 The next year , he relocated to some disused buildings on his parents ' farm in San Martin , California that had previously been used for dehydrating prunes . In 1977 , he patented use of large diameter aluminum alloy tubes to increase stiffness , and in 1980 , he moved from San Jose , California , to Chehalis , Washington . He started production runs of road bicycles in the early 1980s and mountain bikes in the mid 1980s . 
