My revisionist view of the mountain bike craze is to see it as a natural reaction to what politicians, planners and motorists were doing to our roads.
I disagree with this entirely.
Mountain biking (and BMX) grew entirely out of the motocross and desert motorcycle racing scene that exploded in the 1970's and early 1980's.
BMX riders were entirely mimicking motocross riders. These downhill mountain bikers were mimicking the berm-riding, rooster-tail-shooting cornering of dirtbikes. Around the time of the photos in this article, people started adapting the front suspension from motorcycles for their downhill bicycles.
There was even a sidecar phase in BMX racing, which is very obviously taken straight from sidecar motorcycle racing.
I disagree with this entirely.
Mountain biking (and BMX) grew entirely out of the motocross and desert motorcycle racing scene that exploded in the 1970's and early 1980's.
BMX riders were entirely mimicking motocross riders. These downhill mountain bikers were mimicking the berm-riding, rooster-tail-shooting cornering of dirtbikes. Around the time of the photos in this article, people started adapting the front suspension from motorcycles for their downhill bicycles.
There was even a sidecar phase in BMX racing, which is very obviously taken straight from sidecar motorcycle racing.