UK MTB hall of fame

[Rod_Saetan]

Brant?! What?!?!

Thought someone might bite.

He's been rather more involved in the UK scene than many people give him credit for or are aware of. Certainly more so than some of the other Journo's or Snappers that some people have cited here as worthy of inclusion.

Quite, but Brant tended to do what was best for Brant.

Steve Worland, Steve Behr, Jim McCoy and Chipps all did more, do more and contribute more imho.

 

[mr_ship]

Think I'd add Nick Craig and Gary Foord to the Mens list.

 

[sinnerman]

Yates and Roberts....

nice frames, but hardly pushing back the boundaries.

Just sayin...

Some additional info on the relevance of Roberts Cycles.

Bitd, One of our English Mountain bike Magazines had got wind of an American magazine getting involved with a Bicycle company.
To help with the Design of what they considered to be the Ultimate Mountain bike, and the Ultimate solution to many problems we were facing at the time as off road mountain bikers........

These Problems were of course, Chainsuck, Mud clearance, and Chainstay length.

The Bike design that was causing the stir was of course the Now legendary...................................................."Yeti Ultimate"...

Not a Nation that ever wants to get left behind, our Uk Magazine Quickly looked to the Best regarded frame builder we had at this time.....

Chas Roberts was the man they called.....and after much conversation and coercion, it was agreed That Roberts would build the Uk a race winning Elevated chainstay Mountain bike.

I say Coercion, because i feel that Roberts felt the elevated chainstay design was fundamentally flawed in many ways, and i think he felt as a frame builder there were other ways to face the chainsuck/mudclearance/chainstay length issues without having to resort to using this design. And potentially trade one set of problems for another.....ie The weight penalites steel estays had. The Yeti was and is No lightweight.

But with the market as it was... Chas Roberts set about Building us a lightweight E-Stay off road Racer. This Bike was aptly named the "STRATOS".
( A beautifully Fillet Brazed mix of top of the Range tubes from Columbus and Reynolds, carefully mixed to reduce the overall weight penalty inherent of the early steel Estay design)

Call it a Combintation of market pressure, fashion or magazine coercion, call it what you will......but to my mind this bike along with the Yeti of course, Spawned a succsession of E-stays in the fourthcoming years, from other Uk framebuilders from Lloyd to Yates, and even further down the line, from Saracen and other Uk manufacturers......Even Halfords had Saracen building E-stays in the end, which sold by the bucket load, branded Carrera.



Suffice to say, Chas Roberts original thoughts on the design were borne out, and subsequently only 12 were ever built.

I only Know of Four left in existants.....and i would like to thank Mr kawasaki for furnishing me with some fantastic pictures of His own "Roberts Stratos" being Raced at the 2009 mountain mayhem race event.

(one of only four known to have survived...and to my mind a very Important Bike for us here in the Uk, clearly demonstrating we too were taking the development of the mountain bike seriously.)



.

 

[Russell]

Quite, but Brant tended to do what was best for Brant.

Steve Worland, Steve Behr, Jim McCoy and Chipps all did more, do more and contribute more imho.

Whilst it fits some people to only think of Brant as the nasty man that brought us On-One, the truth is that when Worland wrote a book about MTBing, it was with Brant Richards. When Steve Behr was making his name as an MTB/sports photographer it was with pics of 'Zak Tempest'.

When Cy Turner needed help getting Cotic of the ground, it was Richards he turned to... When X-Lite needed to offload, Richards stepped in.

More importantly...maybe! Its Brant's articles that we, as retrobikers, now reference when we look for info about our beloved bikes http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=143589

Love him or hate him, the guys been there pretty much from the start and one way or another has helped to shape the UK scene in many more ways than you might realise.

 

[sinnerman]

Quite, but Brant tended to do what was best for Brant.

Steve Worland, Steve Behr, Jim McCoy and Chipps all did more, do more and contribute more imho.

Whilst it fits some people to only think of Brant as the nasty man that brought us On-One, the truth is that when Worland wrote a book about MTBing, it was with Brant Richards. When Steve Behr was making his name as an MTB/sports photographer it was with pics of 'Zak Tempest'.

When Cy Turner needed help getting Cotic of the ground, it was Richards he turned to... When X-Lite needed to offload, Richards stepped in.

More importantly...maybe! Its Brant's articles that we, as retrobikers, now reference when we look for info about our beloved bikes http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=143589

Love him or hate him, the guys been there pretty much from the start and one way or another has helped to shape the UK scene in many more ways than you might realise.

Can you or someone tell me, why there is so much dislike for Brant...?

to be fair i am at a loss to understand....or am i being thick or naive...?

 

[mrkawasaki]

Haven't read this yet... but I deduce from the pictures that I'm being nominated for some sort of Hall of Fame... awesome! I'm stoked! Just wait til I tell the wife... ;-)

 

[cce]

Chas Roberts was the man they called.....and after much conversation and coercion, it was agreed That Roberts would build the Uk a race winning Elevated chainstay Mountain bike.

I say Coercion, because i feel that Roberts felt the elevated chainstay design was fundamentally flawed in many ways, and i think he felt as a frame builder there were other ways to face the chainsuck/mudclearance/chainstay length issues without having to resort to using this design. And potentially trade one set of problems for another.....ie The weight penalites steel estays had. The Yeti was and is No lightweight.

knocking off a design he didnt like for "fashion" reasons.

Maybe if he'd gone about producing his own ideas as to how to solve the mud clearance etc issues, then you'd have a point

Chas Roberts is a fine framebuilder, whom i have nothing against (in fact i have a lot of time for his frames), but a true MTB pioneer?

 

[sinnerman]

Chas Roberts was the man they called.....and after much conversation and coercion, it was agreed That Roberts would build the Uk a race winning Elevated chainstay Mountain bike.

I say Coercion, because i feel that Roberts felt the elevated chainstay design was fundamentally flawed in many ways, and i think he felt as a frame builder there were other ways to face the chainsuck/mudclearance/chainstay length issues without having to resort to using this design. And potentially trade one set of problems for another.....ie The weight penalites steel estays had. The Yeti was and is No lightweight.

knocking off a design he didnt like for "fashion" reasons.

Maybe if he'd gone about producing his own ideas as to how to solve the mud clearance etc issues, then you'd have a point

Chas Roberts is a fine framebuilder, whom i have nothing against (in fact i have a lot of time for his frames), but a true MTB pioneer?

Cce its clear we wont agree, and thats cool.....thats why there are nominations.

But a couple of points,

I didnt use the above example as a singular reason for one frame builder to be Nominated, i just felt it a very worthy part off the Uk development at this time, and a story worth sharing for those that might not have heard it before.

I do think you may have missed the point entirely though.

You can not learn from something unless you first do.....!!! only then can you Move forward....from what you have learnt....!!! ( and the bikes that followed from where the stratos left off....need no introduction here, i will refer to my first post to you)

A follower of fashion .....Certainly not, Knocking off a design....certainly not,

My point being "we as a separate mountain bike market to the rest of the world" didnt sit back.....we got up and had a go........and Roberts was there at the begining.

perhaps the bikes need to be seen in the flesh, and then perhaps you could see for yourself, because the only thing they have in common is the direction the chainstays take.

And to be Fair, as for your comment of him not being a pioneer....well only you can decide on your choices and reasons.

But for me, He Certainly was a pioneer of steel tubed Fabrication/development/understanding,

but when did someone need to be a pioneer to get into the hall of fame...................???????

Im sure all that is required, is to have made a worthy contribution to the industry and/or the sport.

And i dont think theres doubt in many peoples minds he certainly did that.

But hey as i said its your vote.....!!!

 

[sinnerman]

Chas Roberts was the man they called.....and after much conversation and coercion, it was agreed That Roberts would build the Uk a race winning Elevated chainstay Mountain bike.

I say Coercion, because i feel that Roberts felt the elevated chainstay design was fundamentally flawed in many ways, and i think he felt as a frame builder there were other ways to face the chainsuck/mudclearance/chainstay length issues without having to resort to using this design. And potentially trade one set of problems for another.....ie The weight penalites steel estays had. The Yeti was and is No lightweight.

knocking off a design he didnt like for "fashion" reasons.

Maybe if he'd gone about producing his own ideas as to how to solve the mud clearance etc issues, then you'd have a point

Chas Roberts is a fine framebuilder, whom i have nothing against (in fact i have a lot of time for his frames), but a true MTB pioneer?

Also, i am Very Intrigued.

Can you share with me who YOU do feel is an English Pioneer, Other than the Obvious...... "APPS" of course.

Who is the man that Pioneered the Mountain bike here in the UK for you....?

 

[REKIBorter]

A huge omission so far is 'Big' Pat Adams. I see the website is copyrighted to Pacific Edge Events - Pats' company!