Charlie Cunningham, an American mountain biker and co-founder of Wilderness Trail Bikes, died June 3, 2026, after complications from a traffic collision.
He was 78. Born in Washington, D.C., on August 23, 1948, Cunningham grew up in an Air Force family and later settled in Mill Valley on Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, California.
He worked with frame builder Steve Potts and helper Mark Slate to launch Wilderness Trail Bikes, a company that became closely associated with the early development of mountain biking. Cunningham and his wife, Jacquie Phelan, were charter inductees to Crested Butte’s Mountain Bike Hall of Fame.