The word “revolutionary” is often paired with Charlie Cunningham: 1)
Despite his overall small output, his footprint remains large. Click here for a gallery of all his bikes.
Charlie founded Wilderness Trail Bikes in 1982 with Steve Potts and Mark Slate, which continues to be a successful components supplier.
Charlie Cunningham's Workshop Bicycle Quarterly
The world's first aluminum mountain bike. Finished in 1978.
1978 CCPROTO SFO Museum
1981 Indian vintagemtbworkshop
1982 Blu-Ner oldschoolmtb
1983 Indian vintagemtbworkshop
1985 Big Red oldschoolmtb
1986 Indian mtbr
[1]. Produced 178 aluminum mt. bikes from 1979 → 1993. About 12/year. See: Jacquie Phelan's Weblog
[2]. Second batch of bikes didn't arrive until 1981. See: Vintage Mountain Bike Workshop