On the street I lived on as a kid, a friend of mine lived up the way, and across from him lived this older dude who assembled Crotch Rocket mountain bikes in his garage and sold us parts.
I always had BMX bikes up until that time, and the only other bicycles I remember being popular were ten speeds with skinny tires like pizza cutters and those curly handlebars. This is not to say mountain bikes were newly invented, but they were new to me and my experience.
The idea of a big bike made specially for riding trails and rough terrain was entirely new to me and utterly irresistible. I just had to have one.
The gleaming white of the Crotch Rockets the neighbor guy rode around must of matched the gleam of my moon eyes as I stared at the raddest bike I ever saw.
I desperately wanted the bike, but I was a bit hesitant and embarrassed about riding something called a Crotch Rocket to elementary school. I had already stirred up more attention than I ever cared for by wearing a Sex Wax t-shirt to school one day. Being a young boy, the name of the bike was also comical. Being an immature adult, it still is.
Jesusita and Tunnel were two of the first trails I ever rode a mountain bike down. I remember Tunnel being pretty brutal without suspension. I tried it once, as I recall, and then stuck to Jesusita.
I doubt many guys were rocketing down trails on those old bikes except for maybe smooth single tracks like Knapp’s Castle. Ball Buster Bicycles, Inc. would’ve been a more accurate brand name.
Here is a profile piece on Crotch Rocket mountain bikes published in a 1985 edition of Bicycle Guide magazine:
Jack Elliott's Santa Barbara Adventure 