Books have been written about the early days of beer swilling, dope smoking young Californians stripping off their Schwinns to go downhill racing on gravel and stoney tracks and how this progressed to the interest in bikes being built that go up those hills at not quite the same speed. For those of you who haven’t had much interest in mountain bikes (MTBs) or followed the development of them, there has been a huge shift in the make-up of the top end machines particularly in the geometry of the frames as well as the components and drive trains. If you are interested in older MTBs the brands to look out for are Orange, Marin, Specialized (especially an early Stumpjumper), Scott, Mongoose, Kona, and many more, including some from British bespoke frame builders.

As the first purpose built mountain bike (widely regarded as the Breezer 1) was built in 1979 there is now a rich history to be enjoyed with these machines. The care and thought that goes into these machines is equal to the very same ingenuity that took heavy sports roadsters into the pre-war lightweight era. The V-CC may have started in a thirst for Victorian era machines and was soon as enthusiastic about lightweight bicycles (many made after the formation of this club) so we hope this continues to roll forward. Our rides are ideally suited to these early mountain bikes, or otherwise a robust lightweight tourer with a good range of gears.

If you would like to join the group contact us via the Specialist Groups page of this website.