What am I doing here?
What am I NOT doing here?
Both good questions. Not sure if I have good enough answers for you. But here goes.
My new obsession with Klunker bikes came from a need for simplicity in my life. And maybe a bit of whimsy too. I already loved bikes, but for the past four years I’ve been trucking around on a Surly Big Easy—a steel-framed long tail cargo e-bike with a Bosch motor.
I love it. But it’s the furthest thing from simplicity. (Maybe a little whimsical though.)
Through Surly, I discovered first the Lowside. I couldn’t explain why, but I was instantly drawn to this thing. It just screamed fun. Retro. Throwback to a time when riding bikes was the ultimate freedom.
No gears. No suspension. No fine tuning or custom fits. Just bunny hops and wheelies.
Now, I know the Lowside stretches the definition of what some would call a Klunker—it’s officially a “single speed mountain bike,” but it’s Klunker adjacent. It’s got that Klunker essence.
I didn’t buy it. Maybe it didn’t quite fit. But it also reminded me of a bike that caught my eye years back—the SE Big Ripper. I’d never seen a bike like that before and I thought it was so cool.
Again—not a Klunker per se. But in the KCU. (Klunker Cinematic Universe.)
And my research deepened. The Redline Monocog. The Priority Bikes Sauce. Some of the other “big BMX” bikes by Redline and SE. And Haro.
That’s when I found my Klunkerson. This was it. This is the bike I’d been looking for. God damnmit—even the marketing video was perfect.
But what’s in a name? Klunkerson? My hyperfixation continued… what is a Klunker?
I’ll get into that in a future post, for anyone still searching for a definition. In essence, they were the first mountain bikes.
Now, they’re almost a novelty bike… but not quite. A cruiser when you’re hitting the breweries. A BMX when there’s a bowl nearby. A mountain bike on the trails.
All of the above and none of the above. It’s a bike built for fun. A bike built for GenX’ers like me who watched flicks like Rad, and dreamed of owning a Hutch.
It’s a bike I can ride with my toddlers, and have fun alongside them. It’s a bike I can lock up outside a bar and not have to check on it every 10 minutes.
It’s a bike. And bikes are fun.
But as fun and relatively commonplace a Klunker is—there doesn’t seem to be anything more than an unofficial Reddit subthread and a few random articles.
Where is my Klunker community?
Maybe it’s here? I hope so. And that’s what I’m doing here.
Oh—and back to my second question… what am I NOT doing here?
I’m not trying to swoop in and steal something that’s not mine. I’m not trying to stuff this page full of Google ads and affiliate links. Honestly, I have a good job. I don’t see this as anything other than a creative outlet and a place for Klunkers like me to kill time.
If you’re reading this, welcome.
Let’s get into some analog bikes for a digital world!
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Anyone these days that is carrying on the Klunker bike hobby is not steeling it. You are only preserving kind of a forgotten bicycle history that most of the younger generation has no clue that it existed unless those little nippers visit the Marin bicycle museum. When you study American history does any school teach about the Klunker bike that gave birth to the mtb ? I think not even though the mtb is now all over the world as the automobile is. The Klunker bike has been around before the Kelly crew however the event they came up with on Mt. Tam made the whole idea explode. Sadly they put the Klunker bike in the rear view mirror and berried it. I get that those guys were going for the full on off road machine and that’s the sad point. Why? Let’s look at different types of motorcycles first. Ok you have the sport bike kind of a cafe street road racer. The Moto Cross bike that has played many roles in off road racing desert indoor flat track etc. Adventure bike kind of a long distance street off road machine and last the duel sport bike a Moto Cross bike that still has a touch of street bike DNA left in it. Now bicycles you got road / track bikes / gravel bikes / bmx bikes/dirt jumper bikes/mountain bikes/ free style/ beach cruisers/ and if you look at bicycle manufactures there many models to just walk into a store and walk out in those categories. Now the Klunker bike. Sadly it’s almost extinct. Why because nobody really knows what it is. What is it? If you look at the role it plays today if you compare it to a motor cycle the Klunker is the duel sport bike of the bicycle world. If you want a Klunker bike you have to practically dig a old Schwinn out of it’s grave and peace it together with vintage bmx parts and motorcycle handle bars. Now if you want a new off the shelf Klunker currently in production I only see two being the Haro Klunkerson and the State bike Klunker. I had a few nice mountain bikes but I just hated them in the end, and just gave them away I had zero fun on them. For me I have been riding motorcycles since I was ten and that goes as far back as 1968 and like a bicycle that feels like a motorcycle and that’s the Klunker bike. That was the original target /theme that this type of bike was born. Think about this the first motor cycles were born from the Klunker Worksman type bike if you look at the first motorcycles of the early days. So the two over lap. I often see a locals riding mtb on the street mostly they do not look like they are enjoying they’re ride much at all hunched over the handle bars and missing the sight of the whale migration on the ten mile long scenic bicycle path pushing radical dirt tires and bouncing up and down losing that forward momentum. Yep that looks like fun, wright ?When I pass these people in the comfortable neutral position flowing free at a brisk pace most of those riders look over with a wish I had one of those. In the end the Klunker bike is good on both street and dirt I said good not perfect. Look at this type of bikes history it’s done it all in style. The sheer utility of the Klunker bike will never be surpassed. The currant mountain bike should be best put to use on the trail whale watchers. So feel free to carry the torch Klunker junkies and just maybe some bike companies may take note that there is a need for some new middle of the road quality model bikes in the Klunker category. Like I said before and stand back and look at what a Klunker is we can just say that (Nothing Beets The Sheer Utility Of A Klunker Bike) and never will. Timeless.