Old School Legend: 1989 Fisher CR-7 Mountain Bike

There are a few bikes out there from the early pre-suspended days of Mountain Bikes (pre-1990) that have rightly earned legendary status for their combination of ride quality, ground breaking design, and aesthetic appeal. Fewer still, were durable enough to be rideable today, twenty plus years on. This rare vintage Fisher CR-7 composite mountain bike frame (he wasn't Gary back then, just Fisher) is one such bike. It was raced by Fisher's Mountain Bike Team, praise was lavished upon it by every test rider that swung a leg over it, and it was considered the ultimate ride from one of Mountain Biking's first practitioners.

The main triangle is aluminum and the rear triangle is steel. The rear triangle bolts onto the front portion. Clever idea. This is the production version of the very rare Mantis XCR Composite frame designed by Richard Cunningham to exploit the merits of both materials. The fat aluminum tubing used for the front triangle of the frame is stiff due to the large diameter tubes, but it is impossible to use such tubes for the chainstays and seatstays without excessive crimping, so steel is used in those locations. The two materials cannot be welded so the rear triangle is bolted on using heliarced inserts in the aluminum and steel allen bolts.

The main triangle has had the black paint removed, although some remnants remain on the bottom bracket. The welds are very nice. I could find no dents or damage to the frame.

The chainstays are built from Fisher specified Tange chromoly tubing and are very rigid, allowing very positive braking, and have investment-cast fittings welded to them. Unusually for a team race bike, the CR-7 has fittings for mounting rack and fenders, making it unique among Mountain Bike legends.

Fisher built the frame with a special bottom bracket which is 15mm wider than a conventional unit, providing greater tire clearances than any other frame at the time.

Another Fisher innovation is the 'Fisher Evolution Headset' which is oversized, being 1-1/4" instead of the 1" which was the standard at the time. As contemporary testers put it - "The headset and steering column are about 25 per cent larger in diameter than conventional units. This makes an astonishing difference to the steering characteristics. The design is based on tests that showed the major stress point on bicycle frames to be around the bottom of the headtube. Fisher saw this as the obvious place to concentrate strength. This he achieved by making the whole unit bigger...Gary Fisher stuck his neck out, produced a unique headset and brought in a winner.

I'm not sure what I am going to do for a final finish - the original Fisher color scheme and graphics seen on the similar bike above, are classic looking, but I may also opt for a stealthier custom look in plain black, perhaps with an Archer logo!

1989 Fisher CR-7
Seat tube: 19" c-c, 20 1/2" c-t

Top tube: 22 1/2"

Chainstay: 16 7/8"

Head tube: 4"

Uses a 31.6mm seatpost (not included)

Rear dropout spacing is 135mm

Bottom bracket height is 12"

Standover height is 31"

Head tube takes a 1 1/4" headset

Serial number is Y98278.