Gary Fisher Rolls Out the 29er Crew
March 14th, 2007 by Tim GrahlPress Release:
Back in 2001 Gary Fisher had a crazy notion. He and a couple other non-traditionalists were messing with 29� wheeled mountain bikes. It was a fringe concept at the time. Gary’s crazy notion was to start mass producing and offering “29ers� to the masses. Fast forward six years and 29ers are the hottest thing going in the mountain bike world. With Fisher’s legacy in 29ers, it makes perfect sense that Gary Fisher Bikes will be sponsoring a crew of 29er riders from across the nation as they race exclusively on Gary Fisher 29ers.
For several years Gary Fisher has been supporting regional riders. It just so happened, that a lot of these riders were already 29er believers. When we stepped back, we saw a nice stable of riders racing and winning on Fisher 29ers. Given Fisher’s commitment to 29ers, it made sense to bring these riders together under the banner of a sponsored Gary Fisher 29er Team. The inaugural 29er Crew is a mix of half a dozen XC racers, single-speeders, and endurance junkies.
Your 2007 Gary Fisher 29er Crew is:
Jesse LaLonde
Jesse and brother Mark have been testing, abusing, and winning on their single speed Fishers for several years. Jesse won the Single Speed World Championships Race in 2005 (in Pennsylvania that year) only to lose the overall title in a go-kart showdown. When not championing the Bare Knuckle Brigade, Jesse keeps up his blog creepyfriendly and enjoys a healthy dose of graphic design.Mark LaLonde
Younger brother Mark (or Marko or the Darkness) can be found at XC races, regional cyclocross events, and on the trails helping test and refine the latest 29er Fisher and Bontrager gear. His resume includes a NORBA 24 Hour Nationals win as part of a fourman team with brother Jesse. Mark will be rolling a new Ferrous 29 this season starting with the Wisconsin Off Road Series opener. Also part of the Bare Knuckle Brigade, Mark keeps things topical on his blog Bike Kill.Tim Faia
Breckenridge native, Tim Faia, has been racing on the XC and cyclocross scenes in Colorado for the past 12 years. Well known on the local scene, Tim will be rolling his pink and blue Ferrous 29 all over the Colorado area this season. You can check in on Tim on his blog On Your Left.Dan Cain
“Desert Dan� is an endurance specialist that rides a Fisher hardtail with a rigid Bontrager Switchblade. The 49-year old Borrego Springs, CA, resident has been a constant presence on the podium at SoCal endurance races, both in solo and team relay categories since 2003. He began ultra endurance running competitions in 1982 and racing mountain bikes in 1984, but migrated exclusively to endurance mountain bike racing in 2003. He has won the 12 Hours of Temecula and 8 Hours of Idyllwild multiple times. In between rides, Dan stays as busy as the owner of Carrizo Bikes, in Borrego Springs.Travis Saeler
“Stork� will be riding for the Fisher 29er crew and the Trek Store of Pittsburgh. Always the multi-discipline rider, the first time we met Stork he was the only guy in lycra at the dirt jump haven, Ray’s Indoor Mtn Bike Park. While Stork’s 2007 schedule doesn’t include any dirt jump events, he’ll be participating in the popular Mid-Atlantic Super Series, Ohio’s OMBC Series, and a few endurance events. Keep track of Stork on his blog, Storktorq.TJ Platt
TJ is an endurance race specialist running in the same circles as Stork. He’s also riding for the Fisher Crew and the Trek Store of Pittsburgh. TJ will be competing in a couple of 100-mile races and series such as the Michaux Monster Series and West Virginia’s
WVMBA to fill in any free weekends.In addition to their Gary Fisher 29er bikes, the team will take advantage of all the 29er wheels and components from Bontrager. The team will all be on the new Bontrager Race X Lite 29 wheel, one of the first production tubeless 29er wheelsets.
With the start of the Fisher 29er Crew and big plans for 2008 29ers bikes, Gary Fisher plans to keep leading the charge for 29ers. Look out for any one of these guys at your area race. You’ll be able to recognize them by the Fisher 29er jersey. (Fun fact about the jersey: the design is based on the first ever Fisher team jersey.)
Check back frequently on FisherBikes.com for updates on the 29er Crew’s season and for a whole lineup of Gary Fisher 29er bikes.
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cool concept on fishers part. And that jersey is super badass, me wants one.
Fisher has really done alot for twentynine inch world but didn’t Diamond Back fiddle with this as well in the 80’s
That’s a cool jersey. Does anyone know if the jerseys are in production at all? Or even a T-shirt? Boxers?
I asked the same question to my contact with Fisher and as of now they have only been produced for the racers. But it sounded like they were considering making them available to the public so we’ll see…
Bake-
It’s true that Diamondback did it before Fisher did. They actually produce the first commercially available “29er” of sorts. However, they lacked the power that Fisher has behind it these days to get the ball rolling behind the big wheel revolution.
Hey Guys! Checking in fromthe warm Southwest. I see the comments on the Diamondback Overdrive. Also, check out Bianchi’s Project 7 bikes, which were also percursors to the modern day 29″er.
The thing back then was that the suspension revolution was just taking hold. The manufacturers saw that there was one tire for 700c rims suitable, (barely) for off roading. That was the Panaracer Smoke 45mm tire. So, the 700c mtb world, with two bikes and one tire was easily overlooked in the rapidfire, (pun intended) world of the early 90’s.
If you were to point to one early proponent of the “idea” of the fat tired 700c offroad machine, it would have to be Bruce Gordon, the master frame builder who inspired some of the early 29″er pioneers. Without his and other key figures influences, the whole thing with this 29″er movement would be a pipe dream yet today. Certainly, Gary Fisher figures into that story.
The jerseys are a refreshing, retro-ish take on the old Fisher Race Team stuff and I really like the looks of them. I sure hope that something similar is made for the masses, although it would be super cool to let the grassroots guys have the exclusive on the jersey and have a Super Caliber hardtail carbon fiber race rig in team tri-colors available to the public instead. Hey! I can dream, can’t I?
More concrete than abstract:
“Super Caliber hardtail carbon fiber race rig.”
That is all I can say. I am covert.
We understand. You can’t say anything.
Now, when will this be available to the masses?
Had Diamond Back had the balls to have wider tires made (technically very possible and relatively affordable to now), it all might have gone differently. I read a ‘91 or se review some years ago, where the reviewer regretted the narrow tires the Bontrager sported. So close, yet so far off…
Gary Fisher saw and liked the Nanoraptors he had been co-pleading for with WTB, and had IRC Notos’ made for his own bikes. Fatter and badder. Next year : Mythos front an rear specific. Diamond Back was very powerful back then, they could have, and easily. They had some of the vision, but not enough of it. Getting a tire done was like 3-5 month salaries, gros. And rigid fork were the standard, so what Fisher had to do : order custom Marzocchi’s by the thousands, was not necessary for them. Their 28″ fork was fine.
McGirt, GT, Cloxxki…
I thought i remembered that from back a few years ago. Alot of other great names brought up in this forum as well. Always educational here at 29-I
I just dicovered twentynineinches.com and really enjoy it.
Imagine a 29″ Bridgestone MB 1 with bio pace and BIG, FAT, Farmer Johns! yehehehehe!
In fact I just sold a DB Overdrive with a period Manitou 700c sus fork with a custom stack of bumpers pumping out 50mm of travel holding an Exi with a Nano rear tire, 7 spd 11-34 mega-drive cassete with Deore 8 spd thumbshifters and Sugino cranks with 20-34-40 blue chainring on it in totally gone through condition that has been holding 2.1 rubber on it since 1999 for a c note a few days ago.. Bikes in the late 1800’s had bigger tires than DB considered for their efforts back then, however they did leave room on the non-pro model for bigger meats by accident, although a little crimping certainly improves clearances. That particular bike has made its share of converts over the years……
I thought Don Cook invented the 29er? And I can’t figure out that graphic? Does that say 92 or 29? Go team, go.
“Tim says…
We understand. You can’t say anything.
Now, when will this be available to the masses? ”
Look for the CREW on the latest stuff at local events.
super cool
the fisher product is cool
today whenI was out hammering on my rigid monkey i asked myself
why did I not just buy THE RIG?
okay…
shop deal
the shop I have a deal with does not carry fisher
Those Fisher jerseys are now available for sale:
http://store.trekbikes.com/jump.jsp?itemID=1574&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1%2C2%2C25%2C238&iProductID=1574&bShopOnline=1
Sweetness.