Malcolm smith
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Mert Lawwill
Mert has played a formidable role in introducing many key suspension concepts into the world of mountain biking. He is also one of the early pioneers in the off-road world, having introduced the first production mountain bike.
A former American Motorcycle Association Grand National Champion and member of Harley Davidson’s factory team for over a decade, Mert starred in the movie On Any Sunday, which would later give a boost to mountain bikes via BMX. In 1978, following a motorcycle-racing career that spanned over 20 years, Mert designed & began manufacturing the Lawwill/Knight Pro Cruiser. The following year Mert was producing 25 of these mountain bikes at a time. Pro Cruiser sales prospered until the arrival in 1982 of the Specialized Stumpjumper & Univega Alpina Pro, production bikes from overseas.
Mert returned to the motorcycle world until 1989 when his rear suspension design was used on the Fisher RS-1. Mert then designed the Lawwill Leader front fork, which he later licensed to Control Tech. In 1995, he worked with Yeti on an improved version o
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For the Love of Speed
Mert Lawwill never really rode mountain bikes.
Perhaps this is because he was more used to doing 100 miles per hour on his motorcycle while racing flat track—the literal and historic definition of “foot-out, flat-out.” When that’s normal, riding something with pedals instead of a motor could understandably be boring.
The man is a living legend when it comes to motorcycles. He was at the pinnacle of his career in the late 1960s and won the American Motorcyclist Association Grand National Championship in 1969. The following year, he filmed for Bruce Brown’s documentary On Any Sunday. When it debuted in 1971, Mert was catapulted from a god among men on the racetrack to an American icon on the silver screen, right next to Steve McQueen.
But throughout his illustrious racing career, Mert also experimented in the then-burgeoning world of mountain bikes. Not as a rider, although he’d occasionally point one down the hill, but as a frame designer and suspension engineer. He’s someone who can’t help but look at something and think about how it works—and how it
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Mert Lawwill was born in Boise, Idaho. He started his racing career as an amateur racer on the local TT track in Boise and, later, scramble races across the United States Northwest.[1] In 1961, he moved to Los Angeles, California so that he could race at the Ascot Park race track which, at the time was the epicenter of dirt track racing.[2] He gained sponsorship from Dudley Perkins, a Harley-Davidson dealer in San Francisco.[1] It was during this time that Lawwill began to learn about modifying motorcycle frames for racing competitions.[2] By 1963, he had become a professional rider and in 1964 he signed a contract to compete for the Harley-Davidson factory racing team with whom he would remain for the rest of his racing career.[1]
Lawwill won his first AMA national race at the Sacramento Mile on September 19, 1965.[1] In 1969, Lawwill won the AMA Grand National Championship and, was voted AMA's Most Popular Rider of the Year.[1][4] His defense of his Grand National Championship during the 1970 season became the subject of Bruce Brown's 1971 motorcycle documenta