Thanks for the posts, everyone. I know this has been discussed on the internet, and search engines can produces pieces of the story. I didn't mean that there was a pacific nw movement of some sort, but rather , there were a couple companies from that area that had produced a couple early 29'er bikes. Surly is from Minnesota, but their claim to fame is the push of singlespeed specific MTB's, and being at the forefront of more mainstream exceptance of that.
The diamond back is cool, but those tires are more like monster cross tires, than legit mtb tires. As for the scorcher, never thought of that as a 29'er. Just a cool oddity, that could be used off road, much like a cross bike can be used off road, except as a fixie :shock:
The Finland Nokians stuff is from way back, and while relevant to the modern 29er, not the start of what is now called the 29er, at least from what I understand.
patineto":3bc1qzhb said:
jonnyboy666":3bc1qzhb said:
yeah, gary fisher was definitely the first manufacturer to go with it, and quite big at the time aswel, there were alot of "these will never sell" type remarks, now look at it, they're everywhere, and so is 650b . . . sigh . . .
Gary Fisher got his first 29er build my Steve Potts, because Trek refuse to make one for him..
Ha, that's cool. Seems WTB was always the vanguard. I was definitely looking for comments from people who were in the thick of things, at that time, or at least within six degrees of separation. Sure beats wikipedia.
So, would it be safe to say that 1998 is the watershed year for 29'er MTB Bikes, when things took off, slowly; only gaining momentum in and around 2002/2004 (the years Niner, Surly, Spot Brand, Trek Rig started selling)? There's a Single speed connection there, as well.
Who was the relatively big seller of 29er bikes in 1998-2000 (main buyer of the WTB tire)? What will be the first vintage 29er MTB, in 2018?
Again, thanks, for the contributions.
