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@Archie's_Grobags
Anybody who has even the remotest interest in Mountain biking owes it to themselves to watch this film!
I finally saw this film last night years after it was released and it's now one of my favourite cycling films ever!
Despite riding all kinds of bikes throughout my lifetime and having fun on all of them, it was the Mountain bike which stole my heart and gave me a reason to want to keep cycling at a time when i was becoming a little fed up of riding countless miles of road on most summer days with my family.
Don't get me wrong, i feel privileged to have been raised in a cycling environment and will always love my parents for that, but i was needing something more to keep me interested.
Enter the Mountain bike...i finally got my first one in 1986, still the early days by UK standards, and for the next 20 years or so i was hooked.
But back to the film...
Klunkerz is like the most fun history lesson you've ever had. It traces the mountain bike right back to the years before they were named Mountain bikes...it shows why and how they came to be and finally gives credit to all the people who truly deserve it.
There is no denying the fact that the Mountain bike has had a bigger effect on the cycle industry than any other bike.
From advances in materials used, to improvements in braking and shifting, ergonomics, etc...the speed with which the Mountain bike progressed has forced improvements on most types of bicycle.
Klunkerz shows more than any film i've seen before exactly why Mountain biking was so much fun...it was the bouncing around, the crashing, the feeling of riding over terrain that you'd never ridden on before, in places you'd never been able to ride before...the feeling of being able to cut loose and come home filthy and tired...messing about with friends on bikes in a way that seemed so much more relaxed.
In my opinion the guys and girls in Klunkerz did something which i sincerely doubt will ever happen again...they reinvented cycling for a lot of people...without even intending to.
Many of those involved went on to start some of the best known mountain bike companies in history...many remain some of the finest but little known craftsmen ever...many are simply forgotten legends who deserve more credit than they ever got.
Mountain biking is now a multi million pound industry and it has these guys to thank for it.
Sorry for waffling on again but This film reminded me of some of my happiest cycling memories and has given me a huge burst of inspiration to make more effort to re-live those feelings again.
If you manage to see it i hope you enjoy the film as much as i did.