Klunkerz
In the late 1960s to early 1970s, a group of counter-culture hippies and passionate bike racers created a whole new brand of cycling when they began riding their old, beat-up cruiser bikes down Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County, California.
The 2007 documentary "Klunkerz" tells the story about how this group of guys (and one woman - Wende Cragg) started riding and racing pre-WW2 fat-tire bikes through trails and fire roads near San Francisco.
This movie is a must-see for anyone interested in mountain biking. It contains great historical footage that makes you appreciate just how far the sport has come over the last 30 plus years.
Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze and Tom Ritchey - huge names in the mountain biking industry - all give insightful interviews explaining how the invention of the mountain bike wasn't a single lightbulb moment, but a slow evolution brought about by a need to create a bike tough enough to handle the rough terrain that they wanted to ride.
They raced down the mountain on old modified Schwinns with scavanged parts from local bike shops. The original bikes were big and klunky with only one speed and had to be walked up the slopes.
The movie discusses early innovations in braking & shifting, but the bigger story is about how this group of friends was just out having fun on the mountain and never really intended to create a movement within the cycling community.
Grassroots interest in the sport, eventually led Gary Fisher & Charlie Kelly to start a company called "Mountain Bikes" with frames made by Tom Ritchey. High demand for the bikes eventually inspired Specialized to create the Stumpjumper and the rest is history.
The movie is not perfect. Some of the edits are little jolting. There are times when they show a photo quickly, but then cut right back to the interviewee. It would have been nice to see the old photos and videos a little longer rather than the interviewees, which we have plenty of time to look at. Overall though, there wasn't too much to bitch about.
So before you head out with your full-suspension bike with with 27 speeds and hydraulic disk brakes you should watch this movie to appreciate what you have. "Klunkerz" is a movie that every serious mountain biker should watch at some point.
The Klunkerz Bike DVD
