Wilderness Trail Bikes

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Wilderness Trail Bikes (usually shortened to WTB) is a privately-owned company based in Marin County, California. It was founded in 1983 as a company that specialized in mountain bicycle parts. Today, WTB sources and sells its product worldwide supplying bike manufacturers and bike shops with bike components such as tires, saddles, rims, wheels, and grips.

1 History
2 Corporate advocacy
3 Products
4 External links

[edit] History

Marin County is the birthplace of the mountain bike, which had its origins in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Steve Potts, who was already building bike frames in Mill Valley in 1980, teamed up with Mark Slate to help meet demand. Charlie Cunningham, in Fairfax, had been building mountain bikes since 1979 with heat-treated aluminum frames which had unique Type II forks, roller-cam brakes, custom-made hubs and other components that were among the first of their kind designed specifically for mountain bikes.

Steve Potts, Charlie Cunningham and Mark Slate worked together informally from 1980 on limited production components, almost exclusively for the bicycles that they produced individually. In 1983 they founded Wilderness Trail Bikes, or WTB. Increasing demand and per-unit price advantages had led the three to form WTB to produce better components for the new and fast-growing sport of mountain biking in the mountains of Marin and to market the components that they were producing.

In 1988, Patrick Seidler, a lawyer, entered the scene in connection with Wilderness Trail Bikes Licensing, Inc. This new company focused on licensing technology developed by WTB to mainstream bicycle industry manufacturers. This company built on WTB's historic licensing work. Examples of technology developed by WTB that was produced under license includes designs for tires made by Specialized Bicycle Components, the Blackburn B-52 water bottle cage, geometry for the 1987 Trek mountain bike line and the use of Greaseguard in the top-end Suntour XC Pro component group.

In 1996 WTB logo was changed to the version in use now.

In 2002 Charlie Cunningham and Steve Potts ceased to be part of WTB, leaving Mark Slate as the sole original member. Details of the split have not been made public and there is no mention of Charlie Cunningham or Steve Potts on the WTB website.

Over time, WTB has changed from its origins of designing and selling high-end components and bicycles built in the United States to become a seller of tires, saddles, rims, wheels, grips and and other parts mass-produced overseas. WTB now mainly occupies a space in the OEM field where it once was limited to the high-end, boutique market. Today, WTB components can be found on bikes all around the world and are used for transportation, recreation, adventure, and racing.

[edit] Corporate advocacy

Due to high pollution rates and increased traffic around Marin County, Wilderness Trail Bikes created a sister non-profit organization called T.A.M. (Transportation Alternatives for Marin). T.A.M.’s mission is to develop safe bike routes for commuting and for schools throughout Marin.