Klunkerz: A Film About Mountain Bikes
Directed by Billy Savage
Pumelo Pictures
Official site: Klunkerz.com
Klunkerz Director Billy Savage. Image courtesy Klunkerz film website
Overall Impression: 7/10
Pumelo Pictures were kind enough to provide us with a review copy of Klunkerz, their documentary about the orgins of the modern mountain bike, recently. I watched Klunkerz with my wife, who (thankfully!) takes a passing interest in bike culture.
At its heart, Klunkerz contains interviews with around a dozen of the luminaries behind the early mountain bike scene in Marin County, California. No less than some of the biggest names in cycling are featured, including Tom Ritchey, Joe Breeze and Gary Fisher. This up close and personal access to these bike luminaries is the best thing about Klunkerz.
The personalities, along with their conflicts and bonds through shared experiences, are what really drives the story in Klunkerz. Without giving away too much, it is in fact the increasing popularity of mountain bikes that these individuals helped create that drives some interesting discord later on. Some of what is revealed explains how, even though modern mountain bikes were conceived in northern California, asian manufacturers quickly became the main source for mountain-style bikes.
There are some things about the film that weren’t fantastic – production quality is fairly low, and some sections are slow and repetitive. Klunkerz is really quite short as well, coming in at a bit under 90 minutes. However, the film contains some terrific vintage film of early mountain bikes along with a huge amount of insight into the origin and development of the bikes themselves.
Overall, I really enjoyed Klunkerz and would absolutely recommend it to anyone interested in mountain biking or bike industry figures. If you would like to get a copy yourself, visit the official film site at Klunkerz.com.
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on Jan 22nd, 2010 at 7:50 pm
Yay, this one is my favorite!!! I love it!