29er (bicycle) used were forks designed for trekking bikes or hybrids. For many years, 29" frames and bikes were usually only available from small little-known manufactures like Niner Bikes. Surly Bikes introduced their 29" frameset, the Karate Monkey, in 2002. Gary Fisher Bicycles, a division of Trek Bicycles, became the first of the major manufactures to offer a line of 29" bikes. Their lines never sold well until the introduction of single-speed 29" bike the Rig, in 2004. Today, most bicycle manufacturers in the US market offer at least one 29" bicycle or frame. Even companies that openly dismissed 29" as a
French bicycle industry for the rebirth of the French industry. In 1881, Paul de Vivie, a man of twenty-eight, bought his first bicycle, an "ordinary". By 1887, de Vivie decided to devote his attention to his avocation; he sold his business, and moved to Saint-Étienne, where he opened a bicycle shop and started a magazine, "Le Cycliste". Velocio, as de Vivie was known, began to import bicycles from Coventry; within two years, however, he had begun to produce his own bicycles. His 1889 "La Gauloise" was the first bicycle produced in France. French bicycle manufacturers have included: French bicycle component manufacturers have included: