The mountain bike was born in the United States, specifically in the Golden State of California, on Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, located just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The first prototypes of its kind were built in the late 1960s and by the early 70s, mountain-bike races started to pop-up among the fast-growing number of enthusiasts of this new sensation. It did, however, take a while before the mountain bike found its way to Europe.

In response to the mountain bike’s rapidly-increasing popularity, the Dutch company Veltec-Rentmeester, and its US subsidiary, (Veltec USA), introduced American Eagle Mountainbikes to the market in 1993. Veltec-Rentmeester did some tests with off-road bikes under the famous road cycling brand Concorde, but the introduction of American Eagle allowed them to complete their range of bicycles by offering a genuine mountain bike!

American Eagle frames were initially built with steel, but their construction eventually turned to aluminum, a significantly lighter material. American Eagle bicycles were easily recognizable thanks to their sophisticated geometry and strikingly long top tube. They were available in a variety of models, from the lower end, perfect for beginners, to the fully competition-ready mountain bikes such as those used by their professional international factory MTB team. A few that were particularly popular were the “Death Valley”, “Durango” and “Vail-S”. The most famous American Eagle is clearly, the “Atlanta”, on which Bart Brentjens became World’s First Olympic Mountain Bike Champion at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.