MOUNTAIN BIKING

RMYL 223R

Today we will...!
Roll-Adds?
• Intro
• Syllabus
• Paper work
• History
• Flow
• Rules
• Conflict
• Erosion-Resource Mgt
• Frame Materials & Design
• Components
INTRODUCTION

• Roll
• Adds
• Intro’s
RMYL 223R --
MOUNTAIN BIKING
• Instructor:
• Gardner Kearsley
• Office: 101 C B-67
• Phone: 422-3390
• Class room: 180 TNRB
• TA: Russ Hitchcock
 1. Teach mountain biking skills, safety,
technical riding, trail etiquette, trip planning,
and maintenance/repairs.

2. Introduce local trails: popular and scenic

areas.

3. Increase the level of environmental

awareness and promote responsible land use
and an understanding of the impact of
mountain biking on trails, vegetation, and
wildlife.
 4. Increase awareness and concern for
recreational management issues
including multiple use conflict
between hikers, equestrians, and
mountain bikers on heavily used
single track trails.

5. Consumerism: Developments in
mountain biking materials and
components, how to purchase the bike
that meets your needs.
REQUIRED / RECOMMENDED
• Mountain bike
• Gloves
• Helmet!
• Glasses
• H2O Bottle or Pack • Shorts

• Patch Kit, iron, tube • Tool/Multi tool

• Power
• Clipless Shoes and
Pedals
SCHEDULE

• Wednesday’s, 5:00 pm, at designated trailhead

(check Learning Suite)

• Field Trip TBA

ASSIGNMENTS
• Book Report • Final Exam
• Skill Development • Bike Maintenance
• Participation • Citizenship and
• Weekly lab rides Leadership
GUIDELINES

Class Guidelines:
In compliance with University policy, only
students registered for the course may
participate. Please do not ask to bring an
“unregistered” friend or spouse on any of
the class activities. No exceptions will be
made. Firearms, fireworks, pets, electronic
devices (e.g., radios, CD players) are also
prohibited.
TRANSPORTATION

JEM Trail
History of Mountain Biking
MOUNTAIN BIKING BEGAN IN THE EARLY 1970’S
ON MT. TAMALPAIS JUST NORTH OF SAN
FRANCISCO IN MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
Dec. 5, 1976 after setting Repack course record of 4:22

• Gary Fisher,
• Joe Breeze,
• Charlie Kelly,
• Otis Guy,
• Fred Wolf,
• Alan Bonds,
• George Newman,
• Marc Vendetti,
• Wende Cragg

Photo by Wende Cragg courtesy of www.sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/index.htm

KEY EVENTS
• Larkspur Canyon Gang ride Mt. Tamalpais in early 70s
• In 1973 Joe Breeze rides his 1941 Schwinn ballooner to Velo
Club Tamalpais meeting. VCT was a road racing club.
• VCT members ride Mt. Tam on one-speed balloon-tire
Schwinn “Excelsior” bikes… They hitchhike and ride to the
top, and ride down the fire roads and hiking trails.
• Pedaling a 52 x 20 single speed was tough… some decided to
add gears. Gary Fisher was first with a 5-speed.
• Dec 1, 1974: 3 racers with balloon tires and thumb-shifters,
derailleurs, drum brakes with motorcycle levers are seen at
the Mill Valley cyclo-cross race. (Russ Mahon, Burnie
Mahon, and Carter Cox).
 WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
• Next summer, the summer of 1975…Gary Fisher put together a
10- speed Schwinn Excelsior, which gives him the edge climbing
Mt. Tamalpais.
• Fisher and others modify old Schwinn “clunkers” adding front and
rear derailleurs for wide gear ratio’s. Drum brakes and eventually
lighter parts from around the world are added.

Fall, 1977. This photograph was taken in Fairfax by Jerry Riboli before the start of the first cross-
country “Enduro” race, promoted by Alan Bonds. From left, Fred Wolf, Wende Cragg, Mark
Lindlow, Robert Stewart, Chris Lang, James Preston, Ian Stewart, Charlie Kelly, Gary Fisher,
Joe Breeze, Eric Fletcher, Craig Mitchell, John Drum, Roy Rivers, Alan Bonds.
Photo courtesy of www.sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/index.htm
 THEN…
• In September 1977 Joe Breeze builds a lightweight cro-
moly mountain frame and equips it with all new
components for the first time. In 1978 he builds and sells
nine more of his “Breezer” bikes.
• March of 1979, Ritchey builds three frames: one for
himself, one for Fisher and one more to sell.
• Ritchey builds nine more to sell on speculation, but
cannot sell them in his area south of San Francisco.
• Fisher ran into Charlie Kelly in Fairfax, showed him the
bikes and asks if he wants to go into business…
• They pooled together $200.00 and came up with a name
“MountainBikes”
ONE OF TOM RITCHEY’S FIRST 12 FRAMES, WHICH HE SOLD TO GARY FISHER AND CHARLIE KELLY IN 1979. FISHER
AND KELLY BUILT THE BIKE UNDER THEIR NEW “MOUNTAINBIKES” BRAND NAME. MOUNTAINBIKES, WAS THE
FIRST COMPANY TO SELL MOUNTAIN BIKES EXCLUSIVELY. IT EVENTUALLY BECAME GARRY FISHER BICYCLES.

Photo courtesy of www.sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/index.htm

COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION
• Fisher and Kelly were unable to trademarke
“Mountain Bike” and others began using it.
• Ukai aluminum rims and Panaracer “Snakebelly”
tires make the fat-tire wheels 6lbs. lighter…
• By 1980 a few bike companies were looking at the
MTB market…
• Mike Sinyard, founder of Specialized Bicycle
Imports, buys a couple of Ritchey MountainBikes for
himself
COMMERCIALIZATION...
• In 1981,Tim Neenan, Specialized designer suggested they
produce a mountain bike. Sinyard took his Ritchey frame to
the factory in Japan and used it as a model for the first
Stumpjumper.
• 1982 was the first model year of the Stumpjumper, selling
for $750.00. Thousands were sold the first couple of years.
• It’s a uphill struggle, but soon other bike companies were
producing mountain bikes.
• By 1987, sales of mountain bikes exceeded those of road
bikes.
 THE UBIQUITOUS BIKE WORLDWIDE
• Late 1980’s – Major cycling companies sell mountain bikes
• Revitalizes cycling in Europe
• 1996 – Mountain biking becomes Olympic event in Atlanta
• Mountain bikes fill transportation needs in third world
countries.
• Americans find comfortable mountain bikes useful for
everyday transportation needs.
 • 38.Mongoose
• 1. Amp cycles • 20.Ellsworth
• 39.Montague
• 2.Bike E • 21.Fat City • 40.Moots Cycles
• 3.Bianchi • 22.Fuji • 41.Mountain Cycle
• 42.Pashley Moulton
• 4.Bilenky • 23.Gary Fisher
• 43.Proflex
• 5.Boulton Bicycles • 24.Green Gear • 44.Quintana Roo
• 6.Breezer • 25.Lemond • 45.Raleigh
• 7.Brompton • 46.Ritchey
• 26.GT Bicycles
• 47.Rivendell
• 8.Bruce Gordon • 27.Haro • 48.Rocky Mountain
• 9.Burley • • 49.Rotator Bicycles
28.Ibis
• 10.Caloi USA • 50.Santa Cruz
• 29.Intense Cycles
• 11.Cannondale • 51.Santana Cycles
• 30.Iron Horse • 52.Schwinn
• 12.Colnago
• 31.Kestrel/Sand Point • 53.Seven Cycles
• 13.Christini • 54.Slingshot
• 32.Klein Bikes
• 14.Dagger • 55.Softride
• 33.Kona • 56.Specialized
• 15.da Vinci
• 34.Litespeed • 57.TiCycles
• 16.Diamondback • 58.Titus Titanium
• 35.Lodestar Bicycles
• 17.Dino Cycles • 59.Trek Bikes
•
• 36.Marin Mountain • 60.Ventana
18.Easy Racers
• 37.Merlin Metalworks • 61.Voodoo Cycles
• 19.Electra • 62.Waterford
WHY MOUNTAIN BIKING?
 Flow
The psychology of optimal experience
(Why mountain biking is fun.)
 Optimal Experience
When information that keeps coming into awareness
is congruent with goals, psychic energy flows
effortlessly.
 Optimal Experience

HI
Boredom
OW
FL

Skill

Anxiety
LO
LO HI
Challenge Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, 1990
 ELEMENTS OF ENJOYMENT
• Confronting tasks that we have a chance of
completing
• Able to concentrate on what we are doing
• Clear goals
• Immediate feedback
• One acts with deep awareness, but
effortless involvement, forgetting cares and
worries
ELEMENTS OF ENJOYMENT, CONT...

• The experience allows the individual

to exercise a sense of control
• Concern for self disappears, yet the
sense of self becomes stronger after
the experience
• The sense of duration of time is altered
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ISSUES

Conflict
Environmental
Safety
Access
MULTIPLE USE CONFLICT
• Multiple groups using a single resource
• Physical or psychological interaction
• Goal interference
• Interference attributed to another user group
GREETING BEHAVIOR

• Language use--
• Eye contact
• Disposition
• Attitude
• Pass it along
TRAIL IMPACT

• Gradient
• Soil Type, Compaction, Sand, clay,
organic
• Vegetation, Grass and Roots
• Precipitation
• Skidding (how you ride on the trail)
SAFETY
• User types
• Number of users
• Technical difficulty
• Exposure
• Speed
ACCESS
• Land managers: USFS, BLM, NPS, State
• Land uses
• Conflict, Environment, Safety,
• Multiple use lands…
• Politics
 Rules of the Trail
1. RIDE ON OPEN TRAILS ONLY.

2. LEAVE NO TRACE.

3. CONTROL YOUR BICYCLE!

4. ALWAYS YIELD TRAIL.

5. NEVER SPOOK ANIMALS.

6. PLAN AHEAD.

KEEP TRAILS OPEN BY SETTING A GOOD EXAMPLE OF

ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND AND SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE OFF-
ROAD CYCLING.
 • wear a helmet!
• Ride under control
• Keep proper spacing
• Be prepared for inclement weather
• Bring plenty of food and H2O
FRAME MATERIALS
• Steel
• Aluminum
• Titanium
• Carbon Fiber
STEEL
(COMMONLY KNOWN AS CHROMOLY: CHROMIUM &
MALYBDENUM)

• Easy construction • Heavier than other

• Forgiving ride materials.
• Cost effective • If not cared for,
Rust
• infinite life
(Theoretically)
• Repairable
Breezer Lightning 29 Pro
ALUMINUM
• Light weight, but weak material • Stiff, Stiff, Stiff...
• Easy construction • Finite life span. It will eventually
break
• Easily shaped tubes
• Not repairable
• Stiff
• Cost is higher than steel
• No rust-corrosion
• Trendy
KONA KULA 2-9
CANNONDALE PROPHET 1
 TITANIUM
• Light as aluminum, smooth as & • VERY Expensive
strong as steel • Very difficult to work with
• Springy-Doesn’t stay bent • Requires a great frame builder to
• Mark says it has a memory: Bowtie be well built
• VERY Expensive
MOOTS RIGOR MOOTIS
 CARBON FIBER

• Can be formed into • Very expensive

complex shapes • If defects are present,
• Direct and localized it is prone to failure.
strengths-can design • Limited designs due
in how it will feel to mold expense
• Light weight
FUJI DSR 1.0
DELTA 7 SPORTS ARANTIX
 SLINGSHOT
Non-traditional full suspension: No linkage.

Can you say Five Thousand $$$$$$

INTENSE 951
BICYCLE ANATOMY
 Saddle
Handlebar
Stem

Top tube Head tube

Seatpost

Seat tube Fork

Seat stay

Down tube
Rear wheel Front wheel

Drop out

Cassette
Chain rings Pedals
Derailleur Hanger Crank arms

Chain stay
SUSPENSION FORKS
Downhill Cross Country
All Mountain

Rock Shox
Pike
Fox 32 F-Series
Marzocchi 888 RLC
 Seat (Saddle)
Handle Bar

Threaded Headset
Threadless Headset

Bar Ends

Threadless Stem Threaded Stem Seat Post

Clipless Pedals Platform Pedals

 Disc Hubs

A wheel consists of a hub, spokes and

a rim. A cassette is the group of cogs
that is slipped onto the wheel and
secured by a lock-ring.

Complete Wheels Rim

Standard Hubs
DRIVE-TRAIN
Chain
Crankset

Cassette
Rear Derailleur

Bottom
Bracket

Front Derailleur
SHIFTERS

SRAM Grip Shift Shimano Rapid Fire

SRAM Trigger Shifter Shimano Brake/Shift Lever Combo

 BRAKE SYSTEMS

Linear Pull or V Brakes Brake/Shift lever combo

Hydraulic Disc Brakes Brake lever

Mechanical Disc Brake Caliper

PLACES WE RIDE:
THINGS WE DO...
SOMETIMES WE GET WET!
GOOSEBERRY MESA
WE ALL LEARN TO RIDE UP HILL…
GOOSEBERRY MESA
EVERYONE RIDES
UP HILL…
…AND LOVES IT!
WE ALL LEARN TO GO DOWN…

JEM Trail
MOST
IMPORTANT
…NO ONE
GETS HURT…
EVERYONE
HAS FUN!
IF YOU DECIDE
TO GET HURT,
WE’LL STILL
TAKE CARE OF
YOU.
EVERYONE HAS A GREAT TIME...

Gooseberry Mesa
SEE YOU NEXT WEEK