Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Never say never.........

I swore last year "No more kid's bikes, they are as much work as a big bike and the first thing they do is go run into Dad's truck"(true story, thankfully not my kid or truck!). So, what do I do a year later? Another kid's bike.
Couldn't help it though, my son started BMX racing (he's 5) and his too-small dept store bike wasn't cutting it.

It was a fun project- fitting a 5 year old to a 20" wheeled bike is like fitting a 5 foot adult to a 29er...you end up with a funky looking frame.
This one was done with all scrap tubing: the top tube is left over from Jeff's GDR bike (the kid was adamant about wanting a curved tube!), the down tube is a former top tube that was too short, seatstays are 4 pieces of cutoffs, chainstaye are Zona seatstays, dropouts were made from a plate I found in my Dad's shop, the only new parts were the front drops and BB shell.
Nice lines on this frame, but no room for the skull and bones brake bridge I was planning.
The kid also picked the color...nice, huh? Check out the headtube decal- had to get a skull on this bike somewhere!
Vacation time for the next week, I'll have to post up some action shots when we get back.