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Here's some excerpts from my discussions w/ Steve Lyttelton. Hi Steve, First of all, let me thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and shedding some light on Navajo Racing Products. Navajo was started in 1983 by my dad, Tom Lyttleton in Tempe AZ. He originally purchased Blazer which was owned by David Gerston. David was an exceptional welder and fabricator for all things, he could figure out all the technical stuff in his head instantly. The bikes were awesome and still till this day I ride my Navajo Pro along with my boys. We even hit the local track here in Houston from time to time. Navajo manufactured a mini, pro and cruiser frame. Plus we also made forks and a few different types of handlebars. We supported a small factory team that even had members of the Navajo Nation. The company ended up folding a few years later, but it was a lot of fun while it lasted. Judging by the similarities between Blazer & Navajo frames, I kind of had a feeling David Gerston had a hand in Navajo, but I never knew to what extent. When the company began, was David handling manufacturing duties or was it simply that he sold all the designs, jigs & tooling to your father? When my father moved from Cincinnati to Arizona, we became real close with Merl Mennenga (Founder & President of the ABA) and through Merl, was how we ended up meeting David. I may have mistakenly indicated that we purchased Blazer from David, but mainly it was just the physical assets and such (tubing, jigs and tooling). Even though we had our share of input, David remained on to do all the design and manufacturing for Navajo. He was a great technician and an incredibly hard worker.” Blazer never developed a fork when they were in operation, so I was wondering if you could possibly share how the Navajo fork came about. Also while we're on the subject, another Arizona company (Harborlite) had a fork that was almost identical, but instead of the typical Navajo solid drop-outs, the Harborlite ‘sew-up’ fork had a small half circle in the drops. Was it possible that Navajo manufactured these for Bicycle Harbor? I believe David was solely responsible for the development of the Navajo fork and you’re also correct that we manufactured forks for Bicycle Harbor/Harborlite. We might have even manufactured some handlebars for them as well. (I've copied my father to this email so he could correct me if I’m wrong) Near the end, when it started to become difficult to support company operations, we attempted to contract manufacturing through GT. Everything was beginning to look on the up side, but ultimately Gary Turner turned out be untrustworthy in the end! Without the GT deal we just couldn't continue on with the brand.” Harborlite Sew-up Mini Fork (Pics courtesy of Seadooit) Navajo Cruiser (Pics courtesy of Ray Beard)
