Mountain bike pioneer Charlie Kelly in a promotional photo (circa 1980-ish?) taken by Gary Fisher for their company– MountainBikes. According to Kelly’s personal (history packed) website, the bike in the photo was Fisher’s as he couldn’t yet afford one of the very bikes they were selling.
Back then, you paid $1,300 up front to a couple of California hippies, waited a month or more and eventually you got yourself a 28 pound, fully rigid mountain bike.
Check out Kelly’s site for a shit ton of amazing photos and information about the early days of mountain biking. It’s pretty cool to see so much history of a sport that was invented during my lifetime.