You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Brilliant hour long documentary about of the birth of our sport: the clunkers, Charlie Kelly, Marin county and so on.
I have one of the Repack posters in my office to remind me where we all came from and what our brilliant sport is all about.
I preferred her in Butterflies to be honest
It has been done before but the angle of showing from her photographs was a good one.
I don't truly care who claims to invented Mountain Biking/Offroad but it certainly wasn't Americans of Ma-Rin County, exclusively.
Note: we invented trails dogs as well 😉
Oh FFS! Not this old self aggrandising yank again. Off course, no one ever rode bicycles off tarmac before they thought of it. ?
1974, my local woods. Rigid single speed.
No, and they say pretty much that in the video.
However, It's as much a FFS that someone still moans about the Marin crowds claims and achievements.
People rode bicycles off road ever since there were bicycles.
Until people started racing downhill, which started in Marin County, no one thought about building a bicycle that would take that level of abuse.
The real invention from Marin was downhill, which forced bicycles to evolve past Rough Stuff Fellowship bikes.
Aaargh. It's like Beetlejuice.
The real invention from Marin was downhill, which forced bicycles to evolve past Rough Stuff Fellowship bikes.
I always wondered why the summits of the Scottish hills were strewn with the remains of old bicycles.
RepackRiderFree Member
People rode bicycles off road ever since there were bicycles.Until people started racing downhill, which started in Marin County, no one thought about building a bicycle that would take that level of abuse.
The real invention from Marin was downhill, which forced bicycles to evolve past Rough Stuff Fellowship bikes.
funny you should say that Repack Rider; did I tell you about when I invented fishing? Firth of Forth, Scotland around May 1989. Dangling an old sailmakers needle on a bit of twine of the back of a dinghy out in the Forth, I caught a fish and in doing so invented a whole new sport called fishing. When we got home we realised that not only was the Mackerel good sport, it was also delicious.
since I invented fishing on that day it has blossomed into a worldwide cuisine and sport that millions of folk around the world enjoy. ?
Bookmarked. A nice addition to Charlie’s book and the few original films of the early years.
What California has that us in the UK could never dream of in building a scene is the predictable weather over a season. Must be nice to say “see you next weekend” knowing you really will rather than crossing your fingers and watching the weather forecasts from Wednesday onwards to see who might venture out in the rain. No jealousy, obviously.
funny you should say that Repack Rider; did I tell you about when I invented fishing? Firth of Forth, Scotland around May 1989. Dangling an old sailmakers needle on a bit of twine of the back of a dinghy out in the Forth, I caught a fish and in doing so invented a whole new sport called fishing.
And then you designed, built and marketed the spinning reel, right?
I always wondered where those came from.
I always wondered where those came from.
A bloke from Bradford, and then Shimano.
It's the same film we've seen a few times now and I'm absolutely fine with that because I love it. Some lives well lived there, which is what I like to take away from all the re-tellings of this story.
We all still agree the bicycle itself was invented in Scotland though, right?
Firstly thanks for the link. I really enjoyed the video
I’m always a bit suprised by the polarisation in the history if off road cycling.
As bikes were invented before tarmac we can be sure that off road cycling was invented at the same time as the bike
However as some one who remembers the 1970s, and has tried to ride a Touring bike rough tough style in the Lake District, some thing happened in California in the 70s and 80s. Now what the something was is open to debate. But the result is that I, and millions of others, could walk into a shop and buy a bike that was designed to be ridden off road. What couldn’t be ridden on my touring bike could be ridden on my new mountain bike. There was also an explosion of events for these bikes
I watched it the other night as well.
It was alright.
Not that enamored with so called history of MTB from there perspective.
But loved the old photographs of bikes and people. Great archive. And Wende's statement why we all like riding in those environments was about right .. bit Mint Sauce etc.
Now what the something was is open to debate.
Joe Breeze deliberately designed and built bicycles that had off road riding as the foremost use, as opposed to taking a bicycle designed for the road and adapting [or getting away with] it. Obviously the history of MTB owes a nod to the RSF, and I don't think any of the Marin county pioneers have ever claimed that they were they first to ride on the dirt, otherwise we'd be saying that mountain biking was invented by Desgrange in the 1910 Tour. But they set out the concept that was the genesis for the bikes we ride now.
I mean, I rode around the woods in the late 70's on my Raleigh Jeep, like hundreds of kids before me, I didn't invent it either.
Should I watch this if I've already seen (and enjoyed) Klunkerz?
I think we can allow the Californians some credit for developing the passtime we currently still enjoy.
I'd suggest that we compromise and say the RSF invented gravel riding, but that would probably be just as controversial.
I watched this over Christmas and really enjoyed it. If it makes the grumpy, parochial Yank bashers happy, I also watched "Mountain Biking: The Untold British Story" again for balance. Along with rider resilience and a few others - me and my visiting grown up kids had a bit of an mtb film binge, whilst Mrs Bloke watched "call the midwife" or some such.
Nobody, including those in the film are claiming that the Marin riders invented off-road cycling. They are perhaps claiming (with some justification imo), to have created organised, competitive downhill races and then creating bikes specifically for that purpose.
Should I watch this if I’ve already seen (and enjoyed) Klunkerz
In think it partly depends on whether you care about photography. The story being told i had heard before, but i was happy to hear it again. But i didn’t know about Wende and her part in the story or her photography