The very first bicycle magazine I bought was the German ´Tour Magazin´. I believe my parents gave it to me during a vacation in the German Alps in teh summer of 1989. It featured a story about framebuilders in and around San Francisco. Charlie Cunningham was also pictured with his Indian bicycle. The years after that my interest in mountain bikes grew and pictures of Cunninghams kept popping up in a Dutch magazin called ´All Terrain Bike Magazine´. Charlie's wife, Jaquie Phelan, wrote a collum for that magazin and her racing pictures where often added.
My passion for mountainbikes grew into a passion for bicycle technology and although information about Cunningham bikes was very hard to come by I did find a lot of it.
Now there is a website that combines a lot of this info adds loads more.
www.cunninghambikes.com
Charlie doesn't build anymore. But his influence can be seen in every modern mountainbike. Bikes he build aren't made to look good, they are build to function on a levell of perfection that is rearely seen in other bikes.
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