I’m pretty happy with my Craigslist posting.

In 1984, during pre-production for “Beyond Thunderdome”, the prop crew was given the challenge of creating a post-apocalyptic bicycle for “Mad Max” Rockatansky. “Make it real post-apocalyptic”, said the director. This is what they came up with.

Unfortunately, things with the bike didn’t work out during filming. Max’s bullet injury from the first film made pedaling difficult, and the narrow tires sank into the sand. Also, during a chase scene with Lord Humongous on a flat-black Bottecchia, the director deemed their furious pedaling “kinda silly looking.”

Although the script called for a distopian gas-shortage future, studio executives made the decision to switch to great big cars with stuff welded to them in a futuristic manner. “It’ll sell more toys”, they said.

So this bike is kinda beat-up. It was not well looked-after. I don’t know if the previous thirty-five years ever saw this bike being cleaned. It used to be blue, then purple and orange. Maybe it was used by a clown. Most of the paint is chipped off. The top tube has been replaced. There are some dents. Sometimes this bike wakes up in the middle of the night screaming, and then when I ask it what it was dreaming about, it doesn’t want to talk about it. It’s had a hard life.

It’s a 55cm frame, so it’s good for anyone around 5’9″ or so.

The Bad:
Dent on the downtube near the headtube
Replaced toptube
Chipped paint
Ugly

The Good:
It’s light!
Look Carbon racing pedals that are neon pink and ugly
Sugino crank
Sugino bottom bracket
Normandy high-flange alloy hubs
Aluminum stem and handlebars
Favorite brake lever
Shimano Tourney brake caliper
New tires

UPDATE! A nice fellow from London named Ayman stopped by tonight and bought the bike. It turned out that he’s a friend of a teacher I know through Pratt. It’s on the small side for someone his height, but I think he’s looking for a bike with personality. I hope he has fun on this weird bike!