Mountain Bike Pricing And Comparisons

Fisher, who is now married and awaiting a first child, says he would start the business differently if he could do it over. He regrets, for example, that he didn't get a trademark on the term Mountain Bike Prices, and that he lent early copies of his machines to others in the bicycling community who, he says, made knockoffs of some of his designs.

Nevertheless, as Fisher watches his 10 full-time employees work, he seems pleased. "My generation was really anti-business," he says, "but this is the biggest adventure of all."

As a teen-ager, he rode down the brush-bordered trails and up the winding fire roads on a motorcycle. Every day, Anthony Joseph would come home from school, toss his books into his room, grab his motorcycle helmet and head for the hills on his Yamaha. Homework could wait. There were hills to climb.

A decade later, Joseph knocks off from work, tosses his briefcase onto his sofa, grabs his helmet and heads for the same hills in the Santa Monica Mountains -- on his bicycle. Home work still waits.

Joseph's bike, a Mountain Bike Prices, is an 18-gear factory-built cross between a conventional 10-speed and a dirt motorcycle. The difference from a motorcycle is obvious; it takes a closer look to distinguish a mountain bike from a conventional 10-speed, or road bike. Mountain bikes have motocross-style handle bars, 15-18 speeds, 2-inch wide knobby tires and a sturdy frame.

"Everything about the thing is heavy duty," Joseph said. "You can throw it across the street and nothing would happen to it."

When thrown from the bike, however, something nasty happens to the cyclist. Joseph recently found a trail south of Mulholland Drive, just east of Coldwater Canyon Boulevard in the hills above North Hollywood. As he descended the trail, a magnificent view of the San Fernando Valley before him, he spotted a bump.

"You have to either slow down and roll over it, or speed up and jump," said Joseph, who couldn't make up his mind.

When he hit the bump, his bike lunged forward, flying nearly five feet above the ground. His body flew nearly seven feet above the ground -- in another direction. As a result of an ugly landing, Joseph now sports three ugly abrasions. One on his upper hip, one on his side and one on his shoulder. "I should have slowed down," Joseph said, and then, in mock excitement, added, "But this is why I do it. The thrills, the chills, the spills."

Mountain Biking