Originally Posted by
wildOG
The weird incongruities got me curious and I went looking for the story. It was actually a staged promotional shoot for Joe Weider's fitness publications taken by Artie Zeller, who was a former body builder himself, and was a close friend of Arnold Schwarzenegger. He is credited with capturing many of the most famous "Golden Era" images that defined the aesthetic of Venice Beach bodybuilding. It seems like the bikes may have been from a prop house, that a light weight Schwinn would have a headbadge from a middle weight or cruiser of a different era.
That matches completely. From wiki on Columbu:
With Schwarzenegger, Columbu moved to
California in the late 1960s to train and work with
Joe Weider.
[7] Weider provided them with a place to live and an $80 (equivalent to $700 in 2025) per week stipend.
[15] The stipend was not enough to live on, so to support their bodybuilding careers, they began a bricklaying company named European Brick Works in 1969.
[13]