I picked up that movie from Best Buy a few years ago for a few bucks. I love to watch it about every 6 months. It and Breaking Away. I never really got into Quick Silver.

I read some trivia about American Flyers where they said that Kevin Costner insisted on wearing his socks up high because he felt his calves are too skinny. Check out his sweet tube socks the next time you watch it.

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"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country" JFK - Replace 'country' with the company you work for, friends, family, and strangers and the world will be a much better place.

You know, that's a cheesy movie, probably not Costner's best work, but I swear, I watched that movie all the time when I was riding back in the 80's. Bought the DVD a couple years back for $5.99.

The rival reminds me of Ted Danson, and the Russian looks more like a lumber jack than a cyclist. Seeing Robert Townsend as a 7/11 cyclist kills me ever time.

"the Russian looks more like a lumber jack than a cyclist."

A big fat lumberjack at that. I hate that movie.

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

funny thing is, if you stick around until the credits roll around, that russian guy is 'the' cyclist oof the bunch...almost all of the details that involved cycling have his name beside them. Hate it or love it getting a sneak peek at Alexandra Paul was worth buying the video alone.

On Costner's race jersey there is a little butterfly, what company used a butterfly as its logo?

Dave in VA

Shaver Sport. I don't think they're around any more. The company emerged about the same time as the movie.

As to the "a lot has changed in 20 years" comment (I know, not from the post I'm actually replying to)... Not the racing. There were many race-related things that were just so not-true in there.

The cameo of Eddy Mercks is funny though.

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Some are born to move the world to live their fantasies...

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Thank you for visiting the ShaverSport cyclewear website, which is currently under construction. I am pleased to announce that after several years in "legal limbo", the reintroduction of the brand I founded in 1980 will emerge late Summer 2006.

Isn't there a scene where one of the guys is riding while wearing a cowboy hat?

Now THAT'S aerodynamics !!!

Yes, it's also the scene with "Eddie", their training partner that eats his shoe.

Weird threads come up when you click the different sort priorities at the top of the columns...

John

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Top notch coaching: Francois and Accelerate3 | Follow on Twitter: LifetimeAthlete |

My favorite scene is Rae Dawn Chong's fast wheel change. As a wrench that was awesome

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Robert Driskell
Certified Master Body Geometry fit Technician
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Bikes Plus Pensacola Florida

Maybe he should be on "Axemen"... the logging bicyclist. Now there's an oxymoron.

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Jay

OMG I remember seeing this movie when I was 12, and I immediately told my father I wanted a road bike for my b-day. Got one, it was $400 for a 14sp chromoly bike. I rode that bike for fifteen years. Still miss it. Man, that movie changed my life. Seriously. The other sports movie that has as well is The Long Run. AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

I had the good fortune of getting to know Steve Tesich who wrote American Flyers (and Breaking Away - which he one an Oscar for best screenplay).

Steve was a former member of my fraternity (Phi Kappa Psi) who returned to the Little 500 when I was at Indiana in the early 90s - and racing for the fraternity team. Actually a number of the guys who rode on the team's Steve did in the 60s would also come back. Was fun meeting the guys that inspired the characters in BA.

Steve always mentioned he had other cycling movies in his head (if I remember correctly one was a combination of mountain biking and Deliverance).

One of my prized possessions is a Breaking Away movie poster he signed for me.

Unfortunately, he passed away too early from a heart attack...

i have a signed jersey, that I hold pretty dear as well

Yes! The Long Run! What a great movie! We saw it on cable a few weeks ago and really thought it was excellent.

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De que depende?

Have the DVD. LOVE me some American Flyers.

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Fortitudine Vincimus

"Res firma mitescre nescit" - Once you got it up, keep it up! (Actual translation, somewhat less pithy- A firm resolve does not know how to weaken)

John

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Top notch coaching: Francois and Accelerate3 | Follow on Twitter: LifetimeAthlete |

Yeah, I remember seeing Alexandra Paul in that movie as a young teen and being profoundly impressed.

Even more impressive is that after her stint on Baywatch she got into triathlons...she's completed multiple triathlons and I believe she completed IMH in '97. She's also very involved in a hands-on way in a multitude of causes.

Don't assume that comparing AF to now represents change, the movie was a terrible depiction of bicycle racing at the time it was made. Entertaining, but inaccurate as hell. I was a high school roadie at the time and we all had such high expectations (ooooh, they filmed some of it at The Coors Classic!!!!!), what a letdown. Now worth watching for the cheese factor, but that's it.

Breaking Away is the anti-American Flyers, it just gets better and more inspiring with time.

I think I'm in one of the crowd shots, actually. I used to live near the brewery, and went to watch a few stages every year. Swam summer swim team with the Coors' kids. (Kids at the time, I think they're running the place now...)

And Ms. Parks paled in comparison to Cynthia Gibb's fine set (exposed in the cheese hockey movie Youngblood with Swayze and Lowe)

John

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Top notch coaching: Francois and Accelerate3 | Follow on Twitter: LifetimeAthlete |

They shot part of that movie down the road from my house when I was a kid (Highway T, Labadie, Missouri). If it wasn't for dangerous speeding cars on the hilly curves, Highway T would still be an amazing training route.

My buddy was hired to teach her how to perform that wheel change. He said that they went over it about 60-70 times.

That's why he got dropped in the mountains. ;)

Some of the beginning parts of the movie were filmed in Madison on the UW campus. When you turn off of Babcock Drive on to Observatory during the Ironman Wisconsin run, that is where the Kevin Costner character convinced his brother to ride the Hell of the West.

Unfortunately there is a new building in that spot now, so it doesn't look the same any more.

-- Scott

This is one of my favourite movies ever -- watching it now spinning I still get inspired. And for all the cheesy stuff (is Muzzin actually attempting to kill him on the final mountain!!) the idea of Costner knowing the exact moment he quit the Hell of the West years earlier, when no one watching would ever notice, speaks more to me about the internal gruel that is endurance sport. Doesn't hurt that my brother got me into biking and we still go out in the country for rides. A real gem -- and yeah, it gets stronger for me each viewing whereas I find Breaking Away pretty 'meh'
And the trainer and his fat son are awesome

Loved Randolph, the trainer's (John Amos) son in the movie. Splashed water on himself to make it look like he was sweating big-time and then tried to convince his dad that he just had "a bitch of a workout". Favorite Randolph line -- "Just think about it Dad, there aren't any brothers in bowling."

Just tried to find out the name of the kid who played Randolph on IMDBdotcom. I never heard of him, but did see that Steve VanZandt (Bruce Springsteen E Street Band guitarist; Silvio on Sopranos) was a cyclist in that movie! Now I'll have to watch it again to try and spot him. That and a +1 for the earlier mention of the Rae Dawn Chong wheel change.

Last year we showed it in the park before the Pro Challenge start in Golden, this year it was Breaking Away. Both really nice nights hanging out with the family watching a bike movie with 4-500 others. You can imagine how the crowd went crazy as they left the brewery and headed through Downtown Golden in the movie.

One of the all-time classic cheese-fests that I could never look away from when it was "new" and probably could sit through a few more times.

Still use the line where Amos as coach admonishing one of his female athletes on a treadmill "well, you haven't died yet, so die or do something"...or words to that effect.

Good stuff.

Also David might have had more success sprinting away from 'Eddie' if he wasn't in 4th gear on the flats. I think Cav went as high as 5th gear at worlds last year

Great movie!

"It's Hard at the Front" :-)

Just saw this thread. Highway T out to Labadie used to be a great ride before it became a highway. I remember when St. Albans was just a post office and country store in the middle of nowhere. Also, the scene where they are sitting on wall talking about doing the race together was filmed on the campus of St. Louis University outside the rec center. They were in St. Louis filming and it was easier just to stick a sign in the ground for UW Madison. You can see the rec center, library, and DuBourg hall in the background during the scene.

this was straight up state of the art back in '85!!! campy super record too! tange prestige tubing with lugged construction. go shaver sport!!!

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Michael in Fresno
"Do you spend time with your family? Good. Because a man that doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man" V. Corleone

Loved the way the old freewheels sounded too. At least they got that right in the movie.....

Beauty! First "real" racing bike I owned. Mine was equipped with Suntour Superbe Pro. I still have it (although it's been retrofitted over the years).

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#swimmingmatters
Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
The Doctor (#12)

Oh hell yeah, that SR gruppo was the shit back when I first started riding (and SunTour was all I could afford, and Shimano was that 'other' company, mostly crap; hard to imagine today before Mtn biking completely changed the game...)

I believe the movie starts with him riding across the Eads bridge from E. St. Louis. Nothing more dangerous than that. Also, we ride Highway T every Sunday (at least part of it). Not too bad early in the morning. And it is amazing hilly.

I used to watch those two movies all the time! 30 - 35 years ago??

I knew the stunt man who road the bike that got flipped over the cliff. He basically wore a whole body neoprene suit for protection (before slowman invented the triathlon wetsuit!).

Also, Coster really looked a lot like Dave Scott back then!

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

Now that's commitment to using the search function and not creating a new thread. This was started in 2006!

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Great things never come from comfort zones.

Hmmmm - it was on my front page of this forum near the top ???

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

weird.. it is a good watch if you haven't seen it in a while since it's rarely on

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Great things never come from comfort zones.

My guess is a scammer pulled up the old thread to try and sell something or other, but the offending post got pulled. There seems to be a lot of activity of that sort lately.