Repack Rider
Senior Retro Guru
I had an exchange of emails with Emma Haskins, a presenter (apparently) at the BBC. The Beeb had a crew in the area and wanted to spend a day in Fairfax absorbing every scrap of MTB lore you can find in a few hours. I looked up Emma online and was looking forward to meeting her, but it was two guys named Rob who showed up.
They wanted me and Joe Breeze "in character," i.e. jeans, boots, work shirts, soft caps and old bikes. All Joe had to do was drag out an original Breezer bike, but I don't have anything left from that era. Joe directed me to a friend who had one of the old bikes, and I borrowed it for the shoot.
This bike was used in the post-klunker era as a town bike by a woman, which explains the short seatpost and the woman's saddle. The brakes are a 70mm Sturmey rear drum and Schwinn cantilever fronts. Although it looks the part, it was not built heavy-duty enough for Repack use, with these wimpy brakes and levers. It has one concession to modern components, in the set of Ukai 2.125 alloy rims replacing the original Schwinn S-2 steel rims.
Before returning the bike, I took a few pics for the forum. And looking at them, I realized that this is the same bike whose photo I found lounging, unexplained, in an old file.
Here is the old photo, taken around 1978. This is obviously an Alan Bonds creation.
Don't get me started on the film shoot.
Okay, but not in this post. It's long enough already.
They wanted me and Joe Breeze "in character," i.e. jeans, boots, work shirts, soft caps and old bikes. All Joe had to do was drag out an original Breezer bike, but I don't have anything left from that era. Joe directed me to a friend who had one of the old bikes, and I borrowed it for the shoot.
This bike was used in the post-klunker era as a town bike by a woman, which explains the short seatpost and the woman's saddle. The brakes are a 70mm Sturmey rear drum and Schwinn cantilever fronts. Although it looks the part, it was not built heavy-duty enough for Repack use, with these wimpy brakes and levers. It has one concession to modern components, in the set of Ukai 2.125 alloy rims replacing the original Schwinn S-2 steel rims.
Before returning the bike, I took a few pics for the forum. And looking at them, I realized that this is the same bike whose photo I found lounging, unexplained, in an old file.
Here is the old photo, taken around 1978. This is obviously an Alan Bonds creation.
Don't get me started on the film shoot.
Okay, but not in this post. It's long enough already.
