American Flyers is a 1985 American sports drama film about bicycle racing directed by John Badham and starring Kevin Costner, David Marshall Grant, Rae Dawn Chong, Alexandra Paul, Jennifer Grey, Luca Bercovici and Janice Rule.

With the history of cerebral aneurysm in the Sommers family, their mother is concerned that the condition may now be affecting David as well.

Marcus convinces David to embark on a cross-country journey to the bicycle race "Hell of the West" in Colorado along with Sarah.

In the three-stage race in the Rockies, with mountain and prairie backdrops, the brothers compete against the world's top cyclists on dangerous roads at breakneck speeds.

Marcus heroically regains his place at the front of the race and wins the first stage against Muzzin and Belov the Russian Olympic winner.

Following the race, Muzzin berates a female reporter for her part in pushing for the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics.

He signals for Sarah and Becky in the team van to help him as he struggles to stay on his bike on the winding road.

As they enter the mountain stages Muzzin approaches David to throw the race and settle for second.

In addition, multiple World Championships and Grand Tour winning cyclist Eddy Merckx has a cameo as himself.

It was formed in 1980 by competitive cyclist Bob Shaver with its mission being to produce quality cycling wear.

During its existence, the company produced not only cycling gear, but ShaverSport and Hell of the West replica jerseys that were featured in the film.

[1] Marcus and David are seen riding 1985 Specialized Allez SE road bikes with red frames in the race scenes and most of the movie.

[2] As of April 2022[update], American Flyers had a 67% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 21 reviews, with an average score of 5.6/10.

The site consensus reads: "American Flyers shifts between family drama and cycling action gears with enough strength to make this inspirational sports picture more than pedestrian".

The main theme "Hell of the West" was played as the introduction music of the title sequence when ABC Sports in the United States broadcast the International Race of Champions from 1987 to 1997 on tape-delay.