Tonight, at 10pm EST, a new show called Combat Cash is premiering on the Discovery Channel. In the same vein as the History Channel’s American Pickers and Pawn Stars, SpikeTV’s Auction Hunters, and PBS’ Antiques Roadshow, except with a focus on military history, hosts Bob Chatt and Owen Thornton go on the hunt for rare military collectibles. And on their very first show, they do a segment with Montague’s Paratrooper folding bike!

The Paratrooper isn’t a rare military collectible, but in the first episode, Bob and Owen check out a couple of WWII military machines: a Japanese tank and a 1944 BSA Airborne Paratrooper bicycle. Since the show airs tonight, I’m not sure exactly how the Montague Paratrooper fits in with all this WWII military history, but from reading the preview, (and taking a look at the 1944 bike owner’s blog) it seems that one of the show’s hosts is going to skydive with the Montague folding bike – just like the WWII Paratroopers would have done back in the 1940s (except on the show, they’re not jumping into combat).

Dare to Compare: Paratrooper and Paratrooper

Montague’s F.I.T. folding system

The BSA wing nut folding system from the 1940s

They may also do a comparison between the WWII folding bikes and the modern version. If this is the case, believe me, you don’t want to miss it. It’s pretty incredible what people did with the technology available to them. Unlike the comparatively lighter, aluminum frame bikes we have today, those WWII-era bikes were made of heavy steel. And instead of the F.I.T. system that you’ll find on all Montague folding bikes, the folding system on the BSA Airborne Paratrooper bicycle relied on wing nuts. It would be really interesting to see a side-by-side comparison of the two folding bikes, the Montague Paratrooper and the original WWII-era bike, just to see how far folding technology has come.

A Montague Paratrooper folding bike in the folded position.

The BSA Airborne Paratrooper in the folded position.

The Montague Paratrooper meets the BSA Airborne Paratrooper bike at the TV set in L.A.

So if you have Discovery Channel, I would suggest tuning in tonight at 10pm – if you can’t see it then, you can check out the Discovery Channel TV Schedule here, and you might be able to catch a repeat. If you do watch the show, let us know what you think. And if you already own a Montague Paratrooper folding bike, or are interested in getting more information about any of our folding bike models, be sure to give us a call or shoot us an email!