Harry Montague, an architect and co-founder of Montague Bikes died Feb. 2 of lymphoma at the age of 77. Harry designed his first full-size folding bike in the early 80's. Being a large man, he found the existing smaller folding bike designs too small for his liking. After being turned down by many bicycle manufacturers to make his bike, he and his son David started a business in 1987 to produce his bikes.
In 1997, the Montague business received a two-year grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Defense Department wanted the company to develop a rugged, heavy-duty mountain bike suitable for paratroopers. The bike had to be tough enough to handle terrain anywhere in the world and also be able to fit into parachute rigging. The result was the TENS, or Tactical Electric No Signature mountain bike. It used an electric motor that allowed the bike to move silently and was undetectable to most radar systems. The Montagues also developed a version of the bike without the electric motor called the Paratrooper. Many of them have been used in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 1999, Montague decided to start selling a civilian version of the Paratrooper which is available to this day. Montague also sells a line of folding bikes under the SwissBike brand. http://www.foldingcyclist.com/
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