Contact us by email Retrohub@ausmusmtb.com.au
Meet the Curators
Meet Krischan
Born: 1981 Stuttgart, Germany Started riding: 1993 Favourite bike: Where to start...was it the Santacruz Tazmon which served as a XC race bike and DH race bike by switching forks and cockpit, the 7.4kg Spooky Darkside XC race bike from 2000 - 2006 or one of the current bikes, the Liteville 601 or the OPEN WiDe? Krischan got into Mountainbikes from an early age of 13. When a friend took him to a local XC race just after he got his first bike, a pearl white and flouro yellow and green Az-Tec with Scott Uni Shock forks he was instantly hooked on both bikes and racing. He has been racing mountainbikes more or less since. As a young teenager, he used to read all the MTB Action magazines and knew every bike he could spot at a MTB race. As a sub junior he saw the podium at many local XC races. When he was 16/17, he raced in Europe, he was living in Germany at the time for School. A local bike Manufacturer in Germany, Grossman Bicycles, supported him and a group of mates with Grossman FDT frames with which they competed at Dual Slalom races around Europe. Upon returning to Australia, he skipped a year of racing to concentrate on year 12. One of two years that saw no racing. The following year he started uni and for the next 6 years studied a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering at Adelaide University. Throughout these years he raced both XC and DH locally and interstate. He was looking up the renowned weightweenie stem Syntace F99 he had been riding on his 7.4kg XC race bike, on the manufacturer's website, as it was subjected to a recall and spotted a job advertisement in sales while on the page. His ears pricked up as he was hoping to find a career that combined his love for bikes and the career path of engineering, but wasn't quite sure how to achieve this in Australia. So he decided to take the plunge and applied for the job with Syntace. He flew to Germany for a week for a job interview. 3 weeks later he was invited to work for Syntace; they said "when can you start?" So he packed his bikes and told his parents and friend's he was off as he'd been offered his dream job in Germany. 6 months later, he transitioned from the sales job he had applied for to a product development and customer service position, exactly what he had hoped for. At Syntace he was involved with product development, product testing, customer service and got to both attend many trade shows and also visit the manufacturers in Taiwan while continuing to race at events. He competed in events like some of the first "Enduro" races in Germany as well as the Trek Bike Attack, the Swiss version of the Mega Avalanche and has raced on tracks like the Willingen and Leogang World Cup DH tracks. 2009 saw the biggest change in his career. For family reasons, he was looking at options on moving back to Australia without giving up the career in the bicycle industry. Having made some great connections by then with other local manufacturers he decided to approach a small group of manufacturers that had no representation in Australia at the time and proposed to become their Australian distributor. He was welcomed as the Australian Distributor by all brands he approached and thus EightyOneSpices Components Distribution was born, a distributor of fine European bicycle parts. Krischan also missed the "good old days" of Mountainbiking, the "golden years" where the bikes were radical in design and the components of the era were anodised in all colours of the rainbow. He scoured the internet and picked up bikes here and there off Ebay which he added to the bikes from the early days of racing he had kept. Then, fatefully, one day a customer (and now co-curator), Joe Mullan, was on the phone talking work, when suddenly they drifted into a detailed convo on retro bikes and the good ol' days , discovering a shared interest and passion to develop a museum... Fast forward to 2019 Krischan and his partner Selma were looking for a new property. They weren't looking long when they stumbled across this lovely property in Willunga that had this beautiful old 1852 built barn and instantly Krischan knew, that this was the right place to house the Museum. And so, the Australian Museum of Mountainbike had a home. |
Meet Joe
Joe’s been obsessed with bikes since one tried to chop the top of his finger off at age 8... A bit of a bike tragic, lil Joe started by riding clapped out hand-me-down bikes of any form, (mostly too big and with the forks bent a little further back than original Spec). After working the bike industry in Europe and the US, fast-forward XX years, Joe’s move Downunder brought vast new territory and adventures. Joe did his first DH race in 1995 and still isn't very good at it...but the key years (05-09) of chasing success on the Nationals circuit were scuppered by names such as Hill, Rennie, Kovarik, Graves, Rando, Cavalier, Marsh, Hannah...and about 30 other names on the results list before his, so reality bit and the transition to washedup-DHer began. And with that, having a crack at all the other disciplines, XC, CX, Road, 4X etc...with similar unremarkable results. Having lived in 5 states and travelled across the country multiple times, Joe has been involved as organiser, racer, volunteer in everything from Downhill MTB to Road cycling. Joe considers himself fortunate to have been exposed to the highest levels of cycling organisation and cycling industry in Australia, Europe, New Zealand and the US, including UCI MTB World champs, NORBA, National MTB Champs, The Herald Sun Tour, UCI Tour Down Under and various State level events. Joe has been collecting Retro MTBs since the early 2000's. After living in multiple locations over the last 20 years, packing and repacking the precious collection was getting a bit old, so imagine the excitement after years of discussion, when Krischan found the perfect spot to set up and display the range of 'priceless' relics. Joe looked into the red tape and regulatory requirements, made some connections happen and boom, the Museum was born! In his day job, Joe combines his passion for the Bike Economy with his experience in Regional Development. Joe has been engaged across Australia to design and implement local benefit and social dividend programs for multibillion dollar mega-projects through to 100k sporting club grants ensuring funds are secured and spent in the most sustainable way. Joe maintains several committee positions with local cycling clubs, volunteers as a mechanic for annual charity rides through regional Australia, is an MTBA Commissaire, is IMBA trained, a committee member of the Australian Sports Diplomacy network and is one of the founders of the Rocky Trail Destination. |
Meet 'Mac'
'Mac' is the silent partner and keeps the East Coast finds flowing. We won't go so far as to say heis the benefactor No.1 sugardaddy, but we couldn't do it without him. He may also be the Stig, but we haven't asked. |
Where and When
Based in the historic township of Willunga SA, home of the TDU queen stage and the annual 'ol skool' Willunga DH Race since 1994, the museum is a re-purposed classic car restoration building from the 1850's of stone, brick and open rafters.
Open on a limited basis, for appointments, event evenings and general public select weekends.
Open on a limited basis, for appointments, event evenings and general public select weekends.
Our mission
Our mission at the #Ausmusmtb is to share the history of MTBs, Australians in MTB and MTB in Australia, specifically during the golden era of the 1990's. Whether it be a trip down memory lane for those acquainted with the era or educating newcomers to the sport, the museum will share the stories of the bikes, the era, the personalities and the heroes that made MTB what it is today.
Supporter Thanks
The Museum could not be possible without the ongoing support from the following organisations and the Global alliance of MTB museums
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