Can someone explain to me the explosion of hybrid's in 1990? I remember when they arrived at our shop. I remember hardly selling any of them.

After doing some exhaustive research on the internest for almost 30 minutes, it would seem than not much of anyone had a MTB-style 700C-wheeled bicycle offering in 1989. All of the major brands had them in 1990, and most had three-four at a number of pricepoints. By 1992, the high-end ones were done and most offered 1-2 entry-to modest level options. By 1996, they were mostly gone. I have had three of the top-of-the-line 1990/1991 models come through my hands in the last year, and I actually kept the one that fit.

How did this all start? It seems off that all of them dived in at the same time, unlike the slow perk of the MTB 5-10 years earlier. Did the large companies all get together in 1989 and say "this is the next big thing" when it sort-of fell apart like the fully loaded touring bikies of the mid-80's? Just seems odd to me and was hoping someone who was a bit further up the industry ladder than me at the time might have some insight.