Joe Breeze and Charlie Kelly and Gary Fisher didn't invent the mountain bike. To my mind that honor should go to the Buffalo Soldiers' Twenty-fifth Infantry Bicycle Corps, who for forty days in 1897 rode through some of the most challenging mountain terrain in the world on single speed bicycles, each cyclist carrying fifty-five pounds of gear over some 1,900 miles. But there's no denying that Joe and Charlie and Gary and Tom Ritchey were onto something when those inspired Californians rode down Repack Road in the seventies on repurposed balloon-tire bikes like the 1930's Schwinn Excelsior.
My 1935 double-diamond Schwinn Excelsior may never have traversed Repak, but I have it on good authority that it had been bombing down the Baraboo Bluffs in Baraboo, Wisconsin for decades when I found it under a plastic tarp in the 1980's and bought it for five dollars. I've left the almost non-existent paint alone, adding a beefed-up seat post, Brooks B66 saddle, and BMX pedals. The Schwinn front drum brake and New Departure coaster brake on the rear stop the bike, for the most part. My Excelsior should be considered a first-generation mountain bike, as would have been seen on the earliest California downhill rides. It wasn't long until derailleur gears and alloy cranksets became standard fare. There's an undeniable elegance, isn't there, to one of these old balloon-tire bikes when stripped of the gingerbread (tank, fenders, lights, etc.). Taking one's bike down to the bare bones was something enjoyed by many boys in the thirties, forties, and fifties; myself included.
My 1935 double-diamond Schwinn Excelsior may never have traversed Repak, but I have it on good authority that it had been bombing down the Baraboo Bluffs in Baraboo, Wisconsin for decades when I found it under a plastic tarp in the 1980's and bought it for five dollars. I've left the almost non-existent paint alone, adding a beefed-up seat post, Brooks B66 saddle, and BMX pedals. The Schwinn front drum brake and New Departure coaster brake on the rear stop the bike, for the most part. My Excelsior should be considered a first-generation mountain bike, as would have been seen on the earliest California downhill rides. It wasn't long until derailleur gears and alloy cranksets became standard fare. There's an undeniable elegance, isn't there, to one of these old balloon-tire bikes when stripped of the gingerbread (tank, fenders, lights, etc.). Taking one's bike down to the bare bones was something enjoyed by many boys in the thirties, forties, and fifties; myself included.
1935 Schwinn Excelsior Double-Diamond Clunker ©Daniel Dahlquist