In the olden days, the early 1990s, bike companies already offered too many models, but the models they offered were all based on simple and similar configurations.  Road bikes received little attention, but in the mountain and the emerging hybrid category you got a lighter, more precisely made version of the same basic bike as you went up in price point.  A rider could buy in at their chosen price level and have the shop fine-tune the setup from there.  It did not provide instant gratification, but a good shop could make a lot of changes quickly if the rider so desired. To introduce a line of rational bikes, a business would need more buying power than a single shop can muster. ...

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Phil Wood made the only sealed bearings hubs that would hold up. Freewheels had five cogs (13 x 24) and road derailleurs were the only changers available • The girder fork design was borrowed from 26-inch-wheel paperboy bikes from the 1950s,... Many riders have legitimate claim to being the first mountain bikers, but Joe Breeze gets the nod for making the first purpose-built mountain bike. Mountain bikes were even more international in the early years. Grips were two left-side motorcycle items from the US. Cut-down motorcycle bars or modified paperboy bars were preferred, and shifters were out-of-production thumb levers from Suntour of Japan. The Beezer was typical of the early bike setups with two German-made Magura motocross clutch levers or brakes.

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