What the
Critics Say
With The
Birth of Dirt, Frank Berto
tackles a contentious subject:
Who really invented the
“Mountain Bike”? Berto points
out that riding bicycles off the
beaten path hardly is a new
pastime. However, Berto points
out that these riders did not
market their ideas, and so their
efforts did not ignite a
mountain bike movement. Berto’s
focus is specific: The mountain
bike, by definition, was
invented in Marin Country,
California, The movement
centered around the Repack
Downhill races started the
mountain bike craze that swept
across the planet.
Of course,
this means that the mountain
bike was a cultural, rather than
a technical, invention, The
technical solutions of the
Marin pioneers were not without
precedent, but their marketing
of wide-tired, multi-geared
bicycles as a means to ride
across technical terrain was
ground-breaking. Therefore, one
might conclude that the inventor
of the mountain bike was the
person who created the term
“Mountain Bike;’ or perhaps
those who first marketed
“Mountain Bikes” to a wider
audience.
Berto
instead examines the merits of
various Marin County pioneers’
claims to have been the first to
equip old balloon-tire
“clunkers” with derailleurs.
When his
first edition came out 10 years
ago, Berto’s insistence on the
“Whodunnit” detracted from the
fascinating story of how the
mountain bike movement
germinated from a handful of
small builders to span the globe
in a few short years. The second
edition addresses these concerns
and describes the development of
the mountain bike as the
collaborative effort that it
really was.
The facts
often are murky, because the
protagonists weren’t historians,
and many had and have commercial
interests in the claim to have
invented the mountain bike. For
example, Gary Fisher paraded a
bike that he claimed was the
first mountain bike, but it was
easy for Frank Berto to show
that many of the components were
not yet available when the bike
supposedly was built. Gary
Fisher admitted that it was a
replica loosely based on the
long-lost original, which leaves
open the question whether the
original bike really was a
“first.” Joe Breeze says that
Gary might have had derailleurs
on his bike at the claimed date.
The Birth of Dirt includes
letters from several key
players, in which they explain
their version of the events.
Berto
deserves credit for being the
first author who has tried to
research these often conflicting
claims. In the process, the
reader learns much about the
founders of the mountain bike
movement and how they went about
modifying their bikes. Berto
livens up the history with
anecdotes, and the result is a
very readable book.
Berto talked to most of the
players involved, and obtained a
wealth of color photos that
alone make the book well worth
its cover price.
Jan Heine
in Bicycle Quarterly,
Spring 2009 |
