gump":10mrkjvs said:
I never knew that RM and Kona were actually founded by the very same man. I know things may change in 7 years between, and it doesn't mean they are the same bike, but interesting fact.
I don’t recall where I came across this bit of history, but you may find it of interest. Bear in mind it is dated 2002 and it was written by one of the founders of Kona, Jacob Heilbron (the Jake after whom the Jake the Snake cyclocross bike is named, so perhaps a man not famous primarily for his modesty)
November 1, 2002 . The British Columbians (Pioneers)
The first country outside the USA to be exposed to Mountain Biking was Canada. In 1980, John Gadsby a Vancouver, BC based engineer and a lifetime racing and touring cyclist, stopped by Gary Fisher’s shop in Fairfax, California and bought a couple of mountain bikes built by Tom Ritchey. He kept one for himself and brought the other to Larry Ruble’s Cycle Shop in Maple Ridge, BC.
A few months later, John brought back 3 more frames upon the request of Jacob Heilbron, owner/manager of the West Point Cycle Shop in Vancouver, BC. West Point Cycles quickly became the center for mountain biking in Vancouver area.
That same year, Doug “Dewey” Lafavor, Charles “Chaz” Romalis and Ashley “Nummers” Walker started the Deep Cove Bike Shop in North Vancouver, BC. The store was only open from 12 noon until 5 p.m., 5 days a week and it was the first fat tire only store in Canada. It specialized in Trailmaster cruisers built by the Koski Bros. in Tiburon, California and Cook Brother cruisers built by the Cook Bros. in Santa Ana, California. Dewey, Chaz, Ashley and their disciples charted and built most of the original trails on Vancouver’s North Shore Mountains.
As West Point expanded to a 3-store chain in 1981, Jacob Heilbron founded Rocky Mountain Bikes, supplying Ritchey Mountain Bikes to stores across Canada. BC ski bums Pippin Osborne and Peter Hamilton were two of the store managers, leading nighttime and weekend rides all over British Columbia. St. Louis native Dan Gerhard moved to Vancouver after meeting his wife on a Rocky Mountain bike tour, and was the 3rd store manager.
This group of original Canadian mountain bikers formed the first mountain bike association outside the USA, and called it CORBA (Canadian Off-Road Bicycle Association), and started an informal series of races in 1982. An unofficial Canadian Championship was held in 1984, won by Canadian roadie, Alex Stieda.
Rocky Mountain Bicycles opened a frame building facility in 1984; with lugged road and mountain frames built by English expatriate Derek Bailey. Paul Brodie, an artist and motorcycle head began by painting, then bronze welding the mountain bike frames in 1985, when Rocky Mountain Bicycles began producing and supplying their own brand mountain and road bikes across Canada. The Vancouver trademark sloping top tube was initiated in the same year when Paul Brodie built the first Rocky Mountain “Avalanche” frame for Jacob Heilbron. Pippin Osborne was frame designer and Dan Gerhard was the national sales manager of Rocky Mountain during these early years.
In 1987, Paul Brodie began producing frames for his own company. Dan Gerhard formed The Bicycle Group and handled Brodie’s worldwide distribution. Pippin Osborne and Peter Hamilton founded Syncros bicycle components in the same year. In 1988, Jacob Heilbron and Joe Murray joined with Dan Gerhard to start Kona Mountain Bikes. Doug Lafavor joined Kona in 1990.
Today, Chaz Romalis and Ashley Walker still preside over the Cove Bike Shop, the largest mountain bike only store in Canada. They introduced the Cove brand of mountain bikes in 1995. The North Shore is now well known for some of the most technically demanding trails in the world.
Peter Hamilton sold Syncros (now a division of GT Bicycles), and is now based in Santa Ana, California. Pippin Osborne is an independent designer who works with a variety of sports product makers, including Easton.
Paul Brodie’s frames have been considered among the most finely crafted anywhere, and although his production is quite small, Brodie bicycles are produced to his specifications and distributed worldwide by Vancouver based company CyberSport Ltd.
Larry Ruble was Rocky Mountain’s bicycle product manager from 1990 – 1995 and currently manages the Dunbar Cycle Shop in Vancouver.
Dan Gerhard is once again a US-resident, the token American in this nomination. He heads up Kona’s world headquarters in Ferndale, Washington, about 100 miles north of Seattle. Doug Lafavor is the technical designer in Kona’s product group. Jacob Heilbron is the COB of KonaWorld, Kona’s design center in Vancouver.
Bio written by Jacob Heilbron
So you see? All was peace and love. And yet somehow or other there was no mention whatsoever of anybody called Grayson Bain. Funny that, must have slipped his mind.
While on the RMB website there is a potted history of Rocky Mountain containing this paragraph:
1981 In order to keep the books straight, another company is started. Rocky Mountain Bicycles Ltd is incorporated in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The company is named after the rugged Rocky Mountains that dominate the eastern geography of British Columbia. Grayson Bain is one of the three original owners.
So this history forgets to remember the other two founders of RMB, neatly complementing Heilbron’s history which forgets to remember the third. Still they both remember the important bits. i.e., the bits about themselves.
PS
Notice how Heilbron subtly claims to have invented the sloping top tube – implying that Paul Brodie was just doing as he was told by Jacob Heilbron. Yeah, right. Paul Brodie is I believe the key creative link between the two brands, although he appears never to have had an ownership stake in either company.
