1979 Victor Vincente of America “Topanga”

21Jan/10

1979 Victor Vincente of America “Topanga”

I found this over at Velo Cult. If you haven't checked out that blog, you should. They do a great job of there. Some of the photographs are simply breathtaking. Definitely makes me want to elevate my game a bit.

Seeing this bike reminds me of something I used to do as a kids. I'd take a 20" bmx frame and put smaller wheels on it and remove the brakes. Basically...doing our best to turn it into a rideable clown car. Then I rustle up some friends and we'd find the biggest and scariest tree filled hill and try to see who could make it down without leaving their teeth in the trees.

This is a very rare and extremely cool vintage mountain bike with a great little side story to go along with it.

Some history to start things off. This was built in 1979 and it is the second Topanga bike that Victor Vincente of America built out of the 25 he made. In a way both him and Joe Breeze built the first mountain bikes as they both built them in different parts of California without knowing about what each other was doing. This bike has both 20 inch wheels which has some logic. Back in that time 26” rims were steel and low quality. BMX rims were light and strong. Also BMX tires were the best for off road. In the early days of mountain bikes builders were either influenced by 1930’s beach cruisers, BMX or even motorcycles to a lesser extent.