Gary Fisher

Gary Christopher Fisher (born 1950) is considered one of the inventors of the modern mountain bike.

Fisher started competing in road and track races at the age of 12. He was suspended from the sport in 1968 because race organizers felt his hair was too long, and cited a rule that agreed with them Fact|date=February 2007. But by 1972 this rule had been repealed and Fisher's cycling career continued. In more recent decades, Gary has won the difficult TransAlp race in Europe and a Masters XC national title.

Perhaps inspired by a bicycle he saw that had been built by Russ Mahon, Fisher went to work on his 1930s-era Schwinn Excelsior X bicycle in 1975. His innovations to the model included drum brakes, motorcycle brake levers and cables (to improve stopping power for mountain use, thumb shifters and derailleurs (so that it could climb up the mountain), and triple front chain rings, all taken from "junkers" that Fisher and friends found at local bike shops.

The next year, Fisher participated in the "Repack" downhill race, promoted by his then-roommate Charlie Kelly. This race and the road it took place on were named "Repack" because the tortuous downhill route on Pine Mountain near Fairfax, California, just north of San Francisco, made the riders use their coaster brakes so much that it was necessary for them to repack the smoking hubs with grease after every run. Fisher still holds the record time on the Repack course at 4:22.

It was Kelly who coined the term "mountain bike" in 1979, after a phrase he had heard used by a mechanic. That same year, Fisher and Kelly founded MountainBikes [http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/mtbikes_company.htm] , the first company to specialize in the manufacture of this type of bicycle. Frames for the bikes were built by Tom Ritchey, who went on to found a company famous in its own right. The first model sold for $US 1300; 160 were manufactured in the first year.

1979 saw the introduction of Shimano components into MountainBikes's products, and also an ill-fated attempt by the pair to trademark the term "Mountain Bike." The company dissolved in 1983; Fisher founded his more well known company Fisher MountainBikes the same year. Eventually this company was purchased by Trek in 1993. Fisher remains involved with the bikes' design and marketing, along with being the scout and mentor to innumerable racers who've been sponsored by the team through the years. Perhaps the best known of these was the gold-medal winner in both the 1996 and 2000 Olympics women's mountain biking: Paola Pezzo.

Fisher was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1988. "Outside" magazine named him one of the "50 who left their mark" in the sport in 2000, and "Smithsonian" magazine honored him in 1994 as the "Founding Father of Mountain Bikes." In 1998, Gary Fisher was recognized by "Popular Mechanics" for his innovations in sports.

ee also

* Mountain Bike Hall of Fame
* Charlie Kelly
* Paola Pezzo
* Joe Breeze
* Single Speed World Championship

External links

* [http://www.fisherbikes.com Fisher Bikes website]
* [http://www.sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/ Charlie Kelly Website]
* [http://www.mtb-museum.de/gary-fisher.htm Proceedings of MTB seminar by Gary Fisher at N.Y.intl. bicycle show 1983]