Born From Junk - Outlaw Origins of Mountain Biking - Cool short film.

[kingfish254]

Born From Junk - Outlaw Origins of Mountain Biking - Cool short film.

 

[stik70]

Awesome roots! Can you imagine barreling down those passes on a klunker? Wondering if the oven brazed, mild steel frame would stay intact at high speeds on rock

 

[Karate Chicken Industries]

ColoRADo

Some cool characters in that video.

 

[Karate Chicken Industries]

Wondering if the oven brazed, mild steel frame would stay intact at high speeds on rock

They didn't and still don't, which is one reason I don't use old frames for mountain biking in the backcountry.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Very good to hear the Colorado side of it. Those Marin riders have controled the narrative for years. Perhaps if they had a shameless self-promoter in the Butte, they would have bikes with their name on it and a book or two published.
I'm most surprised by the rad daddys rocking the ape bars. That setup gives me the feels

 

[Karate Chicken Industries]

The promotion of Crested Butte appeared to have been overshadowed by the Bay Area antics and placed on the down-low through mostly word of mouth until the early to mid 90's. The impacts they created are unquestionable and far-reaching though. Fruita would not have happened as readily as it did if the efforts there were not assisted by the Crested Butte gang. The aircraft scouting was especially helpful in creating some of Fruita's finest singletracks, including the innaugural IMBA Epic route, The Edge Loop. https://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/edge-loop/

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

this is great. Thanks for posting.

 

[RustyGold]

Interesting...but, kinda cheesy.

The apehangers definitely give those early bikes a different look.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Interesting...but, kinda cheesy

Agree with you on the acted and scripted portions. Trying pretty hard to be casual

 

[JA331]

Interesting...but, kinda cheesy.

The apehangers definitely give those early bikes a different look.

Those ape hangers are such a contrast to the flat bars mtb riders use today.

 

[Karate Chicken Industries]

Those ape hangers are such a contrast to the flat bars mtb riders use today.

The Wild and Wacky 1970's

 

[Pondo]

The stories of the CB crowd and Marin crowd overlap. They didn't really address that in this (really cool) video. From what I've read, if I remember correctly, the Crested Butte fire fighters ran the 1st Pearl Pass ride (more of a party?) to show the Hollywood motorcycle riders, who had done it in the opposite direction the year before, that bicyclists could do it too. Considering the bikes they were riding and how much beer was involved I'd say those guys were tough. And crazy. They planned to do it annually after that but I think the 2nd annual was missed for some reason. The Marin crowd showed up for annual #3 with derailleur klunkers and the first of the Breezer mountain bikes. At this time the CB crowd was still running coaster brake cruisers with apes, BMX bikes, whatever junk they had. Subsequently they upgraded their bikes with derailleurs, etc. There is one bike in particular in that video, a geared klunker with apes, that I'd like to build as a CB tribute bike.

The CB crowd did a great job with laying out the trail systems and deserve credit helping to make mountain biking what it is today. I intend to ride Pearl Pass at some point but I don't want to do the annual ride, I don't care for crowds. But I love the history and the mountains!

One of my favorite stories is about the Pearl Pass race promoter, and mountain bike hall of famer, who was actually an escaped con that had been living under the radar with an assumed alias for years. He did get caught eventually. Can't remember his name off the top of my head.

Just lots of great stories and history from that period of mountain biking.

 

[Karate Chicken Industries]

One of my favorite stories is about the Pearl Pass race promoter, and mountain bike hall of famer, who was actually an escaped con that had been living under the radar with an assumed alias for years. He did get caught eventually. Can't remember his name off the top of my head.

Murdoch