Mountain Biking's Bigger Than Ever

Remember the good old days when every kid wanted a bicycle for Christmas? Well, they're back -- with a twist. Huffy Corp., the big toy and bike manufacturer, expects to sell 100,000 of its new neon-trimmed White Heat mountain bikes. And it has had to boost production of the model several times. ''Kids have discovered mountain bikes,'' says John L. Mariotti, president of Huffy's bike subsidiary.

Juvenile demand is the latest variation in a durable craze that is transforming the two-wheeler market. Mountain bike, which have fat tires and heavy frames as well as the multiple speeds of a racer, will account for 42% of the 10.7 million-unit U. S. bike market this year. That's giving producers a second wind: Mountain-bike sales are expected to shoot up 29% this year, while overall bike sales remain flat at $ 1.8 billion.

As sales boom, what started as a cottage industry is becoming a cutthroat business. Mountain bike was invented in the mid-1970s by biking fanatics to scale rugged Mt. Tamalpais north of San Francisco. Small companies such as Trek, Specialized Bicycle Components, and Klein Bicycle dominated the business.. And although some 125 brands still fight it out, Erik Eidsmo, executive vice-president of Specialized (which started in a house trailer in Morgan Hill, Calif.), predicts that a ''Darwinian effect'' could squeeze out many of the pioneers.

Indeed, bigger mainline companies such as Huffy and Murray Ohio Manufacturing Co. are muscling into mountain bikes. At No. 1 Huffy, mountain bike sales have climbed in four years to more than 40% of the company's $ 250 million in bike sales. Small producers sell mostly through bike shops, while the big ones mainly go through Sears, K mart, Toys 'R' Us, and other mass merchants, which move about 70% of all bikes nationwide. Made of lower-cost components and often sold under house brands, mass-market mountain bikes start as low as $ 100.

The competition is even going global. At Britain's Derby International Corp., whose brands include Raleigh, mountain bikes accounted for 25% of the 4.6 million units produced this year. And last year, Taiwan's Giant Manufacturing Co., which has long made bikes for Schwinn Bicycle Co. among others, exported 600,000 mountain bikes to the U. S. Giant is building its own U. S. franchise and shipping mountain bikes under its own name. Even China wants hard currency from knobby-tired exports. Last June, China Bicycle Corp. in Shenzhen acquired WSI Corp., the California marketer of Diamond Back bikes. China Bicycle has help from Schwinn, which bought 33% of the company.

Mountain Biking