Cunninghambikes

Born Aug 23, 1948 in Washington D.C. to artist Carol Cunningham and figher pilot Bruce Cunningham. Moved around as Air Force brats are known to do. Settled for good in Marin County in 1965, on the shoulder of Mt. Tamalpais, the peak revered by Miwok Indians as well as fat head bikers.

Charlie Cunningham didn’t climb on the clunker bandwagon by riding a heavy 1930’s single speed. In his late teens, well before the first balloon tire bikes appeared on Tam, he was solo pedaling Tam’s trails on his mom’s modified lightweight German  one-speed. Later, this was replaced by a ten speed Gitane road bike, improved for trails with wider of gear range, shortened chainstays, raised bottom bracket, knobbed touring tires and his first-ever custom toggle brakes. Riding these light, cyclclocross-like bikes for years on Tam’s narrow, technical trails gave Charlie insights into the qualities that were needed for a bike to excel in these conditions.

(Repack, January 1979)

In 1978, aluminum fat-tire rims became available from Ukai, which coincided with his desire to build his first aluminum bicycle. Having borrowed one of the existing 45 pound paper boy bike based clunkers he recognized the potential of the fat tires, but didn’t like their handling qualities, weight and funky brakes. He figured his first aluminim bike may as well have fat tires. Typical of everything Charlie does, his first mountain bike, completed in 1979, was an obsessively comprehensive mechanical statement. It brought everything together that he knew about the requirements for the best offroad bicycle performance with the most advanced materials and component designs. The same year he road tripped with his new bike to Crested Butte with Scot Nicol, Joe Breeze, Gary Fisher, Charlie Kelly, Wendy Craigg and Alan Bonds.  His hand-made 23-lb aluminum “ballooner” featuring relatively short wheelbase and steep angles, sloped top tube, hand-made brakes, extra wide sealed bearing hubs, aluminum seatpost quick release, magnesium stem, titanium chainguard, toe clips and custom curved drop handlebars drew plenty of stares.  After test rides, three locals ordered their own on the spot, and a new career opened up for this soft-spoken rebel without a car.

Yes, the whole thing was about stepping out of cars, eliminating the need for fossil fuels, and making the bike more and more efficient, which would lead to more people using bicycles, at least that’s how it worked in Charlie’s mind (as well as Joe Breeze’s).