Suite101 had the pleasure of doing an e-interview with Billy and asked him what inspired him to make the Klunkerz film.
Billy Savage and his Connection to the Klunker Scene
Suite101: Were you involved in the klunker scene?
Billy: “I was only 12 when the first Repack races took place. I moved to Marin from Southern California in the seventies and lived north of Fairfax with really cool places to ride in the hills surrounding the town. My friends and I were younger and smaller so we spent our days pushing our 20" BMX bikes up the fire roads.
Once Gary and Charlie starting building those mountain bikes, everybody wanted one, but they were so expensive. It wasn't until my senior year in High School that I got a mountain bike, an early Specialized Stumpjumper. Growing up in Marin, you couldn't help but hear what was happening in the hills outside of Fairfax, and it sounded really fun. Once it really broke out, everybody thought of these guys as hometown heroes.”
Suite101: So your early childhood was the catalyst for the film?
Billy: “The urge to make this film really hit home when a business associate, one of the producers on DogTown and Z- Boys, invited me to a screening of the film. I'm an old skater and the film really resonated with me. I was riding mountain bikes a lot at the time, so I started doing a little research. I didn't start shooting for another three years, but the seeds were planted at that screening.
I started purchasing every book that had a mention of mountain bikes in it and I read all the history I could find. I made a timeline slowly filling in the details. The obsession built slowly at first, but then the ideas started coming faster.
I'd worked on a few films, but I hadn't directed anything myself since film school. I started thinking about what would be necessary to actually make it happen. I knew it would have to be a different kind of film than DogTown, since there wasn't going to be much archival footage. I knew the images were going to be key and difficult to find. I thought a lot about the locations, and how I could make Marin a character in the story.
Northern California in the 1970’s was vastly different than Venice was at that time. Marin was magical and pristine, where the Redwood trees met the rugged coast. I wanted to be able to show that in some way. I finally figured out that I wanted to make a love letter about my magical childhood in Marin.”
Financing the Mountain Bike Film Klunkerz
Suite101: How did you raise funding for the movie?
Billy: “Money was a concern. I wanted to make a personal film, so I knew I wasn't going to be able to secure corporate sponsorship. Plus, there wasn't a lot of room in my idea for product placement. I wanted autonomy, and the only way to get that is to put up the money your self. I thought if I made a great film, I could go back to those companies and they might want to partner with me in the end.
I did some more research on the DogTown documentary and found that more than half a million dollars went to the music licenses on famous rock acts which are a big part of the film. I wanted something different so I went with American Roots, Bluegrass, banjos and mandolins. There's a lot of the San Francisco hippie feeling in my film, but it's all related to the storyline.”
Suite101: So Dogtown was a huge influence?
Billy: “Most of the soundtrack was recorded in Marin by local musicians and the genres of music I chose went well with my whole concept of the early mountain bikers as rough and tumble cowboys on iron horses. A lot of the decisions I made with regard to music and editing had to do with trying to make everything different from DogTown, but it was obviously a huge influence. I knew that, no matter what I did to make it different, if my film was successful these two films would be compared to one another.
The skateboarders in DogTown didn't invent skateboarding, skateboards, trucks or wheels, they just rode them really well. The off-road cycling pioneers didn't just ride the bikes, they modified them to suit their needs and, eventually, built them from the ground up. They were hardcore athletes, designers, and engineers. In time, they changed the global perception of what a bicycle could be. I knew there was a great story to be told.”
In the second part of our interview with Billy Savage, find out how he got hold of the footage which makes the film so special.
Grab a copy of the mountain bike movie Klunkerz.
Related Articles
See our Review of Film Documentary Klunkerz plus our article on How Mountain Biking was Invented
Helen Smeaton - Helen Smeaton runs a cycling and hiking business and is also a freelance writer and web designer. Read her profile for more information
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