mrkawasaki
Retrobike Rider
Equal but different
We must compare year and specs - yours has some different parts, Im sure...
Mr K
We must compare year and specs - yours has some different parts, Im sure...
Mr K
MS Racing CR-1
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mrkawasaki
Retrobike Rider
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An MS Racing you've struck gold there Mr. K. In great condition too. I have the 1990 alpinestars catalogue, which i'll get scanned so you can follow the evolution.
I'm sure the flyingwelshman can put us straight on the MS Racing/alpinestars story but my reading of it was that alpinestars inherited the mtb side almost by accident. Alpinestars the company have been around since the 70's when they manufactured purely motorcycle boots, MS racing was a motorcycle clothing producer of similar experience. Alpinestars bought them out in order to diversify there motorcycle portfolio and therefore make them a major player, as they have become today. Thus in doing this they gained this small mtb enterprise.
The MS Racing brand or MSR as it's known is still used in the states, not sure if it's used under license or just another line of alpinestars clothing.
I'm sure the flyingwelshman can put us straight on the MS Racing/alpinestars story but my reading of it was that alpinestars inherited the mtb side almost by accident. Alpinestars the company have been around since the 70's when they manufactured purely motorcycle boots, MS racing was a motorcycle clothing producer of similar experience. Alpinestars bought them out in order to diversify there motorcycle portfolio and therefore make them a major player, as they have become today. Thus in doing this they gained this small mtb enterprise.
The MS Racing brand or MSR as it's known is still used in the states, not sure if it's used under license or just another line of alpinestars clothing.
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Carlos the Slackal
Retro Guru
I was just thinking about these today and trying to remember what their stem gimmick was!
Lovely!
Lovely!
flyingwelshman
Retro Guru
sinnett177":35ugwsj1 said:
When MS pulled the plug on MTB's it left the guys who were behind MS bikes with a product without a name. Despite this they came to europe to find distributors for their 'new' bike. One of the guys involved was Bernie Schreiber former world motorcycle trials champion and he used his motorcycling background to contact potential distributors. As a result they went to see if Alpinestars would distribute the 'new' bikle in Italy. During the conversation it was mentioned that the bike had no name and I believe that one of the head honchos of Alpinestars said why not call them Alpinestars and the rest as they say is history- Thats my understanding of it all anyway. For the record the bikes were designed in San Luis Obispo which is on the coast mid way between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The bikes were manufactured in Taiwan ( except the Ti Mega) and shipped directly to the various distributors - I think they had about three or four production runs a year. The office in San Luis Obispo closed in 1993 and I think relocated to Los Angeles for a short while. Alpinestars as a company have come a long way since I was involved, I used to love racing for them in Italy as they would pick me up from Venice airport and I got to stay near the motorcycle boot factory and it was great seeing the boots being made - I can still smell the strong glue now - no wonder the workforce were always happy
These days motorcyce boots are just a part of the business as they have diversified into other areas like F1, rallying and MX clothing.
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Thanks Tim, thought you'd be able to put the record straight.flyingwelshman":2f2yvzg6 said:sinnett177":2f2yvzg6 said:
When MS pulled the plug on MTB's it left the guys who were behind MS bikes with a product without a name. Despite this they came to europe to find distributors for their 'new' bike. One of the guys involved was Bernie Schreiber former world motorcycle trials champion and he used his motorcycling background to contact potential distributors. As a result they went to see if Alpinestars would distribute the 'new' bikle in Italy. During the conversation it was mentioned that the bike had no name and I believe that one of the head honchos of Alpinestars said why not call them Alpinestars and the rest as they say is history- Thats my understanding of it all anyway. For the record the bikes were designed in San Luis Obispo which is on the coast mid way between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The bikes were manufactured in Taiwan ( except the Ti Mega) and shipped directly to the various distributors - I think they had about three or four production runs a year. The office in San Luis Obispo closed in 1993 and I think relocated to Los Angeles for a short while. Alpinestars as a company have come a long way since I was involved, I used to love racing for them in Italy as they would pick me up from Venice airport and I got to stay near the motorcycle boot factory and it was great seeing the boots being made - I can still smell the strong glue now - no wonder the workforce were always happy
I find it funny how companies like alpinestars and Scott USA found them themselves involved in mountain bikes. In Scott's case how can you go from a ski/mx googles manufacturer to world leading cycle manufacturer? I guess as your explaination suggests the companies do little more than put their names on a specialists produce.
