Four men ride in paceline formation on silver-framed road bikes, dressed in black, skin-tight bodysuits. The camera pans and focuses in on the riders, then cuts, returning to the riders coloured by a pink filter.
“Tour de France, Tour de France,” repeats deadpan over a techno drum beat.
One of those bikes, ridden by the techno-band Kraftwerk, in their 1984 video, ‘Tour de France’, has just sold at auction for $57,600 – fourteen times more than was initially estimated.
The Speedwell silver titanium bike was sold as part of a wider auction of items belonging to the late Kraftwerk member, Florian Schneider. Amongst the bike were polaroids of the musician riding the Speedwell model, a vast array of musical instruments, from vintage drum machines to synthesizers – and a large model fly? There were other bikes, too, including Schneider’s town bike used for errands around his home-city of Dusseldorf, and multiple kinds of tandem bike.
Kraftwerk interest in cycling extended beyond this one music video. They had been looking for something to do together outside of music, and they landed on cycling. Soon, Schneider and bandmate Ralf Hütter were clocking up more than 200 kilometres a day, sometimes even cycling to gigs ahead of the tour bus. The ‘Tour de France’ music video (one of a few remixes and re-releases) came out on Hütter’s return, after recovering from a crash that left him in a coma.
In 2003, the band incorporated the single in to a wider album, titled ‘Tour de France Soundtracks’ – a 55 minute homage to the sport they’d collectively fallen in love with.
“We know that from cyclists, when they listen to our music, they understand; they listen, and they understand how the music is composed,” Hütter said. “It’s important when you move with your bicycle to listen to the environment, the surroundings, the wind and your own breath. At least that’s the way we see this.”
Since the band rode the bikes in the music video, the perishable tyres have been replaced with Panarcer Gravelkings, and the bar tape refreshed. The bike may have been sold, but the legacy of Kraftwerk’s biking-obsession remains – fourteen times more loved than the estate had estimated.
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