Mountain biking legend Charlie Cunningham has died at the age of 78 in his native California. He will be remembered as a founding father of the sport. Cunningham suffered a major bike accident in 2015, leaving him with multiple injuries, including head trauma. MTB photographer and frequent BikeRadar and MBUK contributor, Steve Behr, met Cunningham at home in the mid 1990s and saw his workshop. Behr described Cunningham as friendly, quiet and unassuming as he talked him through the innovations he was working on. Tech pioneer The 1988 Cunningham Racer, built by Charlie Cunningham, paved the way for modern mountain bikes, using oversized aluminium tubing in its construction. Jeff Archer/First Flight Bikes An early proponent of using aluminium for bike frames, Cunningham built his first frame in 1977 and experimented with other exotic materials for components, including a magnesium stem. As well as improving the design for hub and bottom bracket bearing systems, Cunningham also helped develop MTB standards such as wider front hubs and zero-dish rear hubs. He is also widely credited with helping to create the original, iconic Specialized Ground Control tyre. Innovations such as these influenced the speed and direction of the progression of MTB technology. Cunningham, Mark Slate, Steve Potts and Lance Wyeth were the co-founders of the Wilderness Trail Bikes (WTB) brand in Marin, California in 1982. Charlie Cunningham, Wilderness Trail Bicycles co-founder and Fairfax, California resident. Pat Reddix Cunningham, and other inventors like him, helped differentiate MTB tech from road bikes and beach cruisers, playing a part in establishing the discipline as technically advanced, as well as distinct in its own right. He was inducted into the Marin Museum of Bicyclings Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1988.