JOHN FINLEY SCOTT

[Rat Rod]

Got this email from Billy Savage....writer/producer/director of the movie "Klunkerz."


Hey Fellow Cyclists,

I created a short tribute film for the MTB Hall of Fame induction of
the late-great John Finley Scott at InterBike this year. For those of
you that don't know about this amazing man, he built the first multi-
geared, fat-tired, 'mountain bike' in the United States, way back in
1953, a good 20 years before Gary Fisher and the guys in Marin. He
also put up the money for Gary Fisher's fledgling MountainBikes
company in 1979. He was a tireless advocate of all things cycling and
a U.C. Davis professor. He was murdered in 2006, shortly after I
interviewed him for my film KLUNKERZ. If you weren't there in Las
Vegas this year, you you can see some of the film here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHWo_h1nBx4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jas0ZgyyKGQ

 

[Rat Rod]

And the sad story of John's murder.

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/450459.html

 

[user 135]

I havent' seen Klunkerz yet but have seen and read about him before. Here is a pic of his Woodsie Bike -from http://bicycledesign.blogspot.com/2008/ ... -time.html

and original drawing/spec. sheet.

 

[Rat Rod]

Okay Clancy...bout time you sold some parts and bought that DVD.

You'd love it.

 

[user 135]

Wanna buy some Drum brakes? My Klunker is in parts.

 

[klunker]

Wanna buy some Drum brakes? My Klunker is in parts.

how much?

 

[OUTLAW]

i have heard of him before.i started mountain biking in 1953. we just used to ride the trails on our single speeds, old ballon bikes, what a kick. so this whole thinf of mtb was way before they did it in cal. we just didn't know it, haveing too much fun back then.

Outlaw 8)

 

[klunkerbill]

John Finley Scott was an avid cyclist who made his first multiple gear off-road Klunker in 1953. He called it a 'Woodsie' bike. It was in that same year he designed a lightweight, multiple gear, cross-country bike using 'fibreglass' for the frameset. In the 1970s he wrote legislation in California for bicycles to be recognized as 'vehicles' on American roads. He had a great deal to do with the rights and privileges of 'Vehicular Cycling' in the United States. In 1979 he put up the seed money for a little company called MountainBikes for a punk by the name of Gary Fisher. He had the coolest bike shop in the San Francisco Bay Area (The Cupertino Bike Shop). He was a Professor at U.C. Davis. He was the chairman of the Davis Double Century race. He had a really cool English double decker bus that was tricked out with a huge turbo Cummins diesel and was outfitted to carry 25 cyclists, bicycles, and support gear. He used this bus to take the Marin County Pioneers (Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze, etc.) to the first 'major' off-road race in California (Victor Vincente's Reseda to the Sea). I had the opportunity to interview Professor Scott for my film 'Klunkerz'. He was murdered by a crazed madman shortly thereafter. I made a film,'Finley', for his induction into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame at the InterBike convention in Las Vegas last week. Here are 2 clips from that film if you're interested. I'm going to enter the film, in it's entirety, to a couple of film festivals, so I didn't want to put it all out there.

Ride on,
Billy Savage
writer/producer/director
KLUNKERZ
http://www.klunkerz.com

P.S. RatRodBikes rock! Thanks for keeping the dream alive.

Finley #1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHWo_h1nBx4
Finley #2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jas0ZgyyKGQ

 

[klunker]

great short clips Billy! what a great guy he was!