Keith Bontrager (; born December 18, 1954) is a
motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...
racer who became a pioneer in the development of the modern
mountain bike. Between 1980 and 1995, he was president of his own Bontrager Company, which continues to develop components for
Trek Bicycle Corporation
Trek Bicycle Corporation is a bicycle and cycling product manufacturer and distributor under brand names Trek, Electra Bicycle Company, Bontrager, and Diamant Bikes. The company has previously manufactured bikes under the Gary Fisher, LeMond Rac ...
after Trek bought out Bontrager.
Career
Motorcycles
Bontrager started in 1965 by building lawnmower engine powered mini-bikes.
In 1969, he began racing
motocross
Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom.
History
Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competiti ...
, funding his racing through
motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...
repair work. Between 1975 and 1981 he designed, built and tuned motocross and
road racing and drag racing motorcycles. Motorcycles he tuned won national road racing titles in production and 250
GP classes.
Bicycles
In 1978 Bontrager became attracted to
cycling
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from t ...
and in 1979 built his first
road bike. With his motocross background he was attracted to
mountain bike cycling. In 1980 he built his first mountain bike
frame
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
*Framing (con ...
and founded
Bontrager Cycles
Keith Bontrager (; born December 18, 1954) is a motorcycle racer who became a pioneer in the development of the modern mountain bike. Between 1980 and 1995, he was president of his own Bontrager Company, which continues to develop components for ...
in
Sunnyvale,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
.
In 1984 he cut 700C (ISO 622) 36-hole
Mavic MA-2 road
rims to the circumference of a 26" rim, re-rolling them to create a 32-hole 26" rim.
Bontrager rims were the first lightweight yet strong mountain bike rims, albeit using a profile intended for road racing bicycles. Mavic provided MA-40 MTB rims for some time. Bontrager went on designing lightweight rims, manufactured by
Weinmann USA. Several were introduced but never went into high production because the Weinmann factory suffered a fire.
The design of Bontrager frames was based on his studies at the
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge of ...
and experience as a motocross mechanic. While other manufacturers developed
frame
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
*Framing (con ...
s out of (oversized)
aluminium
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...
,
titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resista ...
, or
carbon-fibre
Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...
, Bontrager believed
steel was not outdated but that its design and production could be improved. Joints could be strengthened by
gusset
In sewing, a gusset is a triangular or rhomboidal piece of fabric inserted into a seam to add breadth or reduce stress from tight-fitting clothing. Gussets were used at the shoulders, underarms, and hems of traditional shirts and chemises made ...
s to distribute loads and reduce the weakening of
brazing
Brazing is a metal-joining process in which two or more metal items are joined together by melting and flowing a filler metal into the joint, with the filler metal having a lower melting point than the adjoining metal.
Brazing differs from we ...
and
welding
Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing fusion. Welding is distinct from lower temperature techniques such as bra ...
. He found areas in which joints could be made by bonding and
rivet
A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched ...
ing, i.e. the
frame
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
*Framing (con ...
s made between 1989 and 1994 had cable stops milled out of
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...
that were bonded and
rivet
A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched ...
ed to the
top tube
A bicycle frame is the main component of a bicycle, onto which bicycle wheel, wheels and list of bicycle parts, other components are fitted. The modern and most common frame design for an upright bicycle is based on the safety bicycle, and consis ...
. Frames made at Bontrager's
Santa Cruz workshop had two-piece
seat stays made of larger
diameter
In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid fo ...
tubing in the upper area which added torsional
stiffness around the brake-bosses, while the smaller tubes in the lower area reduced weight and vertical stiffness of the rear
triangle
A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC.
In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non- colline ...
leading to better damping of hits.
Bontrager published articles on bicycle design and construction, ranging from the effects of
TIG welding
Gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), also known as tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding, is an arc welding process that uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode to produce the weld. The weld area and electrode are protected from oxidation or other atmo ...
on the tubes to the flaws in the accepted sizing methods of the day.
In 1987 he designed and patented the composite
fork
In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from la, furca 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tine (structural), tines with which one ...
crown. This used an aluminum fork crown that clamped the fork blades and the steerer instead of using welds or brazing. This design was used on the
Rock Shox RS1 suspension fork, and Bontrager's own rigid fork, the Switchblade. Bontrager's belief in avoiding heat affection of the tubes led to versions of the Switchblade with bonded and
rivet
A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched ...
ed
dropouts and brake bosses leading to a fork with no
welding
Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing fusion. Welding is distinct from lower temperature techniques such as bra ...
or
brazing
Brazing is a metal-joining process in which two or more metal items are joined together by melting and flowing a filler metal into the joint, with the filler metal having a lower melting point than the adjoining metal.
Brazing differs from we ...
. This retained the strength gained by
tempering the tubing.
In 1992 Bontrager Cycles expanded from a one-man shop to a limited production facility. In 1993 they started to produce
handlebar stems. In 1995 Bontrager's business partner,
Hans Heim, left to join
Santa Cruz Bicycles
Santa Cruz Bicycles is a manufacturer of high end mountain bikes based in Santa Cruz, California. They sponsor the Santa Cruz Syndicate, a downhill racing team. The company moved premises from 104 Bronson Street to 2841 Mission Street in 2013 . ...
, and put his share of Bontrager Cycles up for sale. Trek acquired Bontrager Cycles and hired Bontrager as president.
Bontrager production split in two. The frameshop in
Santa Cruz continued to manufacture the high-end mountain bike frames (the Race and Race Lite models), the Road Lite (
road race), the
cyclo-cross frames, and later a
BMX frame. At this same time, Bontrager stopped using two-piece seat stays on mountain frames in favor of a single tapered tube. The Ti Lite, a titanium version of the mountain bike frame, was made by tubing manufacturer
Sandvik
Sandvik AB is a Swedish multinational engineering company specializing in metal cutting, digital and additive manufacturing, mining and construction, stainless and special steel alloys, and industrial heating. The company was founded in Swed ...
. At the same time, the Privateer, an entry-level frame, was designed using the same True Temper tubing as the Santa Cruz-made-frames but made at Trek's plant in
Waterloo,
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, with small design changes.
Bontrager took on product development at Trek, designing
handlebars,
handlebar stems,
bar ends,
seatpost
A bicycle seatpost, seatpin, saddlepole, saddle pillar, or saddle pin is a tube that extends upwards from the bicycle frame to the saddle. The amount that it extends out of the frame can usually be adjusted, and there is usually a mark that indic ...
s,
tires
A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over which t ...
,
crankset
The crankset (in the US) or chainset (in the UK), is the component of a bicycle drivetrain that converts the reciprocating motion of the rider's legs into rotational motion used to drive the chain or belt, which in turn drives the rear wheel ...
s and
rims and
wheels
A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction with axles, allow heavy objects to b ...
.
By the end of the 1990s, improved production techniques for aluminium frames allowed them to be produced less expensively, and hardtail steel frames went out of fashion. Production of Bontrager frames ceased in Santa Cruz and Wisconsin.
Bontrager continues to work with Trek to develop wheels and components for mountain, road and triathlon bikes. The components were used by the US Postal, Discovery Channel, Leopard Trek, Trek Livestrong, Science in Sport and Trek VW road cycling teams. Triathletes and Ironman champions have used the components and these include Chris Lieto, Normann Stadler and Julie Dibens - to name but a few.
Cycling
Bontrager has competed in many mountain bike races, including 24-hour races. He has also competed in the
Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross event in England, as well as stage races such as the
Trans-Sylvania Mountain Bike Epic in State College, PA.
Education
Bontrager majored in
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
at UCSC.
Awards and recognition
Bontrager was inducted into the
Mountain Bike Hall of Fame
The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame (MBHOF) was founded in 1988 to chronicle the history of mountain biking. Formerly located in Crested Butte, Colorado, it relocated to Fairfax, California in 2014 and became part of the Marin Museum of Bicycling.
S ...
in 1994.
References
External links
Page on the MTB Hall of FameBontrager Bicycle Components
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bontrager, Keith
American male cyclists
Cycle designers
American mountain bikers
Cyclo-cross cyclists
Living people
1954 births
Mountain bike innovators
Cycle manufacturers of the United States
Sportspeople from Sunnyvale, California
Cyclists from California