If I told you to stash your modern full suspension 29’er with 170mm travel, hydraulic disc brakes, dropper post and electric shifting in the back of the shed, and handed you an old curved lump of steel, weighing in at around 40 to 50 pounds, while egging you on to take it out unto the trails, would you do it? Probably not. And why should you?
One of my recent joys in the world of biking has been to practice, the perhaps oldest form of cycling: underbiking. If you’re unfamiliar with that term, it can be summed up like this: riding a bicycle on challenging terrain that it wasn’t designed for. Obviously that’s a slightly ridiculous statement as the invention of the bicycle predates paved roads, and they probably all used to do a fair bit of off-road riding – if anything it might have been the primary type of riding.
My fascination with older off-road bikes used to be satisfied by building up 90’s mountain bike frames from time to time, but recently I wanted to try something new (and very old). As a result I recently realised my dream of building a ‘klunker’. Basically an old beach cruiser frame converted for off-road use by putting on knobbly tyres and a set of cruiser or MX bars. It’s still got the coaster brake on and everything, and as of now it’s set up as a single speed. The frame I used is a Schwinn Cruiser, but not a Chicago Schwinn, it’s one of the later European ones (late 80’s), made in Hungary. It’s a proper lump though, so still true to its forebears,.. I can’t park it near the harbour for fear that the local sailors may nick it as a boat anchor replacement.
Now, with that rather discouraging introduction, why do I want you to take this heavy ol’ boy to the woods? Well, mainly because I think cycling is about having fun and being able to experience the outdoors in as many different ways as possible. On a modern 29’er, with all the modern thingymajigs and thingymabobs, you can breeze through incredibly challenging and rugged terrains with ease, and as with everything to do with ‘modern mountain bikes’, speed is king. Now I’m not saying that the early mountain bikes weren’t designed with that in mind, because they were – fast was king back then too. But that’s exactly why I want you to try hucking a lump of pig iron around the woods. Because fast back then isn’t fast now.
These modest old machines are a chance to slow down and appreciate your surroundings, to be attentive, to feel every bit of the trail in front of you. And there’s no shame in getting off when a climb is ahead, it’ll allow you a bit of a breather and you can take a look around you. Chances are you haven’t actually appreciated the woods in a long time – because your mind was elsewhere. On a barebones bicycle, like an old coaster braked cruiser, you’re at the mercy of the landscape in front of you. It’s humbling and it’s exciting at the same time, because even the most timid sections of singletrack, or a fireroad, can provide a challenge.
Not to mention the beauty of simplicity that you get with a bike like this. It isn’t be a showpiece, it doesn’t need fancy anything, it’s a flathead screwdriver and a hammer kind of job. You don’t have to worry about the paintjob, covering it in sticky helicopter tape while neurotically checking for scratches. You don’t have to adjust anything because everything ‘just about’ works. Even if it doesn’t work, you just make do! You’ll hate your knees going uphill, you’ll never find a comfortable footing for bumpy sections where the coaster brake won’t do your nut in, but once you get to the crest of the hill, all your woes will be forgotten, as that lardy old boy soars to the bottom – with or without you.
If none of this is enough encouragement to get you out klunking, then perhaps I can entice you by explaining to you just how cool you’ll look. Check this out:
If the prospect of looking like a rugged mountain man or woman, dressed up in plaid shirts, jeans, and the obligatory pair of leather boots isn’t enough for you – then I don’t know what to say. You’re a lost cause.
And on a final note, some of you may be reading this, thinking to themselves: ‘Hold on a hot minute, he’s saying that his cruiser with plush 2.0″ tyres is an example of underbiking’. Well, in this day and age of plus sized tyres and suspension so capable that a rock garden feels like a cluster of pebbles, I’d say it is a form of underbiking to be riding an old heavy boat anchor with nothing but a coaster brake and a 12 pack in your bloodstream. Modern off-road bicycles are capable of feats that could only have been dreamt of 40-ish years ago when the first ‘mountain bike’ was born, and therefor a converted Schwinn Cruiser fits perfectly under the umbrella of the term ‘underbiking’. Even if it’s on 2.0 knobbly tyres.
But if you want the real gorgonzola of underbiking, I’d recommend doing what people did for ages – take your old road bike into the woods and up into the mountains. It’ll be fine. You could even, if you fancy, go ahead and build yourself a ‘Tracker’. In Britain there weren’t really ‘klunkers’ back in the Pre-MTB days, but that didn’t mean they didn’t do off-road riding. You’ll find many examples of old road bikes kitted with MC bars and as fat a tyre as the frame allowed. The result is a British ‘Tracker’ bike, a European predecessor to the early commercial Mountain Bike scene.
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