Information AboutGary Fisher |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT GARY FISHER | |
| 1950 births | |
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| american cyclists | |
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]] But those things are looked at with amusement by mountain bikers in the know because Gary loves mountain biking and still rides avidly. Fisher started competing in road and track races at the age of 12. He was suspended from the sport in 1968 because race organizers felt his hair was too long, and cited a rule that agreed with them . But by 1972 this rule had been repealed and Fisher's cycling career continued. In more recent decades, Gary has won the difficult TransAlp race in Europe and a Masters XC national title. Perhaps inspired by a bicycle he saw that had been built by Russ Mahon , Fisher went to work on his 1930's era Schwinn Excelsior X bicycle in 1975. His innovations to the model included drum brakes, motorcycle brake levers and cables (to improve stopping power for mountain use, thumb shifters and derailleurs (so that it could climb up the mountain), and triple front chain rings, all taken from "junkers" that Fisher and friends found at local bike shops. The next year, along with his then-roommate Charlie Kelly , Fisher started the "Repack" race, so named because the tortuous downhill route chosen near Fairfax, California , just north of San Francisco, made the riders use their coaster brakes so much that it was necessary for them to repack the smoking hubs with grease after every run. It was Kelly who coined the term "mountain bike" in 1979, after a phrase he had heard used by a mechanic. That same year, Fisher and Kelly founded MountainBikes, the first company to specialize in the manufacture of this type of bicycle. Frames for the bikes were built by Tom Ritchey , who went on to found a company famous in its own right. The first model sold for United States Dollar 1300; 160 were manufactured in the first run. 1980 saw the introduction of . Fisher was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall Of Fame in 1988. ''Outside'' magazine named him one of the "50 who left their mark" in the sport in 2000, and ''Smithsonian'' magazine honored him in 1994 as the "Founding Father of Mountain Bikes." In 1998, Gary Fisher was recognized by '' Popular Mechanics '' for his innovations in sports. SEE ALSO
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