cruiser revolution

Maybe it’s not just the summer of BMX movies…maybe it’s the summer of bicycle movies, full stop.

Case in point, the recent Toronto showing of Marinoni: The Fire in the Frame.

Granted, not a BMX movie by any stretch of the definition, it certainly was one of the most entertaining — and inspiring — documentaries I have seen in a long time.

The movie features 75-year-old Giuseppe Marinoni, a former champion road racer that transitioned to become a legendary frame maker who decides he is going to “attempt the world hour record for his age group, all on a bike he built with his own hands almost 40 years ago.”

At times a cranky sourpuss, other times an affable older gentleman…there is no mistaking Marinoni’s passion. When it’s revealed that he will be riding a frame he welded for Canadian cycling legend Jocelyn Lovell in the late 70s — a rider who’s career was cut tragically short when he was hit in an automobile accident — it’s hard not to get teary-eyed.

If you’re a rider, into bikes in general, or simply want to see someone who has kept his fire alive well into his 70s…this is a movie you should check out if you get the opportunity.

You will be stoked.