Cunningham Racer 4C

Since around 1990 I've known who Charlie Cunningham is and over the years I've learned a lot about what he means to the history of mountain bikes. I'm a teacher by trade so I never thought I would own a bike of his, it's hard enough to track one down but once you do I figured I would have no hope of paying for it. Short story on this one is I met a shop owner from Canada who only dealt in custom bikes and around 1993 he lost his lease after a few years of business so he put his entire inventory into storage. I purchased everything he had at the price he paid with the understanding that I would sell some of the bikes and components to fund the purchase and anything left I would keep. One of the bikes I was able to hold onto was this one.

This is #4c and it was Tracy Smiths race bike. The owner was on a waiting list for his own bike from Charlie when Tracy returned this after the season and so Charlie offered it to the owner since it was his size (to cut down on the wait). It's an amazing example of Charlie's work and I can't say enough about the man or his bikes- they are truly works or art and love for the sport.

Early photos:





Current Photos:

what other gems have you got stashed away!!!

Great looking bike.

Love this bike Stan!

pretty cool! any particular reason for the plastic saddle?

Absolutely beautiful. Buying the entire stock of a shop is taking the Retrobike obsession to new heights...

What a great find, very cool indeed.

Now that I LOVE!!!!

Are they 2.5" Spesh Ground Control Extremes??? My dream tyre BITD and now, never seen any for sale..

This bike just looks so right.

The SunTour Superbe (?) pedal with modded cage and fitted GreaseGuard nozzle is pretty cool.

...no, wait.....the whole bike looks cool.

oof, thats really nice!!