2026 Brother in the Wild Builds: Stan’s 1940 Excelsior DX Klunker – John Watson

This year at the 2026 Brother in the Wild, Vee and Harry from Wizard Works hosted a Best in Show bike awards. The attendees from the weekend submitted their bikes, and then everyone voted on their favorite builds. Then, Vee reached out to John to see if he’d be willing to pick his favorite for a Radavist award…

The Radavist thanks Schwalbe for supporting our 2026 Brother in the Wild content and independent Reportage!

A Radavist Award

What does a Radavist bike look like? Truth told, I was torn between three bikes. One was a vintage conversion, one was an adventure gravel bike, but the one I ended up picking was Stan’s 1940 Schwinn Excelsior DX klunker. Now, it might feel predictable that the American travels to the UK and picks out a pre-war klunker, but the story about how Stan landed this bike was what won me over.

Landing a 1940 Excelsior

Finding a klunker like the Excelsior isn’t as easy as you might think these days. Especially one that’s been converted from its coaster-brake, balloon-tire single-speed into what you see here in front of you. A lot goes into converting these cruisers – singlespeed, coaster brake bikes – into klunkers – bikes with gears and brakes.

This is a 1940 Schwinn La Salle from the History of Mountain Bike Evolution Showcase, but it gives you a good idea of what some of these pre-war cruisers looked like. Some had a drum brake up front. Most were coaster brake rear, with a big-ass chainring, fenders, and what-have-you. To convert it to gears, a derailleur hanger has to be added as well as cantilever studs, and sometimes, a fork crown brake was drilled.

Stan‘s bike looks like many that were converted in Marin County in the late 1970s. The parts alone indicate whoever built it, knew what they were doing: TA Cyclotouriste cranks, Comp V front mech, Suntour VX rear derailleur, and so on. These bikes were a critical step in what would become the California “mountain bike.” Many of the early mountain bikes mimicked bikes like the Excelsior in geometry, even.

A Late-Night eBay Score

Late one night, Stan was browsing eBay when he saw an Excelsior klunker conversion listing that was ending at 5 AM his time. The listing was in the UK, but the early-morning auction meant it’d be unlikely for the bike to fetch its full value. Stan shut his laptop and went to sleep, but couldn’t get over how awesome the bike was. So he woke back up and won the auction. He got a killer deal on it.

The next day, he drove to pick it up and was amazed at how many original parts were on the bike. Stan remarked, “I emailed a guy in Marin. Allen something.  And he confirmed the bike was an original Ma…