View source for Gary Fisher

{{Short description|Cyclist and bike designer (born 1950)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{for-multi|the Scottish footballer|Gary Fisher (footballer)|other people|Gary Fischer (disambiguation)}}

[[File:Gary Fisher (5685217988).jpg|thumb|right|Gary Fisher in 2011]]
'''Gary Christopher Fisher''' (born November 5, 1950) is considered one of the inventors of the modern [[mountain bike]].<ref>[http://cestovani.idnes.cz/gary-fisher-mame-tu-dalsi-cyklorevoluci-f0n-/na-kolo.aspx?c=A090610_183155_ig_kolo_tom Gary Fisher: Máme tu další cyklorevoluci]</ref>

Fisher started competing in road and track races at age 12.  He was suspended in 1968 because race organizers cited a rule that his hair was too long.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fisherbikes.com/gary/story/ |title=The Gary Fisher Story &#124; Gary Fisher Bicycles |access-date=2010-04-26 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100428114205/http://fisherbikes.com/gary/story |archive-date=2010-04-28 }}</ref>  By 1972 this rule had been repealed and Fisher's career continued.  He won the TransAlp race in Europe and a Masters XC national title.

Fisher went to work in 1974 on his 1930s [[Schwinn]] Excelsior X Bicycle.  His innovations to the model included drum brakes, motorcycle brake levers and cables, and triple chain–rings, all taken from "junkers" Fisher found at bike shops. The next year, Fisher participated in the [[Repack (mountain bike race)|Repack]] downhill race, promoted by his roommate [[Charlie Kelly (businessman)|Charlie Kelly]].  This used a tortuous downhill route on Pine Mountain near [[Fairfax, California]], just north of San Francisco, in which riders used their coaster brakes so much that they had to repack the smoking hubs with grease after every run.  Fisher holds the record time on the Repack course at 4:22.<ref name="eveningMag">Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/SVWP6VaLtvw Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20110903041446/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVWP6VaLtvw&gl=US&hl=en&amp;has_verified=1 Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web
| title=Klunking 
| publisher=Evening Magazine
| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVWP6VaLtvw}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
 |publisher=Cycle Publishing/Van der Plas Publications
 |url=http://www.cyclepublishing.com/cyclingbooks/
 |date=2008
 |title=The Birth of Dirt, 2nd Edition
 |isbn=978-1-892495-61-7
 |author=Berto, Frank J.
 |access-date=May 30, 2017
}}</ref>

Gary Fisher speaks about his role as a pioneer in the sport of [[mountain biking]] in two video documentaries: ''[[Full Cycle: A World Odyssey]]'' (1994)<ref>[[:File:Gary Fisher Charlie Kelly Jacquie Phelan 1994.jpg]]</ref> and ''[[Klunkerz: A Film About Mountain Bikes|Klunkerz]]'' (2007).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.klunkerz.com/castcrew-fisher-1.html |title=klunkerz.com (Welcome) |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=klunkerz.com |access-date=August 22, 2016 |archive-date=September 6, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906171456/http://www.klunkerz.com/castcrew-fisher-1.html |url-status=dead }}/</ref>  Original clips of Fisher on his mountain bike appear in both documentaries.

==Company==
Gary Fisher coined the term ''mountain bike'' in 1979. That year, Fisher and Kelly founded MountainBikes,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/mtbikes_company.htm |title=MountainBikes History and Advertising |author=Charlie Kelly |access-date=14 October 2011 }}</ref> the first company to specialize in the manufacture of this type of bicycle. [[bicycle frame|Frames]] were built by [[Tom Ritchey]], who later founded his own company. The first model sold for [[United States dollar|$]]1,300; 160 were manufactured in the first year.

1979 saw the introduction of [[Shimano]] components and an ill-fated attempt to trademark ''Mountain Bike''. The company dissolved in 1983; Fisher founded Gary Fisher Mountain Bikes the same year. Fisher sold his company in 1991 to Taiwan's Anlen company, staying on as President.  Fisher developed the first commercially produced full suspension bicycles designed by [[Mert Lawwill]], a former champion motorcycle racer.<ref name="Bicycle Design: An Illustrated History">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CuoxAwAAQBAJ&q=mert+lawwill+mountain+bike&pg=PA442 |title=Bicycle Design: An Illustrated History |author=Hadland, Tony |year=2014 |isbn=9780262322225 |access-date=2 January 2016 }}</ref> His bike, the Gary Fisher RS-1, was released in 1992. Its rear suspension adapted the [[Control arm|A-arm suspension design]] from sports car racing, and was the first [[four-bar linkage]] in mountain biking.<ref name="Bicycle Design: An Illustrated History"/>
In 1992, Howie Cohen, who had previously imported [[Nishiki (bicycle)|Nishiki]], Azuki and [[Kuwahara (Bicycles)|Kuwahara]] bicycles, assisted Gary Fisher with his brand,<ref name="earlyBMX">{{cite web
 |title       = Early BMX Pioneers
 |publisher   = American Bicycle Association BMX
 |url         = http://www.ababmx.com/index.php?page=halloffame1
 |url-status = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080816021407/http://www.ababmx.com/index.php?page=halloffame1
 |archive-date = 2008-08-16
}}</ref> 18 months later brokering the acquisition of Fisher by [[Trek Bicycle Corporation]].<ref name="earlyBMX"/>

On June 16, 2010, [[Trek Bicycle Corporation]] announced "the Gary Fisher Collection, a line of Trek bikes that will replace the standalone Gary Fisher brand".<ref name="brand cancellation">{{cite web
 | title = Trek Press Release 16 June 2010
 | publisher = Trek Bicycle Corporation
 | url = http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/trek_life/news/article/2183/2010/06/16/trek_introduces_the_gary_fisher_collection/}}</ref>

== After company sale ==
Fisher remains involved with design and marketing, along with being scout and mentor to racers sponsored by the team. The best known was the gold-medal winner in the [[1996 Summer Olympics|1996]] and [[2000 Summer Olympics|2000 Olympics]] women's mountain biking: [[Paola Pezzo]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}}

== Awards ==
[[Image:GaryFisher.png|thumb|Gary Fisher in the Go-Kart portion of the 2005 SSWC]]Fisher was inducted into the [[Mountain Bike Hall of Fame]] in 1988.  

''Outside'' magazine named him one of the "50 who left their mark" in the sport in 2000.

''Smithsonian'' magazine honored him in 1994 as the "Founding Father of Mountain Bikes." 

In 1998, Fisher was recognized by ''[[Popular Mechanics]]'' for his innovations in sports.

==See also==
* [[Joe Breeze]]
* [[Klunkerz: A Film About Mountain Bikes]]

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
{{Commons category|Gary Fisher}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090414055859/http://fisherbikes.com/ Fisher Bikes website]
*[http://www.mtb-museum.de/gary-fisher.htm Proceedings of MTB seminar by Gary Fisher at N.Y.intl. bicycle show 1983]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150906171456/http://www.klunkerz.com/castcrew-fisher-1.html Klunkerz: A Film About Mountain Bikes Gary Fisher Bio]

{{American bicycle manufacturers}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Gary}}
[[Category:1950 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American male cyclists]]
[[Category:Mountain bike innovators]]
[[Category:Cycle designers]]
[[Category:Cycle manufacturers of the United States]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Mountain bike manufacturers]]
[[Category:Cyclists from California]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]