DVD Review - Klunkerz
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It's not something you should watch by yourself. Klunkerz, the independently written and produced DVD by fat-tire aficionado Billy Savage, recounts mountain biking's California days in the 1970s and takes you there so vividly - with tons of footage, still photos, and interviews with a bunch of guys (and a couple of girls) who drank beer, smoked pot and then got on their damned bikes - that you and your friends will want to join in.
A few of us gathered to watch Savage's flick one Friday night and while we didn't light up, we did crack a few beers for the occasion. Finally on disk, Klunkerz has sold out theatres, won awards, and no doubt brought tears to a few MTBers' eyes as it screened in the film, bike, and sport circuits.
Filmmaker Savage demonstrates a genuine knowledge of the bikes, and rapport with the people who first dragged their heavy 1940s and 50s-era Schwinns up a San Francisco-area mountain for kicks. Not only do many of the Mount Tamalpais riders - Joe Breeze, Gary Fisher, Tom Ritchey et al. - do plenty of screen time, but they share their stories and video footage with him in a way that feels trusted and intimate.
The film lingers on the stuff we riders love: the bikes, the parties and the trails that made Marin County famous. You see the 1.8 miles of fire road that the riders ate up (or that ate them up, as injuries were frequent), the grease smoke coming off the hubs, and the keg parties that fuelled the whole thing.
The editing is so sharp that the riders practically finish each others' sentences. You get a real sense of their excitement and it's hard not to catch a contact high. Our gang was stoked, and we were reminded that at mountain biking's roots, it's not suspension and hydraulics but fun and friends.
Visit the Klunkerz web site at www.klunkerz.com to chat with Savage and order your own copy. For more information on the early days of mountain biking, I recommend www.mtnbikehalloffame.com.
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