MacKlunker - SATURDAY 5th MAY, Postponed...

velomaniac

MacRetro Rider
The MacKlunker

Assemble at the forest entrance beside the Innerleithen Golf Club car park (Not in the carpark, might upset the golfers) at roughly 1030 on Saturday 5th of May so we can push our steeds to the top of the hill and then collapse, have a snack/fag/whatever. When we've stopped gasping our last and got it together we can begin riding down a steep forest road from near the top of Kirnie Law above Innerleithen to the bottom near the golf course in an old school DH TT format.

Prizes for those on Klunkers (bikes not originally designed for mtb use) but anyone else on anything else is welcome to take part and have a laugh.

This is just for laughs, nothing serious and any injuries sustained are your own fault though everyone will rally around to help extract you from the trees/ditch/whatever and cart your remains to someone sensible.

After one run down we can decide if we want to do it again or quit and go home or head along to Glentress to play about a bit and of course eat tea and cake.

So.................. Be There or Dont !!!!!!!
 
It turns out I've still got my klunker from back in the day.

I was visiting my mum last week and she was moaning that her shed is falling to bits and she'll need to get it pulled down. And then she said "and your bike is still behind it where your dad put it as it was taking up shed space."

It's a 1970's Puch Free Spirit tourer that I put the nobbliest touring tyres I could find on and cowhorn handlebars. Stem mounted shifters as well so none of that trying to use tube shifters off road and falling off.

It might be a bit rusty now though, and I sprayed it Ford metallic bronze apart from the chromed fork lowers.

In my defence I was about 14 and it was still the 70's.

I'm going down there later on, I might try and fight my way through several years of hedge growth as it's been there since I left home in about 1984.
 
Excellent Taz thats the spirit.
I have my 1950's Rudge but its currently a fixie. I do however have a coaster hub waiting to be built into a wheel, building a wheel for me is indeed a challenge ;)
C'mon guys, you know you want to ;)
 
Sounds like fun but another bike build would without doubt make me a single man, and I've pushed that particular envelope as far as I'm willing to!
 
Rumble, just make the tandem a wee bit more off roady and ditch the pillion seat/bars in an effort to shed weight. With that wheelbase it'd be good in a straight line :LOL:

Alternatively hide your klunker build at mine, i've got loads of shed space ;)
 
It says a lot about me and the place I'm at with bikes just now that both of those plans are sounding at least a bit feasible!
 
Can anyone think of a good long landrover track style descent with maybe a few corners and a loosish surface.
Only one that springs to mind is from the radio mast at GT down to the free ride area then down to the squirrel car park. Its steep and fast but has only a couple of corners.

Mind you Spooky wood isn't overly technical and at its base you could ride the timber track back to the blue climb timber track then follow that right down to the squirrel.

Maybe not repack level but with in the realm of klunker capability.

One for the spring maybe ;)
 
Reminds me of back in the day (70's) when we used to ride from Ennerdale to Wasdale Head and back to Ennerdale over the Black Sale Pass... The Forestry Roads coming back down the side of Ennerdale weren't as much fun as expected - combination of buckled rims and shagged caliper brakes. Standard (road) bikes and most aggressive tyres we could find. Then a visit to the bike shop to have wheels repaired. We didn't know any better back then... To be in true spirit surely it should be Sturmey Archer hubs at best and road wheels?
 
Thats the idea, for fire roads knobblies are not really needed.
Thought it would be fun to approach the whole mtb idea from the same sort of direction as our californian comrades. Put your 70's head on, remember back to when you'd never heard of mtb's and then think how can I make a tough off road bicycle ;)
Raleighs Bomber is an early sort of flirtation with the idea. :cool:
 

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