h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

nice idea the the mountain bike, in fact
we pre-emted said californians by about
15-20yrs. modifying any frame we could
find we heavy, robust accessories and tyres.
there was a perfect course locally (loads of
dips and rises-BOMB HOLES from ww2) trouble
was we were only about 12-14 yrs at the time
and longed for a thoroughbred racing machine
to emulate the likes of TOM SIMPSON, britains
first great coureour. Anyway some of us went
on to become fairly fit and win the odd race
or two.......cont on pg.6478

The WW1 Bianchi bike with full suspension could also be said to be a true mountain bike. I am sure there have been many similar off-road inventions from many places, especially in the UK - we are natural engineers (at least I like to think so, 'cos I am one).

As the US folks are often good at ( and often because someone bothered to fork out some dosh for a risky idea), the idea was made popular and led to a productive industry making better technology practical and comonplace,. As TV history lessons go back about one buying season, anything earlier than Halloween or Christmas is often forgotten by the populace, so anything before the 80s is really ancient dude.

Someone from the US who believes that something was invented in their country reminds me of "Chekov (sp?)" the guy with the fake Russian accent on "Star Trek" - In perhaps self-critical irony at the time (60s USA) - he claimed everything was invented in Russia. Just like on US TV you hear about the history of TV (ie. only in the US)... hmmm (wasn't the first TV broadcast regularly in UK and Germany in the 30s??), Telephone..., Radio...., Radar, Jet aircraft, Tarmac or paved roads and the car (aka. Automobile)?

I used to ride my Raleigh 10 speed in the woods around my house in Scotland as a teenager - it was not much good as a mountain bike, but then I didn't get adventurous enough to modify it much - I found it was good for the roads and catching the wind blowing off the Irish sea, that was enough of a thrill to sail in the mild (for there) 30mph breezes - Keeping the friction on the road low helped - who needs peddles? It had ample bottom-bracket clearance to allow excited scotty dogs to run underneath the peddles and live.

Hey Dude! Putting a link to your Entry up at the h2g2 Historical Society either under the Sporting History or Things sections.

Cheers,

Mustapha

Righteous, Mustapha dude!

Maybe the history of the poutine shall follow.

I used to have a Triumph Traffic master = 1 inch tyres, SA 3speed, as a child. I fell off a lot when rseing about on the fellside outside our house, but I got a real memory blast when I started MTBing 10 years ago.

HB