History of MTB

The history of the mountain bike includes contributions from cyclo-cross in Europe, the Roughstuff Fellowship in the UK. The name "mountain bike" first appeared in print in 1966 as "mountain bicycle". The mountain bike was a modified heavy cruiser bicycle used for freewheeling down mountain trails. The sport became popular in the 1970's in Marin county, California, USA. The 2007 documentary film, Klunkerz: A Film About Mountain Bikes, looks at this period of off-road cycling in detail. However, it was not until the late 1970s and early 1980s that road bicyclecompanies started to manufacture mountain bicycles using high-tech lightweight materials. The first mass production mountain bike was the Specialized Stumpjumper produced in 1982. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, mountain biking moved from a little-known sport to a mainstream activity.