Big Ring Adventure Team
Ride. Research. Report.
Blackspire Big Ring Bash Guard | Book Reviews | Bushnell Backtrack GPS | Cateye V3 Computer | Collective DVDs | Conti Speed Kings | Corona Folding Saw | CST Crusaders | D2 Custom Shoes | Finish Line Stanchion Lube | FSA Quick Releases | FSA XC-300 Wheelset | Garmin Edge 305 GPS | Hutchinson Fusion | Hutchinson Top Speed | Hydration Packs | Klunkerz DVD | Lezyne Compact Pumps | Maddux Explorer MTB Wheelset | Magicshine Headlamp | Minipods | Neuvation SL2 Road Wheelset | NiteRider Flight Headlamp | NiteRider Rebel 8 Computer | Oury MTB Grips | Panaracer Cinders | Panaracer Fire XC Pros | Park DAG-1 | Park DS-1 Digital Scale | Prestaflator | SRAM X9 MTB Kona Rebuild | Topeak Mini 18 & Alien | Topeak TSG-01 Digital Gauge | Vredestein Black Panthers | Wippermann Chain Wear Indicator
Klunkerz DVD
Custom Search
Tip: Be sure to enable ActiveX for our site if you want to take full advantage of Google features. Results of your Google searches will appear on the Search Results page.
Key Search Terms: Klunkerz DVD; MTB mountain bike history.
Please support our sponsors.
|
|
 Impact! Creative technical writing and photography entertains as it explains to make your message stick.
It's your story. Tell it well.
|
 Serving cyclists, runners, swimmers, skateboarders, and others with the best gear and the latest information.
For your active lifestyle.
|
Product: Klunkerz: A Film About Mountain Bikes. (Note that Amazon's modified subtitle is more descriptive: “A Film about the Development and Birth of Mountain Bikes.”) Reviewed by: Rich Ries. Cost: $27.99 MSRP; typical street/online pricing is $22 to $25. Recommended? Yes.
Executive Summary: Cinematically good; historically outstanding.
Ratings
(1 is lowest, 5 is highest)
|
Comments
|
Video
|
4
|
Current stuff is good but the historical footage is handled really well
|
Audio
|
5
|
Voices are clear throughout; levels are consistent
|
Music
|
3
|
Likeable but unremarkable
|
Bonus Material
|
2
|
Too, too much about Billy Savage who wrote, produced, and directed the film
|
Overall
|
4
|
If you have 5 bike DVDs, this one belongs there
|
Run Time, Feature
|
1:24
|
You can measure a mountain biker's fluency by the number of names from the sport that he or she can recite from memory. Gary Fisher? That's a gimme. Joe Breeze? Almost as easy. Tom Ritchey? You thought he was just a roadie, right? Charlie Kelly? Otis Guy? Now you're drilling a deeper well. How about Alan Bonds? How about J.F. Scott, who built his first mountain bike in the early `50s? How about Bob Burrowes and Fred Wolf and Russ Mahon and brothers Tom and Carter Cox? Well, they're all here in Klunkerz, along with footage of them in the early days of mountain biking.
Our sport didn't start on Mt. Tam with crazies riding Repack. In fact, that era lies near the middle of this story. There's much that comes before and much that comes after, and it's all carefully collected and displayed by Billy Savage. There are modern-day interviews with mountain biking's founders. There's a ton of vintage footage. True, it's not “vintage” in the sense that Hindenburg footage is vintage. But the early days of mountain biking weren't captured by news crews. Most of the footage comes from enthusiasts' home movies, much of it shot on Super 8 and lovingly transferred to this DVD. There are dozens of stills and old posters and magazine covers and other visuals. Every minute is rich with images. The music is appropriate and appropriately subdued. This is not a music video. It is a history video with a music bed.
To his credit Savage gives almost equal time to all the key interviewees. It wouldn't take too long to get too much of Gary Fisher, but by the time you're sick of his jazz patch and bravado Savage cuts to another interview subject. In fact the first time I watched Klunkerz I thought the cuts were too quick, the interviews too short. It seemed the only viewers who could keep up were those with the attention span of crack addicts. Subsequent viewings revealed the continuity, however, and the while the film isn't quite seamless, it does flow better than I first thought.
The special features aren't that special. Mostly it's Savage prattling on about his experience making the film. Hey, Billy, I didn't buy your bio. Can't you give us special features related to the subject of the film? Pointing out the parts on a couple of klunkers in one brief segment doesn't make up for the lack of substance in the others.
But you won't buy Klunkerz for the special features. You'll buy it to own the first authoritative, comprehensive, visually compelling history of the early days of mountain biking. And you won't be disappointed.
Here's the cover.
The film has lots and lots of archival still shots.
Gary Fisher descending Repack on a klunker.
Tom Ritchey is one of the many key persons from mountain biking's early days who shares his story in Klunkerz.