Old 01-31-07, 09:10 PM
  #20  
well biked
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It might not have made much difference in the price of the bikes you're talking about, phoebeisis, but the better Fishers were built in California during the '80's, but by the very early nineties Fisher was nearly bankrupt and the brand was sold, and for a couple of years I believe the bikes were built in Taiwan (not sure who actually bought the brand). During this time, I don't believe Gary Fisher had anything to do with Fisher bikes (he simply sold the brand and got out), and these bikes (maybe '91, '92?) were considered a low point for Fishers. I believe it was '93 that Trek bought the Fisher brand, and hired Gary Fisher.

Of all the sellouts I've ever heard of in the bike business, I've always thought Trek's buying of Fisher, and just as importantly hiring Gary Fisher, made quite a bit of sense. Gary Fisher really is an innovator when it comes to mountain bikes, a true "idea man" if you will. Problem was, he sometimes had difficulties producing the actual bikes. With Trek's production capability and Gary Fisher still making real contributions in terms of bike design, I think the Trek-Fisher relationship is a very good one.

As for why the average old mtb doesn't get much respect on the used market, I think there are several reasons. Most of the bikes aren't lugged (which is what folks really want in old steel bikes), and generally speaking they're not particularly elegant. Combine that with the fact that a new mountain bike is, functionally speaking, worlds better than an old fully rigid mountain bike, and if it's an old mountain bike that's truly been used for mountain biking, it's likely beat to hell. Personally speaking, I've never actually worn out a road bike. I've worn out several mountain bikes.

Again, not sure if this would have made much difference as far as price for the bikes you're talking about, but as T-Mar says the Hoo Koo E Koo model has always been a decent bike, but at least in recent years the Wahoo has been a very low end model, not something I would even call a real mountain bike-

Last edited by well biked; 01-31-07 at 09:31 PM.
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