Specialized Stumpjumper
The first mass-produced mountain bike – now in the Smithsonian collections.
In the 1970s cyclists in Marin County, California, built bicycles for riding down the mountains. In 1981 Specialized made a mountain bike that could be produced in large series and sold in ordinary bicycle shops.
The Stumpjumper started a new type of bicycle that soon became the best-selling in the world. One is in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
Materials: Steel tube, wide knobbly tyres, flat handlebars
Manufacture: Designed in California and made in Japan from 1981.
The wide, knobbly tyres.
The flat, wide handlebars with gear levers.
The sturdy frame and the many gears.