This 1941 Schwinn DX Excelsior was rescued by Otis Guy from a junkyard in 1974 and was one of the many 'clunkers' used in 1970s - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
An Otis Guy Softride, built by Otis Guy in Marin County - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Myles Rockwell's 1998 Cannondale Fulcrum DH Team - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
A 'jackshaft' drive system allowed space for the dual-link suspension design - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Kate Courtney's 2018 world-champion S-Works Epic - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Courtney lives a short drive away from the Marin Museum of Bicycling - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
The 'Safety Bicycle' was built between 1885 and 1892 and shares many design features with today's bicycles - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Vincenzo Nibali's 2014 Tour-de-France-winning S-Works Tarmac - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Juli Furtado's Team GT 1996 GT Xizang featuring titanium tubing - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
According to the museum, the 1999 Moots YBB 29er was one of the first 29-inch mountain bikes with full 2in tyres - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
1995 Trek Y-33 features a carbon monocoque front section and an aluminium rear tubed section - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Jimmy Deaton's 1992 Yeti ARC-AS, which won the 1993 Mammoth Mountain Kamikaze downhill race. The front chainring has 66-teeth - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Foes Racing 1992 USA LTS 18 Prototype - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
1992 Mountain Cycle San Andreas - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
1990 Mantis Flying V - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
1989 Kestrel MX-Z — the first full-carbon production mountain-bike frame - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
1988 Fat Chance Team Comp (weighing in at 25lb/11.34kg) - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
A custom-painted Salsa… - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
… with matching seat-tube pump - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Specialized's first Stumpjumper - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
An early Ritchey Mountainbike - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Mountain-biking pioneers used old Schwinn frames for prototype mountain bikes, dubbing them 'Clunkers' - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Repack Road and Mount Tam were the playgrounds of the early mountain-bike pioneers - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Another 'Clunker' from the 1970s - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
1983 Richard Sachs - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
1964 Bianchi Specialissima - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
1951 Bianchi Paris-Roubaix - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
1993 Bruce Gordon Rock ‘n’ Road - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Located in Fairfax, California, the Marin Museum of Bicycling sits in the shadow of Repack Road and Mount Tamalpais, where the pioneers of mountain biking raced, crashed and flew on bikes made from junkyard scrap, developing the sport into what we know today.
The museum was founded by Joe Breeze, Otis Guy, Marc Vendetti, Julia Violich, Keith Hastings and Lena Maria Estrella and opened in 2015.
Featuring the evolution of the mountain bike, the museum is home to a number of ‘Clunkers’, which are junkyard 1940s Schwinn frames adapted to downhill mountain biking, all the way through to Kate Courtney’s 2018 world-championships-winning Specialized S-Works Epic.
Many of the bikes were donated or loaned to the museum from Mountain Bike Hall of Fame members.
Another 'Clunker' from the 1970s - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Alongside early and modern mountain bikes, the museum also hosts the Igler Collection, which showcases the 19th-century evolution of the bicycle and features plenty of designs that wouldn’t be out of place on a modern-day bicycle.
Vincenzo Nibali's 2014 Tour-de-France-winning S-Works Tarmac - Josh Evans/Immediate Media
Vincenzo Nibali’s 2014 Tour de France Specialized S-Works Tarmac is also on display, alongside a number of other vintage road-racing bikes.
This brief gallery cannot begin to do justice to the bicycles, components, photography, history and exhibits on display at the Marin Museum of Bicycling and if you are ever in California, making a visit to the museum is a must.
