Hi Stevan, Paul and all:
I have an interesting Craig Mitchell Mountain bike that he made using 20" wheels and designed for an adult to ride off road. He took a 70's BMX frame and added a strut and trussrod system to extend the seatpost up. It's a pretty wacky bike but it is one of the early mountain bikes from Marin. I have it in my collection of early muntain bikes next to my Breezer, Cunninham and Cooks Bro's cruiser. Somehow I got it from Victor Vincente of America. I was told that it was specially made for someone to deliver water and fertilizer to someones plants up on Tam. I can not verify this story although from the looks of the design I would'nt be surprised. Sometimes I use it to go get lunch but I've never taken it off road. I will take some pictures and forward them to you.
Bradley
American Cyclery
San Francisco CA 94116
> Hi Stevan,
>
> I worked with Craig Mitchell at Sunshine Bicycle Works in Fairfax, Ca from
> 1976-1980. SBW employed quite a few of the early mountian bike pioneers,
Craig,
> Gary Fisher, Charly Kelly, Mark Horowitz, , as well as roadies like Frank
> Powell, Larry Mersereau, Kent Bostick, Otis Guy. Marnard Hershon also
worked at
> Sunshine in 1979. In 1976, Ron Cooper came over an spoke to a group of us
at
> Sunshine that included Joe Breeze and Craig. Craig shared a framebuilding
shop
> with Doug White in Point Reyes when I first me him in February 1976. He
later
> moved it upstairs at Sunshine. Craig was always looking for ways to make
his
> frames lighter. He had a 17 lb "Whippet" road frame in 1977 with flat
plate
> dropouts he had fabricated. The wheel was held in by a Hi-E skewer that
went
> through a hole in the plate. Quick release...not! Craig had a degree in
metal
> technology from UC Berkeley. To say he was bright was a serious
understatement.
> In the early days of mountainbikes we were trying various types of
> brakes. Craig had built a custom lugless frame, (this was in 1976) but the
fork
> was an old road fork he'd salvaged from a Motobecane and spread just below
the
> crown to accommodate wider 26" tires. I think he had a 26 by 1.75 on an
Arai
> alloy rim. The brake was an Arai drum, short lived on these shores...not
the
> later one that tandem builders all over the country came to use, but a
chromed
> steel hubshell very moped'ish in shape. Anyhow I took it for a ride down
the
> sidewalk, turned it around and shot back towards the front of Sunshine,
where,
> grabbing a handful of front brake, proceeded to re-arch the left forkblade
> "Bates" style. To say that Craig was miffed, is , well, an understatement
but we
> got over it soon. He and Doug White rode the 1978 Marin Century on
recumbents
> and fairly smoked the field during the first 50 miles. I was behind them
trying
> to get some draft off the crazy machines.
> Craig was picked to make a bike for the Art of the Mountainbike show
in
> 1990 and was also featured in Bicycling Magazine in the May 1991 issue
with
> that bike. He was a teriffic craftsman, a perfectionist, and a fine
artist as
> well. The Limbo spider inner chainring that White industries produced in
great
> quantities during the late 80's and early 90's was one of Craig's ideas.
> I hope this helps for an off the cuff answer, Stevan. Feel free to
call
> me.
>
> Paul Brown 707 322-7208
> Santa Rosa, CA