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I just finished watching the movie Klunkerz, a documentary on the history of mountain bikes. Basically it covers how the sport was started by a group of California Bay Area hippies who were looking for an alternative to the road riding that was so popular at the time. Using 1940’s heavy cruiser bikes, they road them down the fire roads of Mt. Tam in Marin county. It was basically some old footage of these rides combined with interviews of all the prinipals involved, Joe Breeze, Gary Fisher, Tom Ritchey, etc, etc. It was interesting to see how the bikes developed as the rides looked for that extra edge to get them down the mountain faster once they started having races. They spoke about the early business ventures between frame builders and how the demand exploded. It culminates with Specialized bringing the first production mountain bike to market in 1981.
I’d recommend this documentary to anyone who wants to learn the origin of the sport we love so much. I will say it’s a little on the dull side as it’s mostly the forebearers talking about the early days. It does make you appreciate what these guys did on old, heavy, no front brake bikes. Disc brakes and full suspension are things they couldn’t have dreamed of in the late 70’s.
I got it from Netflix, give it a watch, and share your thoughts. -
Jeff did a couple of blog write ups on this film a little while back that you may be interested in.
[url:1tdvjg04]http://www.singletracks.com/blog/uncategorized/klunkerz-the-film-about-mountain-bikes/[/url:1tdvjg04]
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