A Tail Dragger Bicycle? Sure, why not...

[Girlbike]

My friend Jesse suggested we collaborate and make a bike to raffle off and donate the proceeds to CHOC Hospital. Being sort of consumed in my own circumstances lately, I'd forgotten to give back in a little while. I was grateful for the reminder and of course I was game. He's the guy to beat in competitive lowrider bicycle competition, so I'm anticipating a mind blowing paint job and a finish that leaves no stone unturned. Check out @Deltacruisers on IG to see some of his masterpieces.

I've had this idea in my head of doing a lowrider bicycle but different. There's this custom Zephyr that I first saw at GNRS with my son a few years ago and Ive since seen at Donut Derelicts... really amazing car. The way it looks like it's going 100mph while parked and the 30s stream line design aesthetic I wanted to try and transfer into a bicycle... also, to me, that era of late 30's automobiles is unique in its bold curves and long elegant lines. To me, an aesthetic that translates best to a lowrider platform.

So here goes, what started as a phone call with some pictures of parts we had gathered over time turned into mocking those parts up and seeing how they looked together. I'd been hanging on to this amber lensed 30's or 40's aftermarket automotive spotlight that I got from Dan Taylor. Dan Taylor is a master craftsman out of Costa Mesa, CA who has been making my surfboards since I was 18 (30 years ago) and was making surfboards long before that. Dans father was an engineer and fabricator who collected classic cars and had a warehouse full of old rare parts, among those parts were dozens of lights, some streamlined like this one and others older, made of brass with moving parts that fit together flawlessly, reminiscent of a time where the individual part mattered more than the quantity of parts produced for a year. I bought a few of these lights from Dan just because I liked the way they looked. At the time, I had no plan or use for them. I also bought his dads beautiful blue Town and Country that I've converted into a lowrider, surprisingly, much to Dans liking.

I had my buddy Jub elongate these CWC springer forks about 12" over for what I was anticipating to be a Stingray chopper build on a raked frame, but when I placed them with the amber light and a 26" frame the tail dragger started to surface in my head. At first I thought to use a Schwinn double straight bar frame as I have two of them and save those and the single straight bar frames for special builds because they are rare and look cool. It didn't 100% jive with the forks so I grabbed a cantilever frame and it seemed to fit a lot better and we were off to the races.

The rear fender skirt is the most important part of this build. the tail end of it being the vanishing point of where all lines will originate from. Hopefully harmoniously and in the end inspiring some sort of positive emotional reaction. I drew out a half circle and put it where it would go..the position of the fender will likely change along with the shape, slightly, in the end but for now at least the idea is visible.

Every time I see some of these Elgin fender skirts I buy them. I may never come across a Skylark, but these will suffice. As far as streamline design goes, to me it doesn't get much better than these skirts, so I'm finally getting to use a set in a way I'd imagined

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I'm not sold on the stem, something without a reach would be cleaner. Depending on the rest of the bike, the handle bars may need a simpler curve... definitely can't put a traditional seat on this bike or it will mess the lines up so a little pad of sorts will need to be made.

Using a tiny 10" or 12" rear wheel is the only way I could imagine this bike would actually be functional without some serious restructuring of the rear end of the frame. While that would be cool and I can imagine some hydraulics could be applied, I think that would be taking this build too far and would best be an idea saved for the future.

More to come...

It's a cool idea! That's one of the reasons I have such a thing for girl bikes with apehangers.The frame sorta flows down and back. For ridability, I have to ruin the flow by putting the seat way up

 

[butnut]

I donated a cruiser I made to the Pasadena Vagos. The bar tender at the event ended up winning it and I think she was pretty stoked. I actually have a bunch of bikes I've made for the sake of art that I will be promoting the show of at some point here when I get the time to finish the collection up. It should be pretty wild. I will be donating 100% of profits from those bike aw well and Jesse is going to paint them.

I think it's great to be critical when you know what youre talking about. I clearly stated that the build will be on the lowrider platform. It has never been a prerequisite of a lowrider bicycle to actually be a rider. Also, my son has this little clown bike that is ridable and if that is, surely this would be with a small rear wheel. The gearing can be changed to account for less revolutions but when this thing is done, I'm sure the owner isn't gonna want to leave it outside of the local pub for some tweaker to steal or some frat boy to puke on. I've attached examples of both the clown bike and unridable low riders. The plan is for this bike and any bike I make to be a rider, not to win the Tour de France. These are 100% for style points. A very subjective scale.

My son, with the clown bike is 14. That being said, I am 48. Unfortunately all of my friends Dads, and mine, are dead. I'm not sure why you are speaking to me as if I am a child, but if that is your vibe while criticizing, good luck with the ladies. My friend Jub who is a 25 year metal worker and the Forman of a large facility does my welding for me because I can make it to the bar on any kind of bike, but if it breaks in half I might be picking my teeth out of my lips. No bueno.

The sculpture of sorts that is the pile of parts I threw together like a third world outhouse will be finished as a study in Streamlined fenders. As it happens it gave birth to the idea of a more beach city friendly idea of a bicycle which I drew on the computer to iron out ideas like tubing and clean lines. Check it out, its the last picture posted here...


Thanks for looking



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Really dig your creativity and style! That taildragger would really turn heads! I started doing full Sting Ray restorations in the 90s. As a kid in the 60s, we could never afford a Sting Ray. My journey back to Sting Rays in my adult life started when I saw a Sting Ray frame in the dirt under the house of the man who taught me upholstery. Just a spray painted blue frame and a Lucky 7 sprocket. I asked if I could have it, and he gave it to me. I stripped it and it sat primered in my shed a few years. One day I was at the drug store waiting for my wife, looking at Hot Rod magazines. Then I see the magazine with a wild bike on the cover. The first issue of Lowrider Bicycle. Mind blown! I'm in Hawaii and we are always behind the mainland trends. My gears start turning. Being from the 60s Kustom Kulture of hot rods, custom cars, choppers I always believed in nuthin' stock! I wanted to build a lowrider, but not the typical Bondo tank, wings, wild paint, upholstery (yes, I made a lot of lowrider custom seats) gold and twisted parts. Took a few years of collecting parts and LowBoy was born. It connected with the original and lowrider crowd. I got featured into that Lowrider magazine that inspired me. My very first restoration is in Liz Frieds Sting Ray book. I sold all my customs except LowBoy and kept two originals. There was a bike show last year so I had a ton of work to get Lowboy show worthy. Had to rechrome a few parts and a lot of elbow grease. When it was done, I got bit hard by the bike bug again. Felt like I was back in the 90s, but I'm 71 today. The next show is next month. Had some custom parts made, more chrome, some kool 60s parts and engraving. I'll post here when it's done...is it ever done? LOL