Before his untimely death I had spoken to First Flight Bikes’ Jeff Archer about trying to piece together some left over notes in an attempt to make a coherent timeline charting the development of the modern 29”er.
I only got a chance to meet Jeff once at the hand built bike show in Sacramento and like many people in the bike world I was shocked and sadden by his death.
Since the bike museum's archive is no longer being updated I decided to repost my timeline here.
I know that after I handed this timeline off to Jeff he had since spoken to several people involved with the devleopment of the 29"er but since I don't have access to any of the updates I'm leaving this up here, warts and all.
The 28” wheel dates back to the 1880s and there were some early off road events and such as the Coconino Cycling Club races from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon in 1884. Apparently some of the Coconino riders were using 28” wooden rims.
Willits Brand Bicycles founder Wes Williams pointed out that up until the invention of the cruiser that 28” wheeled bikes were considered “adult” bikes while 26” wheel bikes were for children.
During my research I’ve found something of a general consensus that no “29”er” bike existed prior to Mark Slate scaling up the WTB Nano Raptor to fit on an ISO 622 (700c) rim.
Or was it?
There are big wheel off road progenitors that predate the 29”er by almost a century. Many of the 1880s era bicycles used 28” wheels and were ridden extensively off road, cyclocross bikes used ISO 622 (or 700c rims) and probably ISO 584 (or 650b) rims. In 1981 Geoff Apps had used ISO 622 rims for his “Range-Rider”.
John Finely Scott’s 1953 “Woodsie” used large diameter wheels, and so did Joe Bruman’s 1969 modified JC Higgins.
Bruce Gordon’s Rock ‘N Road, the Project series from Bianchi, the Overdrive from Diamondback and the Klein Adept all used ISO 622 rims.
During this time Wes, Bob Poor, and Sandy Hague called these bikes “28” bikes”. Other period choices could have been the Avocet Cross II, or 700c Panaracer Smokes.
I asked “Shiggy” (founder of MtbTires.Com) about the casing widths of early 26” mountain bike tires and this is what he said:
“…Usually 1.75 or 2.125". The Comp III being the most common. (In) 1982 Specialized sold the Stumpjumper 2.125, made by, and also sold by, National, which may have been an existing tire.”
If we average those casing widths the work out to be roughly 1.9375 and was probably pretty close to what every one was calling a 1.95.
Mathematically Geoff Apps may have a legitimate claim for being the father of the 29”er because the casing width for the 700 x 47 Nokian Hakkapeliita works out to be 1.85”; right in the middle of pre-existing mountain bike tires.
Bruce Gordon’s Rock ‘N Road, however, work out only to be 1.69291 placing it significantly under the size range of the tires Shiggy was talking about.
We can kind of rule out the Bianchi Project series as an pretender to the thrown because the Ritchey Crossbite tires some of the models came with were 700 x 38c (or 1.49606) or the Panracer Smoke at 700x 45 (or 1.77165) or their house brand Maxxis “Project” tires at the same casing width. The Diamondback Overdrive also used the 700x 45 Panaracer Smoke so that’s out of the running too.
Here’s where I think Wes may have legitimate claim. Wes and Bruce Gordon knew each other and in fact after Gary Helfrich taught Wes Williams how to weld titanium and Wes made several early titanium versions of Bruce’s Rock ‘N Road bikes starting in 1993.
It was Gary Helfrich who gave Bruce and Wes a cache of Hakkapeliita he had brought back from Europe in 1988. Bruce builds his first Rock N’ Road the same year.
After Bruce’s supply of Hakkapeliita tires had run out he hired Joe Murray to design what would become the Rock ‘N Road tire.
Both Bruce and Wes told me a similar story and that is at a certain point Bruce became frustrated with the Rock ‘N Road bike. Bruce had showed several bike industry people a version of the Rock ‘N Road that allowed a rider to easily switch the bar and stem on the bike from flat bars to drop bars and back.
Bruce Gordon told me, “If I were Gary Fisher or Scot Nicol and I showed that to people, people would be cleaning their shorts up afterwards. I guess I’m not cool”. Bruce also said he eventually handed the Rock ‘N Road project over to Wes Williams to see if he could do anything with it.
Wes Williams told me that one of the things that frustrated him about taking on the flat bar, 700c all terrain bike project was there wasn’t enough air volume in the existing tire choices.
He also said that the original idea for the 29”er was it enabled a rider to extend the range he could ride a bike by linking on road and off road trails in a way that would have been difficult to do with 26” bikes.
Wes also said he tried to approach Scot Nicol about the idea but apparently Scot was not interested.
I’ve since spoken to a high ranking person who still works at Ibis prior to their launch of their first 29”er bike, the Ripley, why hadn’t Ibis made a 29”er. They told me that Scot didn’t like 29”ers and said “They were the fixed gear bike of the off road world”.
Wes also said he’d take day trips to Wilderness Trail Bikes to try to convince them that they needed to make high volume, knobby, 700c tires.
At that time Charlie Cunningham expressed some interest in the idea because he had been riding 700c bikes off road for several years at that point. Initially Mark Slate had started as a frame-building apprentice of Steve Potts. Later Slate would become a full partner in Wilderness Trail Bbikes with Steve Potts and Charlie Cunningham.
Over the years Mark Slate had become WTB’s chief tire designer.
Wes would often meet with Slate to convince him of the need for these tires. Initially the tire project was stalled due to the financial department of the WTB.
Gary Fisher was also a frequent visitor to WTB so it’s possible that Mark Slate may have talked to Fisher about the project some time along the way.
It is also possible that Fisher wanted to revisit some old ideas that he tried exploring with Charlie Kelly and Geoff Apps and was unaware of Wes’ conversations with Slate.
In 1998, possibly with the promise of Fisher and Trek to buy more tires, WTB decides to okay a small number of 700c Nano Raptor tires.
I was told by a former WTB insider the reason why Slate decided to choose the Nano Raptor tire as the first high air volume 700c off road tire was that existing 26” Nano Raptor molds were flexible enough that they could be easily scaled up to a 700c size without having to make a new mold.
After the first batch of tires were made several were given to Gary Fisher, several were kept “in house” at WTB and some of the remainders were sent to Wes Williams who was now living in Colorado.
In 1999 Gary Fisher has WTB partner, Steve Potts make him several test bikes to try out the 700c versions of the NanoRaptor. The bikes below may also be the same frame but in different iterations.
That same year Mark Slate designed three frames to be made by Hodaka in Taiwan (pictured below) to serve as test beds for the new, larger version of the NanoRaptor.
Around the time Slate modified a 26” wheel frame that he made when he was apprenticing under Steve Potts. Slate modified the frame to fit the larger wheels and test the new NanoRaptors.
Who's On First?
Geoff Apps: Pros: If Apps would have been able to scale his production up to produce more than a handful of 700c Cleland bikes I think he could have made a legitimate claim of being the father of the 29”er.
Cons: Despite being first Apps small size and geographic isolation meant his impact in the US market would be minimal. Apps seems to have stopped developing his “Range-Rider/ Adventura” for the same why Kelly and Fisher weren’t able to go any further with developing a 650b or 700c mountain bikes, lack of finances and limited supply of tires.
Wes Williams: Pros: There’s a case for Wes largely due to his involvement with Bruce and the Rock ‘N Road. He also talked about meeting with Mark Slate independently of Gary Fisher. Wes had also pitched his tire idea to other companies including Kenda.
Cons: Lack of finances. Even if Wes was the first to pitch the idea to Slate without the money needed to produce prototypes tires it is unlikely the project would have gotten off the ground.
Gary Fisher: There’s also a case for Gary because there’s a long history of him riding road bikes and the fact he was talking to Geoff Apps from the UK during the early eighties and we have a paper trail of those correspondences. Lastly, since the early nineties Gary Fisher bikes had been part of Trek and I think it was the financial might of Trek that helped convince WTB to make the first batch of Nanos. As Klunkerz morphed from Frankenbike to mountain bike Gary really wanted to leapfrog making 26" wheeled mountain bikes and jump into either 650b or 29"ers. Gary has a strong road and cyclocross background so he knew the advantages that a 700c wheel had off road.
Cons: Wes Williams involvement with Bruce Gordon’s Rock N’ Road predates the development of the Nano by almost a decade.
Tom Ritchey: At one point Tom Ritchey claimed to have been the father of not only the mountain bike but 29”ers too.
Pros: Tom had been riding 700c bikes off road with Jobst Brandt prior to making mountain bikes. Tom was the principal frame builder for the Kelly and Fisher owned Mountain Bike company. Rictchey has also built a small number of 650b mountain bikes in the early ‘80s.
Cons: While there some remaining examples of his early 650b bikes (pictured above, June 1982 Bicycling magazine notice below) , the same can’t be said for a 700c flat bar off road bike because there’s little evidence he made any 700c flat bar bikes in any quantity
Wes told me that the reason why Tom didn’t like 29”ers because Wes said, “I’m a stoner, and Tom is a born again, and that’s why Tom doesn’t like 29ers”.
Lastly I spoke with people who worked at Ritchey prior to the debut of the first Ritchey 29”er during the 2011 Austin North American Handmade Bike Show about 29”ers. They told me that you will never see a 29”er Ritchey because, “Tom doesn’t believe in the format”.
Charlie Cunningham: Charlie was a founding member of Wilderness Trail Bikes with Steve Potts and Mark Slate. Prior to forming WTB Cunningham had made several 700c off road bikes.
Pros: Charlie’s "Expedition" bikes which were 27" front / 700c rear and which he rode on trails with 35c tires. Most people today would look at this as a bike more akin to CX or MX.
Charlie is some times credited as being the man who designed the Specialized Ground Control tire.
Charlie worked on the original 26” Nano Raptor design. It's generally acknowledged that the 26" Phoenix was essentially Cunningham geometry on a bike make by Potts.
Charlie's "69'er" bike which started life as a suspension-corrected 26" Cunningham and he later built a special Type-II to hold a Panaracer Firecross 700x45c tire.
Cons: I have an eye witness that said Charlie Cunningham had seen the Mark Slate designed OX Brand Bicycle Mountain Cruiser 29”er prior to production.
Charlie commented that he thought it was a nice looking bike but Cunningham may have had little, if any, involvement with the design of the bike.
I had a personal friend of Charlie tell me directly that Charlie never made 29”er mountain bike prior to the limited number of bikes he made between 2011-13.
Steve Potts: Steve made several prototype 29”er frames for Gary Fisher to test pre production Nano Raptor 29”er tires. Apparently Steve even made an early 29”er frame for Doug White but I don’t have any confirmation concerning this.
Cons: Both Steve and Charlie are forced out of WTB in 2002 so if they had any design input it may have been minimal.
Don Cook: Don Cook wrote a two part article starting in a 2007 issue of Dirt Rag talking about his involvement in the development of the 29”er.
Cons: Please read Bob Poor’s unpublished letter to the editor concerning Cook’s Dirt Rag articles.
Vassago Cycles: Vassago claim have been intimately involved with development of the 29”er as well as being the first 29”er only company.
Cons: OX Brand Bicycle beat Vassago Cycles to the punch by nearly three years.
No one I have ever talked to has mentioned their involvement with the development of the 29”er.
Niner Bikes: Niner Bikes also claim to have been involved with the development of the 29”er as well as being the first 29”er only company too.
Cons: OX Brand Bicycle beat Niner Bikes to the market by two years.
No one I have ever talked to has mentioned their involvement with the development of the 29”er.
Ross Shafer: There has been some chatter on MTBR about Ross’ involvement with 29”ers.Pros: Ross and Salsa Cycles shared a common wall with Bruce Gordon Bicycles for many years and as such he was probably aware of some of the projects Bruce had been working on.
Cons: Ross has repeatedly said, “Leave me out of this”.
Timeline
1882, Thomas B. Jeffery, a bicycle manufacturer and inventor, gets a patent for an early precursor of the clincher tire.
1884, Coconino Cycling Club organizes a series of off road bicycle races that lasts until 1897. The race starts in Flagstaff and makes a 70mile route to the Grand Canyon. Many of the riders use 28” wheeled wooden rimmed bikes. During the Pullman rail strike Arthur C. Banta delivers mail from San Francisco to the Fresno with eight primary riders. The route was 210 miles and was divided into eight relays lasting 18 hours each.
1885, John Kemp Starley, designs the first successful “safety bicycle” with equal sized wheels and a chain to drive the rear wheel.
1886, The 25th Infantry Corps “Buffalo Soldiers” tests bicycles for military use for the US. The final test in 1887 went from Ft Missoula Montana to St Louis Missouri. The bicycles used all had 28” wheels.
1888, John Boyd Dunlop, a Scottish veterinarian, develops the first pneumatic tire for his son’s tricycle. Dunlop’s tire consisted of a leather hosepipe as an inner tube and had an outer rubber tire with treads.
1898, Spanish-American War. First recorded use of bicycles used during warfare. Lt. Moss of the 25th Infantry Corp uses bicycle mounted “Buffalo Soldiers” to quell riots in Cuba.
1899, Anglo-Boer War. Bicycles used by couriers and spies for the first time in warfare. Many soldiers use 28” wheeled Birmingham Small Arms Co. (BSA) bicycles.
1890, Amos Sugden starts riding his bicycle off road in the English Lake District. CTC Gazette writes an article concerning Sugden’s adventures.
1893, August and George Schrader invent an improved valve to keep air in the tire.
1902, French soldier named Daniel Gousseau organized the first National cyclocross Championships.
1905, Vernon Blake experiments with “bad road” bikes and is an early adaptor of the derailleur and uses “flat” handlebars on his bicycle to ride unapproved roads during the late 1920’s.
1911, Philip Strauss invents the combination tire that consisted of an inner tube and a separate outer rubber tire.
1933, Schwinn produces the B10E a 26” x 2 1/8 wheel recreational bike but still produces the #R Racer using 28x 1 1/8 tires.
Later, old Schwinns would be converted klunkerz by riders in Northern California.
Horace Dall becomes the first man to cross Iceland by bicycle.
1938, Rene Herse begins to manufacture aluminum bicycle components and by 1940 he produces complete bicycles. Herse’s designs and components allow riders to ride both on road as well as off. Apparently his bikes used 650b wheels.
1950, The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) sanctions first Cyclocross World Championships.
1951, a group of teen-agers in and around Paris began modifying old bicycles by adding suspension forks on them and riding the bikes off road. Bicycles were mostly 650b wheeled bikes but it seems they modified whatever they could get their hands on. The club lasted only to 1956.
1953, John Finely Scott modifies his road bike with fat tires and flat handle bars as a college student in Oregon and calls it a “Woodsie” bike. Scott is the first outside investor for Mountain Bike in 1979 with Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly.
1955, W M “Wayfarer” Robinson founds the English Rough Stuff Fellowship (RSF). “Wayfarer” wrote articles and gave lectures expounding the importance of exploring areas off road on a bicycle as early as 1919. The Rough Stuff Fellowship is still in existence and membership is not limited to cyclist only riding a specific style of bike or wheel size.
1967, Joe Bruman modifies an old JC Higgins frame and adds a suspension he made himself and explores the foot trails of the San Gabriel Mountains in southern California. This bike is part of the MOMBAT collection and can be viewed HERE.
John Olsen also modifies a road bike frame and constructs his own suspension fork in Minnesota. The bike was unusual because it used a 26” wheel in the front and a 20” in the rear. Olsen also experimented with using derailleurs on his bike but with less than satisfying results. This bike is part of the MOMBAT collection and can be viewed HERE.
1972, Riders in Marin County, including Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly, began riding old 26” wheel “newspaper boy” bikes off road.
1974, Members of the Morrow Dirt Club had started modifying WWII era 26” bikes with rim brakes and derailleurs so they could ride off road with them.
Russ Mahon and members of the Morrow Dirt Club drive up from Cupertino CA to Mill Valley CA to ride the West Coast Cyclocross Championships.
Nokian starts producing bicycle tires and tubes in Lieksa Finland
1975, the first American national cyclocross championships take place in Berkeley California.
1976, Craig Mitchell makes Charlie Kelly his first purpose built off road frame and fork.
Fist Pearl Pass Tour. A group of riders from Crested Butte Colorado take their single speed “newspaper boy” bikes up and over the Pearl Pass to Aspen Colorado.
1977, Joe Breeze builds Charlie Kelly his second purpose built mountain off road frame and fork.
1978, “CoEvolution Quarterly” writes an article documenting the Pearl Pass ride.
California klunker riders drive across the country and Pearl Pass becomes a meeting place where bikers could exchange ideas.
1979, Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly start the first mountain bike company, Mountain Bike.
Tom Ritchey builds many early Mountain Bike frame and forks for Fisher and Kelly.
Fisher, Kelly and Apps also discuss the possibility of using 700 x 47 Nokian Hakkapeliita tires as an alternative to 26” wheels.
Fisher and Kelly correspond with British mountain bike pioneer, Geoff Apps about wheel size options.
Fisher was unhappy with the performance he was getting from 26” wheels he eventually convinces Tom Ritchey to produce a handful of 650b mountain bike frames in the early ‘80’s.
Ritchey produces a small number of frames under his own too but the project comes to a halt due to the lack of reliable availability of both 650b and 700 x 47 tires.
Victor Vincente of America experiments with a 20” geared off road bike called the Topanga.
Topanga #2 is part of the MOMBAT collection and can be viewed HERE.
1981, Geoff Apps makes a prototype Cleland off road bicycle called “The Range-Rider” in the UK.
Later be called “The Adventura”, “The Range-Rider” was designed to accommodate 700 x 47 Hakkapeliita tires.
After a frame building apprenticeship with both Joe Breeze and Charlie Cunningham Scot Nicol started making his own frames under the Ibis name.
1983, Scot Nicol (founder of Ibis) meets Wes Williams (founder of Willits Brand Bicycles) for the first time during a Pearl Pass ride.
1984, Wes Williams moves to California to work with Scot Nicol and becomes Scot’s first employee.
1988, Bruce Gordon builds the Rock ‘N Road and Joe Murray develops a tire of the same name for Bruce Gordon can no longer get any more Nokian Hakkapelitta tires from Europe.
Bruce hires Joe Murray to design the Rock ‘N Road tire.
1991, Bianchi introduces the Project Series.
Bianchi sponsors rider Joe Blanco and gives him a Project Series bike to race. Bianchi features Joe Blanco in a catalog shoot.
Joe Blanco referred to the Project Series as a “cheater bike” and said that people were all ready modifying cyclocross bikes with flat handlebars prior to the release of the Project Series.
1992, Klein introduces a 700c, flat handle bar, off road orient bike called “The Adept” in limited numbers.
Dave Weins rides a 700c Diamondback Overdrive at the Cactus Cup.
Early 29”er style bikes were hampered by poor tires and were not received well by the riding public.
Wes Williams modifies an old Motobecane frame for off road use.
1994, Wes Williams leaves Ibis bicycles and starts his one bike company, Crested Butte (eventually renamed Willits Brand Bicycles).
1998, Mark Slate WTB starts design work and requests work order for prototype 700c versions of the Nan Raptor.
Colorado frame builder, Don McClung starts making his retro inspired single speed 29”er bikes.
Prior to 1998, McClung and Don Rust make a number of experimental 26” wheel bikes called “The Shorty” due to their extremely short wheel base length.
1999, Moots makes their first 29”er, the Mooto-X YBB
2000, Snarl Shlemowitz of Vicious Cycles makes his first 29”er bike, the Motivator.
Dirt Rag writes an article about the emerging 29”er trend.
2002, Gary Fisher (Trek) introduces the first mass produced 29”er mountain bikes.
Mark Slate and partners produce a small number of steel and titanium frames under the name OX Brand Bicycles.
Bernie Mikkelsen made the OX steel frames in the US (pictured above)and the titanium frames and forks were made by Xi’AN Chagda Titanium Products Co. in China (pictured below).
Surly release the Karate Monkey.
2004, Niner starts as a 29”er only company
2007, Don Cook writes a two-part story about the history of 29”er bikes for Dirt Rag.
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