SHOW US YOUR KLUNKERZ

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My daughters buke is a Schwinn allum. frame I retrieved from the trash, built it into a "city," bike.

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I have added fenders, new tires, and a couple little things. The bike is light, the rapid fire is the way to go for bar shifters, the brakes work great, and it rides like the old "Homegrown," bikes of the past.
 
My straightbar Schwinn, Felt wide wheels with brown Quick Brick tires, 3 Speed Sturmey Archer rear hub with coaster brake.

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mikeeebikey said:
My Nishiki "donor card punched," rider. Donated the parts groupo, Deore LX rapid fire to my daughters bike, this one got leftovers;
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Imagine my suprise when my best friend called me from Cally to remind me what exactly a "KLUNKER," is...........I'm such a nerd.
 
Here's my best friends, KLUNKER;
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He owned it for years before I swiped it from him, I added the cranks, bars, and springer for him, gave it back on his birthday.
 
mikeeebikey said:
Imagine my suprise when my best friend called me from Cally to remind me what exactly a "KLUNKER," is...........I'm such a nerd.
This brings up an opp for me to ask a question. Most of the Klunkers I see pics of have gears. The one I built in '79, rode downhill in Colorado Springs while stationed with the 4th ID, and have always thought of as a Klunker, is a single speed coaster brake Schwinn canti. I did have a drum brake on the front in a Worksman rim but no gears out back. I pretty much just pushed it back up the hills in order to go barrelling back down for another run. So, without gears, is it a Klunker? As soon as I lace my new 3 spd hub into the back rim I'll take pics. I still have it. And I hear the Cook Brothers handlebars that are still on it are worth some bucks now!
 
Pudge said:
mikeeebikey said:
Imagine my suprise when my best friend called me from Cally to remind me what exactly a "KLUNKER," is...........I'm such a nerd.
This brings up an opp for me to ask a question. Most of the Klunkers I see pics of have gears. The one I built in '79, rode downhill in Colorado Springs while stationed with the 4th ID, and have always thought of as a Klunker, is a single speed coaster brake Schwinn canti. I did have a drum brake on the front in a Worksman rim but no gears out back. I pretty much just pushed it back up the hills in order to go barrelling back down for another run. So, without gears, is it a Klunker? As soon as I lace my new 3 spd hub into the back rim I'll take pics. I still have it. And I hear the Cook Brothers handlebars that are still on it are worth some bucks now!

You have Cook Bros. bars!!!!
My friends clunker is from Gunnison Colorado, he told me they'd ride down the hill into town and have to dip the back wheel into water to cool the coaster brake hub down.
He says, "Klunkers are the heavy duty frame, coaster brake, and have a single saddle, no bananna seat."
So no gear??? Maybe we should vote!
You don't happen to have a Champion cruiser frame laying around do you??? Because Tim would trade me for one his many many bikes...
 
Watch the movie; they go into the difference between a "bomber" (cb only), a "klunker" (front drums or rim brakes), and a "hybrid" (old cruiser with a lot of upgrades including derailer gears, etc). You can find the same basic definitions on the Alan Bonds site. http://www.clunkers.net/history.html Basically, the first 2 paragraphs. As I see it, any american-style cruiser adapted to off-road fits under the umbrella of "klunker", kind of like how ska, rock-steady, roots, dub, dancehall, etc is all "reggae" to me.

Obviously, these are subjective terms, and many folks might see it differently than other folks. Whatever. This is waaaaaaaaaay late in the game to be trying to define it all, as far as this thread goes. There are a lot of bikes featured here that don't fit even my fairly liberal definition of "klunker", but it doesn't bother me one bit. I'm just glad that so many ppl are interested in this type of riding.

My klunkiest rig is a worksman INB with front/rear drums, 1 speed, and some bmx pieces. I'm working on a fixed gear version of the same frame with a front disc; prolly ride it to pubs and in the NJ pines. These are new (<10years old) frames with mostly new parts; many would say they don't qualify as klunkers, but they're built in the same spirit, with an added dose of nostalgia. (Let's not forget: in the 70s, a "klunker" was a cutting-edge off-road machine; those guys would've been all over today's modern mtn bikes, had they been available then.)
 
This is waaaaaaaaaay late in the game to be trying to define it all, as far as this thread goes.


Yes but i was posting spaceships.........

Some extremely cool bikes on this site, knowledgable people, I keep learning stuff I forgot.
 
B808, thanks much for the perfectly adequate explanation on bombers/klunkers/hybrids. I think I'll put my Schwinn frame with Worksman rims (drum brake off a Worksman tandem up front) and coaster hub out back in the hybrid category. All I know is I built it decades before I even knew what a klunker or bomber was! To me it was just a cool bike I felt was bulletproof.

I appreciate the link to the website too and I'll definitely check it out. Charlie Kelly's Mountain Bike site has some pretty cool stuff too. Worth looking at. I want to make it clear - I am by no means trying to put myself on their level of downhill cycling. I was just a beach kid who couldn't part with his beach cruiser when Uncle Sam moved him to Fort Carson, CO. and adapted it to the elements.

Mikeee, nope, no frames or parts for sale here. Sorry, but regarding this addiction I'm the user not the pusher! I can't bring myself to part with any bike part I've acquired that is worth enough to sell instead of giving away to someone I know in need. Hope that makes sense.

Deorman, I was always learned that subjective adnouns ended in -ly? :oops: Fairfax always had better schools than ours down here in Va.Bch!
 
deorman said:
:? Ok, it's a derivative. :roll: :oops: :lol:
Of course it is! :roll: Assuming you mean a derivative of the past tense participle and not a dangling gerund phrase. :lol:
 
Certainly there was a formula and AB's website explains it very well. If you start to geek out on it too much you can even see how the formula changes through the 70's as the riders determined what worked best. The early bombers giving way to the hybrids that could actually be ridden up the hill. First old balloon bikes with road bike parts grafted on. By the late 70's the BMX cruisers appeared supporting a wonderful new source for parts. With the BMX 26'ers came aluminum rims from Ukai and Araya. A huge improvement in weight savings and stopping power. In steps Joe Breeze with his now famous first mountain bike specific frame. Followed closely by Tom Ritchey at Gary Fishers/Charlie Kelley's request. Mike Synard got on board and by 1983 there were Mountain bikes for the masses. Before 1981 the odds were you had to live in Ca. and drop a lot of money for a custom built mountain bike ($1500 +/-). This changed a little in 81/82 when Synard imported about 1000 bikes that could be had for the reasonable price of $750. In 1983 Synard imported 40,000 Stumpjumper Sports that could be had for the low low price of $499.
So unless you were ready to drop some big bucks and lived in Ca. , I think the Klunker phase was going strong until 1983. After all how many of us in the early 80's were actually willing to pay $1500+/- or even $750 for a new bike to ride in the dirt.

Kinda a brief paragraph skipping a lot of other tangents like Jeffery Richmond, the Koskis, Lawwill, VVA, etc... but I tried to keep things short.

If you look at old video and pictures of these vintage rides, one thing is for certain. People were riding what they had and everything from road bikes, balloon tired bikes, to kids stingrays were being used.

Ride what you got, if it breaks, oh well.

A few of my early Mtn bikes mostly posted here before. Some complete most not:

Project 39 Schwinn. This will be completed with pre 1980 parts Tandem drum hubs:

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Schwinn DX with a mishmash of road, motorcycle, and BMX parts:

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1979 BMX cruiser converted to Mtb. This frame could be had for $350 bitd. Th rest was up to your imagination:

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1981 Ritchey Everest. Hand built frame. Certainly one of the first Mtb. specific bikes ever made. Still a mishmash of road and BMX parts:

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1983 Mountain Goat. The first year Shimano and Suntour came out with MTB specific components. Formula established for mass production MTB's. "Klunkers step out stage left". Bike at time of pickup, now collecting proper parts :

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41DX said:
....Ride what you got, if it breaks, oh well.

A few of my early Mtn bikes mostly posted here before. Some complete most not:...

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41dx, the pics of your bikes and your thoughts on this type of riding is pretty awesome. Thanks. I am super envious of your Goat.

-rob
 
58 Huffman
Kenny
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Bicycle808 said:
41DX said:
....Ride what you got, if it breaks, oh well.

A few of my early Mtn bikes mostly posted here before. Some complete most not:...

[/img]

41dx, the pics of your bikes and your thoughts on this type of riding is pretty awesome. Thanks. I am super envious of your Goat.

-rob

Thanks Rob. My bike passion is certainly that early transisition period from klunker to Mtb's. Someday I hope to have some complete good examples of mountain riding bikes from the mid 70's to the onset of the mass produced asian frames that appeared in 1983. Almost there, still need to find a good Pro Cruiser and finish a few of the bikes in the garage. Currently working on the Everest and waiting for wheels and proper handlebars (wish me luck) for the Mtn. Goat.

Current project. Spent the weekend working on this. Hope to have it ready to ride before the first of March:

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