Wilderness Trail Bikes (usually shortened to WTB) is a privately owned company based in

Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, USA. Founded in 1982 as a company that specialized in

mountain bike A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling. Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, which ...

parts, today WTB sources and sells its product worldwide supplying bike manufacturers and bike shops with components including

tires A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineering), t ...

, saddles, rims and

grips The , or GRIPS, is an elite, highly selective research graduate school located in Minato, Tokyo. Funded by the Japanese Government, it has the status of List of national universities in Japan, national university. It is also one of Asia's leading ...

History

is the birthplace of the

, which had its origins in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Steve Potts, who was already building bike frames in

Mill Valley Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge and from Napa Valley. The population was 14,231 at the 2020 census. Mill Valley is located on the western and ...

in 1980, teamed up with Mark Slate to help meet demand.

Charlie Cunningham Charlie Cunningham (born August 23, 1948) is a mountain biker from Fairfax, California. Along with frame builder Steve Potts and his helper Mark Slate, Cunningham co-founded Wilderness Trail Bikes (WTB). Cunningham and Potts were forced out ...

, 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 1982, they founded Wilderness Trail Bikes, or WTB. Increasing demand and per-unit price advantages had led the three to form WTB to produce 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, began working with WTB. This new company focused on licensing technology developed by WTB to mainstream bicycle industry manufacturers. Examples of technology developed by WTB that were produced under license include designs for tires made by

Specialized Bicycle Components Specialized Bicycle Components, Inc., colloquially known as and stylized as SPECIALIZED, is an American company which designs, manufactures and markets bicycles, bicycle components and related products under the brand name "Specialized", as wel ...

, the Blackburn B-52 water bottle cage, geometry for the 1987

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 ...

mountain bike line and the use of Greaseguard in the top-end Suntour XC Pro component group. In 2002, Cunningham and Potts ceased to be part of WTB, leaving Mark Slate as the sole original member. During this time WTB began OEMing parts to major manufacturers like Gary Fisher Bikes, Marin Bikes, etc. Over time, WTB has evolved to become a seller of

, saddles, rims,

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 be ...

and other parts mass-produced overseas. Today, WTB components can be found on bikes all around the world and are used for transportation, recreation, adventure and racing. WTB continues to support racers, providing sponsorship for riders.

Corporate advocacy

Wilderness Trail Bikes had created a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization called Transportation Alternatives for Marin (TAM). TAM’s mission was to develop safe bike routes for commuting and for schools throughout Marin. TAM 501(c)(3) nonprofit status was revoked by the Internal Revenue Service in October 2018.

References

External links

Wilderness Trail Bikes
{{American bicycle manufacturers Cycle manufacturers of the United States Manufacturing companies established in 1982 Mountain bike manufacturers Companies based in California 1982 establishments in California