Back in 2008, when the Bullitt was born, there wasn’t a red Bullitt. Instead, we had three different black models (Classic, John Player Spezial and TNT). One dark November afternoon in the shop, Harry realised that the colourful universe the Bullitt should represent did not quite match the range of colours in the shop.
So, to brighten up the universe, he called Larry and asked if ten of the Classics about to be produced could be replaced by firetruck-red bikes. The Bullitt Red was born. (A side effect of having a red bike in the shop was that the black Bullitts started to sell really well.)
Once the Red was there, it seemed a logical choice. In Denmark, your first bike is often a red Winther trike, so the red bike is often more than a bike – it’s something that lives inside you.
From a technical perspective, the Red was not as easy to produce as anticipated. Unlike other colours, red fades in sunlight, and in our case, the red colour interfered with the white graphics. If you run into an old Red, you can see if it is from the first production year because the white graphics will have turned yellow. After a year, Larry got things under control, and the white graphics stayed white.
The next generation Red got the Versus Theme in its graphic design: an octopus on the front shoulders and Sputnik, the world’s first satellite, on the top tube. Graphically, you might get the similarities – and the Versus Theme? Well, underwater species against space-age machines…
Until Larry & Harry decided that they wanted new graphics, and the Red became Pepper. (They wanted to call it “Toro” and make a graphic image of a bull, but at that point they were clever enough, finally, to foresee problems with an Austrian soda producer if they did so.) So Pepper it was, with yellow graphics – not least a pair of boxing gloves on the seat tube, representing the Versus Theme of the company. This model was the red Bullitt representative for six years. Then came Major Tom. We do love this name, as it represents two different people: the rockstar and the bike rider.
The rockstar is Mr. David Bowie, who in his career represented different characters. Major Tom was his astronaut, travelling into space (or was it travelling in the human mind?). The bike rider was Tom Simpson, the former British road race world champion, who, on his way up the infamous Mont Ventoux, paid the ultimate price for mixing elite sport with drugs. Both legends, exploring the limits of human capacity.
So next time you see a red bike — or even a red Bullitt — remember that there is much more in it than just another bicycle.
When the first Red Bullitts came to life, this was more or less what was playing in the shop. A bit of seventies rock, some glam, a touch of attitude. T. Rex, Bowie, Queen, Roxy Music… the music that coloured those early days and still feels right when a flash of red rolls past. Listen to the mixtape here.
