Some Interesting Off-Road Bikes
Bicycles have been ridden off-road since the very beginning… if “off-road” simply means “off-pavement.” In cycling’s early days, nearly all roads were unpaved dirt, and the closest thing to pavement was bricks or cobblestones. In fact, the bicycle played a major role in ushering in the modern roadways we enjoy today. Starting with the “Good Roads Movement” in the 1870s, cyclists lobbied for paved roads. They got real results.
Bicycle Ridden Off Road
In 1816 Baron Karl von Drais built what came to be known as a draisine. It was a steerable two-wheel vehicle without pedals.
Bike With Pneumatic Tires
In 1887, Irish veterinary surgeon John B. Dunlop fitted a piece of rubber hose to his son’s bicycle. The superior air …
Bike with Fat Tires Ridden Off Road
The “fat tire,” that is one having a cross-sectional diameter of 2″ or more, fired the imaginations of many off-road riders. …
Fat Tire Off-Road Bike East of the Mississippi
In the spring of 1966, Rodney Rom of Cincinnati, Ohio, widened the rear of a new 10-speed Schwinn Varsity Tourist frame to fit fat tires. …
Fat-Tire Off-Road Bike West of the Mississippi
In 1973, Russ Mahon of Cupertino, California (75 miles south of Marin County) grafted derailleurs onto a 1930s…
Off-Road Bike With a Disc Brake
Built in Spokane, Washington in the spring of 1974, for riding in snow, Bob Crispin widened the frame of a Schwinn Varsity …
Fat Tire Bike with a Derailleur and Good Brakes in Marin
Gary Fisher’s 1941 Schwinn Excelsior is one of the most-photographed bikes of Marin County’s 1970s off-road scene. …
Fat Tire Bike with All New Frame and All New Parts
Like several Velo Club Tamalpais members, Joe Breeze was a fat-tire rider as well as a road racer. In 1974 he learned to build frames. …
Early Production Mountain Bike
The 1979 Lawwill Pro Cruiser was one of the bikes that bridged the gap between BMX and mountain bikes. …
Fat Tire Bike Regularly Available
In Spring 1979, road racer and framebuilder Tom Ritchey of Palo Alto (50 miles south of Marin) started building fat-tire frames. …
Fat Tire Bikes Widely Available Under $1,000
Ross Bicycles of Pennsylvania first sold its Diamond Cruiser production bike, which was similar to the Lawwill Pro Cruiser, in 1981 …
