

"In one advertising blitz, residents of Stockholm and Oslo were given a business trivia quiz:
What company brought electricity to 350 Egyptian villages, makes the most toilet paper in Ireland, and provides all the studded winter bicycle tyres in the world?
The company was not Swedish, German, or Japanese. It was Oy Nokia."
See:
Page 53, The Nokia Revolution, The Story of an Extraordinary Company that Transformed an Industry, Dan Steinbock, 2001

Military bicycles
As mentioned in previous posts the 650b tyre size was used successfully by the Finnish military Jaeger Companies:

The Military History of the Bicycle: The Forgotten War Machine, John Norris


More great pictures here:
https://www.varusteleka.com/en/product/finnish-military-bicycle-refurbished-surplus/73497(Nokia branded road tyres as GJW notes above)

By contrast the Soviet military did not have a bicycle infantry by the time of WW2. Bicycles were mainly used by scouts and signal corps messengers.

"Bicycles didn’t enjoy as much popularity in the Red Army during World War II, as in the Wehrmacht or the Finnish armed forces. In the course of the military confrontation, which was a heavy burden for the USSR, the Soviet industry couldn’t afford their mass production. So, bicycle supplies largely came to the country as part of war trophies."
https://www.rbth.com/history/335426-who-did-russian-bicycle-troops
After the war the Soviets made literally millions (30 million until collapse of USSR) of bicycles, many of them roadsters patterned after a WW1 German bike, a lot of them in the Ukrainain Kharkiv factory.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine_(bicycle)
These roadsters mainly had a 28" wheel size:
"Interestingly, although size 28" wheels remained dominant in bikes throughout the Soviet period until the end of the 1980s, there were frequent attempts to produce women’s bikes with 26" wheels in the 1950s (apparently by the example of Mifa reparation bicycles). However, this wheel size was discarded in the 1960s, and due to lack of tyres, people eventually stopped using such bikes or got rid of them."
https://www.velomuseum.ee/en/1950
Example roadster with 28 x 1 3/4 tyres:

Bicycle HVZ "Ukraine" B-120. The first model of the post-war series "Ukraine", 1964 Catalogue.
See: https://www.disraeligears.co.uk/site/avtoexport_-_soviet_bicycles_1964_scan_33.html
And: https://vplate.ru/velosiped/brendy/ukraina/

Summary:
In the 1980's Nokia made all the world's studded bike tyres.
During the cold war the Finns, including Nokia, traded a lot with the Soviets.
The Soviet military in WW2 did not have bicycle infantry, but did use bikes mainly in Signal Corps.
After WW2 the Soviets made millions of roadsters that would have fitted the 28" Nokia Hakka tyres and were widely used throughout the USSR.

Back to today...
Saddly no more studded bicycle tyres from Finland:
See: https://yle.fi/a/74-20027697

Given that the TV series 'Mobile 101' focuses on the Americans suing the Finns over alleged patent infringment - if Nokia were American would they have sued Bruce Gordon over his Rock'n'Road tyre?

In this video Bruce Gordon talks about copying the Nokia Hakka tyre:

Joe Murray and his Rock 'n' Road tyre drawing
https://www.cxmagazine.com/bruce-gordon-rock-n-road-700c-tire-nahbs-2012
If you enjoy 'Mobile 101' they are making series two...

and thanks if you made it this far!


https://www.nokiantyres.com/company/hakkapeliitta-80-years/historia/1960/

 

[manuelschafer]

Is anyone here interested to make a summery with all important dates and events ?
Thank you for your time (reading and writing) in advance

retroedit, (..someone else tried another writedown..)
https://www.themountainbikelife.com/2013/05/the-not-so-known-origins-of-mountain.html

"...the originators of mountain bike style we use nowadays actually resided just outside of Paris in the mid 1900’s.
Between 1951-1956, a group of around 20 men from outside of Paris came together to ride bikes off-road and without limits. They called themselves the Velo Cross Club Parisien (VCCP). Cyclocross was often used to stay in shape in the winter, yet these guys wanted something a little bit more. Who could blame them? They began to modify the bikes and take them off of jumps and down obstacles.
....
There’s the camaraderie, the originality, the rush; the men of the VCCP clearly had a ton of fun."

 

[Woz]

@Rikoned - nice write up. This press release sounds positive:
https://suomityres.fi/story-continues/A new chapter for Suomi Tyers begins now.pdf

 

[Tsundere]

'Woodsie' up for sale
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads...cott-woodsie-tribute-usa.475825/#post-3542589

 

[Tsundere]

Ritchey Mountanbike brochure from 1981 with reference to the JFS Woodsie which was branded originally as the 'Varsity'.

 

[Nabeaquam]

Ritchey Mountanbike brochure from 1981 with reference to the JFS Woodsie which was branded originally as the 'Varsity'.View attachment 818660

This is interesting. Eleven years ago I was an official at a ski jump. The starter and speed at takeoff officials were in the control booth with me. They were talking about their mountain bike club and showed me some photos of their Wednesday night ride. I never knew there were trails there or a club. The next summer I took my full fendered with chain guard 1959 Schwinn Corvette to the Wednesday Night Ride. Everyone said to ride on the road and meet everyone later. I asked why? They said it’s technical. I asked what’s that mean. Rocks and roots was the answer. I had on jeans and and a heavy flannel shirt and no water. Rocks and roots sounded ok. They forgot too mention the hills. I quit after ten miles at a road crossing because my pedals were bent. The bike handled well but I was worried I’d break a chain on the long downhill runs. I converted an old Schwinn Varsity to a single speed, upright bars, balloon tires and the next week took that to the Wednesday Night Ride. It rode terrible. I kept getting dumped and thrown off the bike. For technical single single track the Corvette was a much superior bike. He must have had a handful riding the Woodsie. Look at the photo on the above brochure. The top tube is way high. Slip an old pedal like he and I were using and the dangling bits get crushed, which causes you to stop and lay down.

 

[Repack Rider]

For clarification, the parts list to the left of the photo of the "Woodsie" bike are the specs for the 1981 Ritchey/MountainBike, not the Woodsie bike..

 

[GrahamJohnWallace]

Ritchey Mountanbike brochure from 1981 with reference to the JFS Woodsie which was branded originally as the 'Varsity'.View attachment 818660

I started this thread because Tom Ritchey appeared to be attempting to re-write mountain bike history by claiming that a 650b wheeled rough-stuff frame he built for John Finley-Scott circa 1977 was the first mountain bike he built. This contradicted the received wisdom that the first mountain custom-made mountain bike was made By Joe Breeze in September 1977.

In the above brochure from 1981 Tom implies that John Finley-Scotts1953 "Varsity" framed bike was then used to "conquer numerous mountain passes".

However, JF-S was a long-time member of the the UK Rough Stuff Fellowship (RSF) and wrote about his adventures in the RSF Journal. There he describes these adventures in detail as he does the bike he used, namely and English built, lightweight 650b wheeled, rough-stuff bike made for JF-S by Jim Guard of Southampton.

I have also read an article where JF-S says he considered his 1953 bike as a failed experiment because it was to slow and heavy? (Annoyingly, I can't remember where I read this). But in the RSF journal articles, JF-S makes it clear that he considers it essential that his bikes are lightweight so they can more easily be carried over unridable terrain.

 

[Tsundere]

I started this thread because Tom Ritchey appeared to be attempting to re-write mountain bike history by claiming that a 650b wheeled rough-stuff frame he built for John Finley-Scott circa 1977 was the first mountain bike he built. This contradicted the received wisdom that the first mountain custom-made mountain bike was made By Joe Breeze in September 1977.

In the above brochure from 1981 Tom implies that John Finley-Scotts1953 "Varsity" framed bike was then used to "conquer numerous mountain passes".

However, JF-S was a long-time member of the the UK Rough Stuff Fellowship (RSF) and wrote about his adventures in the RSF Journal. There he describes these adventures in detail as he does the bike he used, namely and English built lightweight 650b wheeled rough-stuff bike made for JF-S by Jim Guard of Southampton.

I have also read an article where JF-S says he considered his 1953 bike as a failed experiment because it was to slow and heavy? (Annoyingly, I can't remember where I have read this). But in the RSF journal articles, JF-S makes it clear that he considers it essential that his bikes are lightweight so they can more easily be carried over unridable terrain.

I only posted it as an interesting part of this complex story, certainly not as definitive proof of the origins of the sport.

It was posted on another forum related to the above Woodsie replica project.

Here's another angle on the origins of Mountain biking...

And a fascinating article here...
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/hist...who-biked-across-the-american-west-180980246/

 

[GrahamJohnWallace]

I only posted it as an interesting part of this complex story, certainly not as definitive proof of the origins of the sport.

I'm glad you posted it because I hadn't seen that 1981 brochure with the JF-S 1953 "Varsity" bike reference before. The brochure shows that Tom Ritchey knew about John Finley-Scott's 1953 Varsity bike in 1981.

The questions this raises are:
*Did Tom know about this bike before he saw Breezer No1?
*And If so, did this prior knowledge in any way inspire him to build his first mountain bike?
(I am not aware of any claims by Tom or others to this effect)

We do however know from Tom Ritchey's accounts, that John and he were acquainted before Tom made the rough-stuff frame around 1977.