Why haven't I seen a decent Gary Fisher bike?

[grogee]

In my head... Gary Fisher was one of the 'Repack Club' types who "invented" mountain biking (yes I know Cleland can lay claim to that too).

Marin, Bontrager, Ritchey etc all have nice bikes/components, but I've yet to see a really nice Gary Fisher branded bike. Did he sell out the brand really early on?

There is an awful lot of tat that is branded Gary Fisher, so I'm just wondering how that name came to be associated with so many BSO's.

 

[Chute55uk]

he sold out in the early 90,s to some east asia mob who stiffed him, then trek bought the name and him, and did what trek do best. now only the genesis name and a token signature on some random 29ers exist.
but hey ho! they were massive in the 80,s winning all manner of things but the problem was only bike uk sold them and the cheapest one was 525 quid which put a lot of people off so inevitably most are in the states, most people over here wanted the likes of specialized and muddy fox and canondales and the boutique stuff was roberts and orange and kona.
heres mine anyway

 

[grogee]

well that just about answers that question.

I have the same feeling about Scott - in fact, this might have been what I originally intended to post...

were Fisher and Scott ever associated/affiliated?

 

[Sundayjumper]

My '89 CR7 was a cracking bike in its day.

The giveaway that something changed is that the early bikes are "Fisher" and the later ones are "Gary Fisher".

 

[Chute55uk]

and even earlier ones were just "mountain bikes" which he and charlie cunningham started
also Gary fisher owned the name "marin mountain bikes" and then sold it to Bob Buckley (marin)
damn im sad

 

[Mike Muz]

Another Fisher for ya ! May not be top end but holds its own out on the trails

 

[grogee]

Nice bikes all... the Fisher/Gary Fisher divide seems to make sense from what I've seen.

Loving that CR7, nice seat stay detail...

 

[kampos]

My '89 CR7 was a cracking bike in its day.

The giveaway that something changed is that the early bikes are "Fisher" and the later ones are "Gary Fisher".

Lovely that CR7 ; also I am pretty sure that the ..'88 or so ProCaliber was the first series production bike to use the sort of frame angles that we came to love in the 1990's i.e. not the supertanker geometry that was in use up until then.
To address the original question ; it does seem baffling that Mr. Fisher did so badly out of these times ; clearly a very smart man.

 

[voodoorider]

Yep, I loved my Fisher Advance, ahead of the game with over-sized tubing and the evolution head set. I really need to get back on with my CR-7 restoration I have sitting in the front room.

 

[coomber]

My hack Gary fisher might be made in Taiwan and low range but honestly rides as nice as other similar ranged models from Kona (lava dome) or specialized (rockhopper)