Editing Mountain bike (section)

===Origins===
[[File:Mountain-bike-racing.jpg|thumb|A [[Cross-country cycling|cross country]] mountain bike race.]]
The original mountain bikes were modified heavy [[cruiser bicycle]]s used for freewheeling down mountain trails. The sport became popular in the 1970s in Northern California, USA, with riders using older, single-speed [[bicycle tire#Balloon|balloon tire]] bicycles to ride down rugged hillsides.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://sheldonbrown.com/brandt/mtb-history.html
| title = A Brief History of the Mountain Bike
| author =  Jobst Brandt
| author-link = Jobst Brandt
| orig-year = 1998
| date = 2005
| access-date = 26 December 2013}}</ref> These modified bikes were called "ballooners"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mmbhof.org/mtn-bike-hall-of-fame/history/|title=HISTORY {{!}} Marin Museum of Bicycling and Mountain Bike Hall of Fame|website=mmbhof.org|date=7 January 2014 |language=en-US|access-date=19 October 2018}}</ref> in California, "klunkers"<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cbklunkers.com|title=The Crested Butte Klunkers - Crested Butte, Colorado|website=cbklunkers.com|access-date=19 October 2018}}</ref> in Colorado, and "dirt bombers"<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://issuu.com/thesourceweekly/docs/101118-issuu|title=Source Weekly - October 11, 2018|work=Issuu|access-date=19 October 2018|language=en}}</ref> in Oregon. [[Joe Breeze]], a bicycle frame builder, used this idea and developed what is considered the first mountain bike.<ref>{{cite book|last=Berto|first=Frank J.|title=The Birth of Dirt: Origins of Mountain Biking|year=2009|publisher=Van der Plas/Cycle Publishing|isbn= 978-1-892495-61-7}}</ref><ref>League of American Wheelmen, [http://www.wheelmen.com/Change_Agents.pdf  "Change Agents for Cycling"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120907081448/http://www.wheelmen.com/Change_Agents.pdf |date=7 September 2012 }} ''American Bicyclist,'' Fall 2005, pp. 10-19. (p. 15 "Joe Breeze," by Tim Blumenthal.) Retrieved 1 March 2013</ref><ref>"10 Men Who Changed the Sport," ''Mountain Bike Action,'' December 1991, pp. 99-104</ref><ref>Koeppel, Dan. "Joe Breeze Wants to Change the World. Again." ''Bicycling,'' Vol. 44 Issue 8, September 2003, pp. 32-40.</ref>

It was not until the late 1970s and early 1980s that [[road bicycle]] companies started to manufacture mountain bicycles using high-tech lightweight materials, such as M4 aluminum. The first production mountain bike available was the 1979 Lawwill Pro Cruiser.<ref>{{Cite web|title=First Production Mountain Bike Available {{!}} Marin Museum of Bicycling and Mountain Bike Hall of Fame|url=https://mmbhof.org/portfolio/1978-first-production-mountain-bike-available/|website=mmbhof.org|date=18 June 2014 |language=en-US|access-date=11 May 2020}}</ref> The frame design was based on a frame that Don Koski fabricated from electrical conduit and a Schwinn Varsity frame. Mert Lawwill had Terry Knight of Oakland build the frames. The bikes sold for about $500 new and were made from 1979 though 1980 (approximate run of 600 bikes).

The first mass production mountain bike was the [[Specialized Stumpjumper]], first produced in 1981.<ref name=Rogers>{{cite news|url=http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/interview-specialized-founder-mike-sinyard-28233|title=Interview: Specialized founder Mike Sinyard|last=Rogers|first=Seb|publisher=BikeRadar|date=23 October 2010|access-date=2 December 2010}}</ref> With the rising popularity of mountain bikes, Randolph (Randy) Ross, executive vice president of [[Ross (bicycles)|Ross Bicycles Inc.]], was quoted in the New York Times saying ''I'd say these bikes are one of the biggest things that ever happened to the biking industry. Its basic look constitutes "a total shift in image" for the industry.''<ref name="ref7">{{cite news
  | title = A STURDY MOUNTAIN BIKE WINS HEARTS IN THE CITY
  | newspaper = The New York Times
  | author = JOSEPH GIOVANNINI
  | date = 30 July 1983
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/30/style/a-sturdy-mountain-bike-wins-hearts-in-the-city.html}}</ref>

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, mountain biking moved from a little-known sport to a mainstream activity complete with an [[UCI Mountain Bike World Cup|international racing circuit]] and a [[UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships|world championship]], in addition to various free ride competitions, such as the [[:fr:Freeride Mountain Bike World Tour|FMB World Tour]] and the [[Red Bull Rampage]].