Table of Contents
Steve Potts Overview
Steve Potts says it best himself:
Steve grew up at the base of Mount Tamalpais where his love of bicycles started at a very young age. As a kid, he would explore that mountain as if he were discovering the Wild West for the first time. The feeling of freedom that bicycles brought him would forever shape his future. This passion extended into his high school machine shop where he rebuilt old broken down bikes that he bought at the local junkyard.
In 1980, he and his friend Joe Breeze took their bicycles to New Zealand and rode around both islands. It was that trip that convinced him that building bikes was going to be his full-time vocation. When Steve returned home, he sold everything that he owned, bought a lathe and mill, and began building bikes from scratch.
https://www.stevepottsbicycles.com/our-story.html, -Steve Potts
In 1982, Steve started Wilderness Trail Bikes with his friends Charlie Cunningham and Mark Slate.
Steve Potts
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1981 Steve Potts
Frame #006. Mark Slate's personal bike. Cunningham fork crown,
1981 Steve Potts
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1982 Steve Potts
Frame #019.
1982 Steve Potts
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1983 Steve Potts
The parts are somewhat mixed: Shimano XT v2 rear derailleur (1985-86), XT v1 (1982-84) front. MAFAC brakes (⇐ 1984). Serial number: 12840 ? For now, I'll take the owner's word on dating.
1983 Steve Potts
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1984 Steve Potts
Rollercams finally make the spec sheet.
1984 Steve Potts
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1985 Steve Potts
Cunningham fork crown, modified Hi-E hubs, Magura mounts, WTB Speedmaster Rollercams, and removable face plate stub stem.
1985 Steve Potts, photo by John Watson,
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1986 Steve Potts
All parts original except tires. Shimano XT M730 derailleurs (1986-88), Specialized “fat flag” cranks, WTB Speedmaster Rollercam brakes, Cunningham fork?, drop bars. The provenance on this bike is humorously murky but it remains a likely 1986.
1986 Steve Potts
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1987 Steve Potts
This bike was later restored:
The bike was built with unused vintage parts to represent how the bike would have rolled off the showroom floor in 1987. Parts for which Steve was personally involved in developing, manufacturing, or marketing include the fixed angle seatpost, thumbshifter Multimounts, WTB Speedmaster Rollercam brakes, WTB Grease Guard hubs, WTB / Chris King headset, and the Specialized Ground Control tires. The bike was shown at Steve's booth during the 2013 North American Handmade Bicycle Show to remind attendees that he has a long history of building in steel before setting the standard for modern titanium frame construction. vintagemtbworkshop
1987 Steve Potts
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1989 Expedition
Geometry based upon a Cunningham Expedition. Not quite a cyclocross. Fake lugs, WTB brakes, pressed in bearings, 700×38 tires. Originally came with WTB hubs & rims. S/N SP89219.
Stems
Steve Potts signature style often uses weirdly elongated stems. They're mostly to compensate for using flared drop bars. This is from a 1987 Steve Potts. For example, Charlie Cunningham's drop bar style also migrated from super aero to giraffe stems. Compare Cunningham's 1978 CCPROTO 
to a 1981 Cunningham Indian 
.
1987 stem
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Production Notes
[1]. Potts serial numbers are sequential and mostly dated. Correlating all of the frame numbers found in mtbr gives production numbers of {10,20,30,30,25,10,30} from 1981→1987.