Choppers US http://www.choppersus.com Alan Discount, proprietor of CUS has become the greatest source of kustom parts, in a very short history. When CUS arrived, I knew that we had a viable movement going. Prices are good, and orders ship quickly. A great resource. |
Chopaderos Outlaw Bicycle Club Another popular organization devoted to the social activities our kind of people like. Numerous chapters, maybe one near you. |
Freak Bike Militia Founded in West Palm Beach FL, by Kenny Prather and friends, FBM is a fun-loving bunch devoted to cruising and partying, a popular concept with most of us in the kustombike movement. This explains the rapid spread of chapters around North America and the rest of the world. Rat Patrol Originally spawned in Chicago USA, Rat Patrol is also spreading; in this case as far as Africa, where it seems to be performing a genuinely humanitarian mission, in teaching the locals how to modify bikes to make them more suited to local conditions and needs. As I am an absolute sucker for this sort of concept, I can't praise the efforts of RP Founder Mr. Johnny Payphone and his cohorts too much. An additional plus is that RP has actually taken its message to Nashville, TN, of all places!. Having spent a decade in that dismal burg, in the space of a year, back in the late '60s, I can attest that Nashville needs the Rat Patrol spirit even more than Africa does. |
Rockx ~ Custom Frameworks Joris has lots of great information for the prospective frame designer, with many handy tools, such as: ~ Rake & trail ~Maniken: a jointed human figure pattern ~Tube names & types ~ Mitering tubes ~ Drivetrain & hub ~ Chainring sizes ~ Custom chainrings ~ Custom spoke~patterns ~ Spokelength calculator ~ Units converter ~ Gauges ~ Tire & rim sizes ~ Some frame~distances ~ Standard dropout~spacings ~ Tap & drill sizes ~ Drilling and holesaw spindle speeds ~ Welding helmet shades |
Chopper Riding Urban Dwellers (C.R.U.D.) Yet another pack of rabid choppaholics, this one from San Francisco. Paul Engeman, a long-time dweller in our gallery is a member of this outfit. They do some really interesting rides, which are well worth studying. New England Muscle Bike Museum OK, so these are stock bikes in this collection, but at least they're kustom-style stockers. This site is a great resource for identifying that repainted carcass you're about to butcher; so you'll be able to tell your friends what you started out with. Professional Rake and Trail Calculator by RB Racing http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/advchoppercalc .html Suggested by Pat Mackey, this is on a motorcycle site, but the information should work for bikes, as well. I'm personally not qualified to write anything on the subject, although I can BS as well as the next guy. Check it out, before you take the hacksaw to that frame. |
Bike Parts USA Building kustombikes isn't always about coming up with exotic parts and components; hell, those you can make, if you want them badly enough. Nope, mostly it's about finding ordinary parts, the kind you'd go to the Western Auto store for, or your local bike shop, when you were a kid. Your local bike shop will be glad to sell you a set of $40 bars for your BMX, or an alloy seatpost at NASA prices. Try walking in and scoring a set of 26 X 2.125 whitewalls, though. Won't happen in any bikeshop I've been in lately. And I haven't seen a Western Auto store in years. What you need is a web parts outlet that's got all that stuff that's in the J&B Importers catalog, but which they won't sell you unless you're a dealer. Bike Parts USA is our kind of place. Their prices seem very reasonable, especially when compared to some of the specialty outfits, or your local bike shop. They've got the chrome ducktail fenders, for example, just like the lowrider parts sources have, except for a few bucks cheaper. And, since they're not 20"-centric like the lowrider sources, the odds are that they have the stuff in 24" and 26" sizes. It's got so that I always check BPUSA first, when I'm looking for something, and they usually have it. And they take filling and shipping the orders seriously; unlike some of the LRB sources I could name, which seem to be run along the lines of a hobby activity. BPUSA is a great resource; everyone I've turned on to them always thanks me profusely for doing them the favor. |
South Prairie Custom Cycles The site of a BR&K Gallery denizen, devoted to Classic bicycle restoration and customization- specializing in vintage Schwinns and custom chopper fabrication. Jason shows lots of his bike projects, many of which are available for sale. Our favorite is a Ghost Restoration of a BF Goodrich "military bike", which is notable for a nicely-made and detailed potato cannon which it tows. Damn' clever! |
CyclArt Jim Cunningham's CyclArt has been in operation since 1976, and has justly gained a solid reputation as a leading source of high-level restoration and kustom painting for bicycles. They have all the needed processes needed for restoration in-house, which adds to the efficiency of a job. This usually saves the customer some money. They do the paint, the decals, the leather work, the chrome-plating, whatever is required to do the job. I notice that they're now selling parts, and even whole bikes. These tend to be considerably pricier than Gordon T. Bradbury's junkers, and would all seem likely to benefit from some aspect of CyclArt's services, but they're very nice if you're into that vintage thing, and interested in adding to your collection. From our perspective, of course, we mostly see CyclArt in the role of high-level kustom painters. Some of the very nicest bikes in the BR&K gallery wear CyclArt finishes. |
Bowcycle An excellent site in Alberta, CA. Interestingly, they deal in both bikes and motos. If they also dealt in HotRods and their associated parts, we might never need another bookmark. This is one very slick site, and well worth a visit. They have an extremely nice gallery of classic bikes, too. |
Rad Bike This is Torrey Nelson's site to do with kustom biking. It's fairly new, so the content is limited, but what's there is good. |
International Bicycle Fund Described as "A non-governmental, nonprofit, advocacy organization, promoting sustainable transport and international understanding. Major areas of activity are non-motorized urban planning, economic development, bike safety education, responsible travel and cycle tourism, and cross-cultural, educational programs." IBF's site is a good resource for those looking for information on how to make the world better through the application of bike-think. |
Mooneyes Dean Moon was one of the pioneers of the original hot rod and kustom kulture He made and sold beautiful performance parts to drag and salt-flat racers, and the builders of street and show rods. In my youth, putting a set of Moon's spun-aluminum wheel discs on your car was the first thing you did, even before "souping-up" the engine, or de-chroming and painting it. Merely by the car's wearing them, you were establishing its credentials as a hot rod in progress. Once the car had the discs, it was entitled to wear the most famous logo associated with hot rodding- the Moon Eyes "Moon Equipped" decal. The decals are such kultural ikons that Mooneyes is now the name of the corporation, with a branch in Japan. They still carry the exquisite performance parts, but the line has been broadened to include a great many cultural/lifestyle items associated with Ed Roth's Rat Fink character. And bikes. The Mooneyes bike is made by GT/Dyno, and sports several hot-rod style components found only on this bike. And, they have Moon Discs as an option. Moon has offered the discs in bike sizes for years, for people building CA beach cruisers, originally, but now for kustom and hot-rod bikes in general. At one time the discs were comparatively inexpensive. Now, adding them as an option to your Moon Bike will set you back $300 for a set of four. It's worth it if you can afford it, because there's nothing else that comes close. Mooneyes also carries the Dyno Von Dutch bikes, and the Dyno Deuce Bike. |
Unusual Human Powered Vehicles What a fascinating site! This and a link annex are compiled by Roger Gilmore, who is interested in the more unorthodox forms of HPV. It will give you links to every oddball method of making a machine travel from place to place by hand or foot propulsion. Not just land transport, either- he covers boats, submariness, ice-craft and air-craft.Who wudda thought there were so many? A must-see site, for people who appreciate outside-the-box thinking. |
CARS-R-COFFINS This is a Minneapolis site devoted to single-speed bike racing and punk rock music Damn! Why didn't I think of that combo? Interestingly, the combo works. |
Psychocycles This site is chock full-O-stuff revolving around bike advocacy. Based in Ohio, it's well worth a visit. |
Aluminum Anodizing This is an article on a UK site called: Workshop Techniques http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~chrish/techindx.htm It tells you everything you could possibly need to set up an aluminum anodizery (or whatever they call the setup.) Aluminum is a wonderful metal for bikerodders. Assuming that you have a basic machine shop, it is very easy to make into kustom parts. I've done some pretty impressive parts with only a hand drill, a sabre saw, and a hand-held belt sander. Aluminum may be worked and polished to a mirror (chrome-like) finish. Polished aluminum in its natural state will oxidize, however, so you will have to polish it fairly often to keep it looking chrome-like. Unless you anodize it. Anodization is a process which changes the normal oxidation process to form a tough layer of hard, transparent oxide on the surface. The final hardness is achieved by immersing the part in boiling water. Until the anodized surface is sealed in the boiling water, it will accept color dyes, including black. Color anodizing is one of the nicer options for aluminum chainrings, but many other parts can benefit from the jewel-like colors which may be attained rather simply with the process, once you're set up to do it. The article is extremely thorough in detailing every aspect of the process. It was written by a guy who manufactures aluminum telescopes at home. Not surprisingly, black is the most difficult color to achieve well, which makes the author's thoroughness understandable. An excellent piece of instruction. |
Lightwheels, Inc. This is an alternate-transportation-oriented site located in Lower Manhattan. There is a store involved where one can buy Urban EV things and pedal-powered freight haulers. There's a proposal in the site for kid engineers to design their dream vehicles for a competition. We're going to challenge them to a showdown drag race between unlimited recumbents in Union Square next summer. |
Bicycle Bill's Pages Bill's one of those balloon-tire guys, and an old acquaintance of ours. He's a professional photographer here in NYC, who also has a bad old-bike jones. To support the habit, he deals some of them on the side. Curiously enough, he doesn't show bikes from his own collection, for sale or otherwise, here. What he does have is a lot of nice old snapshots of people and their bikes and pedal-toys. Extremely useful are a pair of articles written by Bill, based upon his experience, which tell exactly how to properly pack a bike for shipping, and how to perform a good clean and fixup on an old bike, so it'll look good without serious restoration. |
Robert Williams:Two Interviews This entry would have been "Three Interviews" hadn't Carbon-14 online recently removed their excellent interview. Mr. Williams gives good interview. These are great, In addition to being a brilliant painter, as creator of the journal of lowbrow art and culture Juxtapoz; he is the current avatar of Kustom Kulture. We could be doing a lot worse, believe me. He's been amazingly influental to BR&K, in spite of the fact that he doesn't do bicycles. |
Joshua Putnam: Basic Brazing Information Steel bike frame sections are joined together using one of two methods-welding, which is faster and theoretically stronger, or brazing, which is usually strong enough for the job and a much neater process.. This article isn't a how-to piece, It gives basic information about the way brazing works and covers the different types of brazing. A good introduction for someone thinking about getting into it. |
Aside from the informational aspects of The Sidecar Notes Archive of the Sidecar Section of the National Autocycle and Cyclemotor Club, it is also extremely witty and wordy in that endearing English manner. An excellent, entertaining site!NACC Home Page |
NACC Sidecar Notes It seems that there's an English association devoted to motorized bicycles. Motor-biking was much more prevalent in the UK than it was in the US or Canada. A relatively more prosperous working class in North America meant that most adult working males could afford to own some sort of automobile. Moto-bikes were mostly the province of children, albeit adolescents with newspaper delivery routes to support the moto expense. Considering the greater reliance upon bikes as sole personal vehicle in the UK and the Continent, it is no wonder that moto-biking was much more widespread and important there. So finding such a wealth of information and thinking on the subject at a British site is a treat. After all, one of the koolest kustom things you can do to a bike is to work a pretty motor into it, in a pleasing way, right? |
S.C.U.L. Another chopper organization, this one in New England. The site is based upon the conceit that the bikes are spacecraft, and their "pilots" are members of a spacegoing para-military group. A very witty and well-written set of content. |
Ed "Big Daddy" Roth- Official Site As the human face of the golden age of Kustom Kulture and its most brilliant practitioner, Ed Roth needs no props from us. Which is good, because we think his "official" site sucks. It's amazing that it's possible to build a web presence around one of the most brilliantly creative wild guys ever, and make it dull as a Romanian Auto Show. The doormat page consists of three unsharp photos which could have easily been rendered much crisper in Photoshop, as could their composition through a modicum of cropping. The photos show the Maestro in his trademark top-hat, as well as a tailcoat and gloves. looming over his latest show car- Stealth 2000; he is in turn loomed-over by huge amounts of sky, mountains, and desolate black-top-paving foreground. The vehicle itself, in spite of its name, is certainly not "stealthy", and it's the most old-fashioned- looking concept that's ever gone out under the "Big Daddy" aegis. Benefitting it with probably more irony than it would want to claim; it seems like a take on those flivver-ish roadsters Mickey Mouse drove in the old cartoons. It even has that vestigial Model-T hood contour. However, I don't think Walt drew running boards on his creation. If that's what those plank-like protrusions are, which stick out from the sides. Or maybe they're singularly-un-aerodynamic ground-effect aids? The thing's a design mess; more like a piece of long-lost juvenilia than a state-of-the-art Roth creation. The rest of the site is equally dismal., aside from a dull bio of a fascinating subject. The site sells Roth T-Shirts and Mini-Posters. That, and a tour schedule, are pretty much it. Whatever. My take on the site is that of extreme disappointment. Why even bother to have a site, if it can't be more entertaining than this? Von Franco may be a young pup at this stuff, but he understands fully that the idea of being an artist is to show-off your work, and entertain people. We mourn the loss of "Big Daddy", but the site still sucks. Any associated site, such as Mooneyes, adds more glory to his name than this dreary mess. |
GT/Dyno Kustom Kruisers So, maybe you want a kool kustom ride, and don't have the time or skills to build one yourself. No problemo, Dude. You can buy one. The KK site will direct you to the closest dealer. There are photos of all their models, and pictures of all their bikes, too. Yes, this is one of those bikini-babe sites. Nothin' queer about ol' Jim; but IMHO, if the bikes are sexy enough, the babes are a distraction. And these bikes are muy sexy, especially the stretch roadsters. You can also see all their sexy kustom parts, also, presented sans the T&A. |
Cyclecide This is a fun group from San Francisco. They put on bicycle rodeos. I've never seen one, but sources have told be that they put on a good spectacle. They have tallbike jousting, which is an interesting combination of two extremely weird things to do. Ahh....to be young and indestructable again! One of the extremely kool features of their shows is bicycle-technology-derived amusement rides for kids. |
Mike Siewert's Rod Links http://fsra.org/rodlinks.html This is mostly to do with automotive rods & customs, but we're all part of kustom kulture, so it's a kindred site to us. Mike is also a bike head, which explains why we found his site while running a search for sites which have links to BR&K. You can see his Murray-based kustom in our Gallery. and it kicks ass, you may rest assured. |
Recycled Cycles This is a Seattle-based shop which specializes in used parts of the Rivendell school of bikerodding. Lots of Campy and Suntour-type stuff, for the skinny-tire set, but cheaper than newer and crappier hardware. |
Bicycle Forest Some more of our Canadian cousins, Bike Forest is an Ontario-based shop set up to build frames to your own design. A very cool aspect to their site is interactive frame-design software, which allows the design of a wide variety of frame types, from suspension MTBs to tandems. Very much fun! |
Gaerlan Custom Cycles It's tough for most people to envision themselves building a bike frame from scratch. It's maybe conceivable to picture themselves hacksawing old frames apart and putting the pieces back together in interesting ways. True design freedom comes with a pile of virgin tubing in the right wall thicknesses and diameters. You can walk into a typical metal warehouse and buy almost anything you want- in 20' lengths. Assuming you'll eventually use it up, then it's maybe back to the scrap pile to cannibalize dropouts, etc. Gaerlan carries all the metal stocks needed to build frames- in the kinds of lengths you'd want to build one or two frames, with stuff like oval chainstay and fork blade stock, bottom bracket shells and head tubes without hacked-off stubs, etc. And they have dropouts ready to weld on. After you've made your dream frame, they have all the bits and pieces with which to turn it into a functioning bike. Sometimes, one-stop shopping has a high price on the convenience. Not so with Gaerlan, their prices are what I consider cheap. In the past couple of years, Gaerlan has also been positioning itself as the most comprehensive source for folding travel bikes. They carry folding tourers from 16-26" wheel sizes, and fitted cases for transporting them to your starting destination. |
First Flight Bikes http://www.firstflightbikes.com/ This is another good source for bikes, vintage and otherwise. A recent tour of their parts department turned up lots of goodies, including NOS Shimano Disc Brake Hub kits for $40. |
BikeIcons "A Unique Two-Wheeled Time Port to the Past" This is a good source of vintage bikes and parts. The site itself has a lot of good information. They're also a source for some modern iron- like classic repops and interesting conceptual rides, such as Phat Cycles choppers, etc. |
Specialized These people build fantastic bikes. The things are extremely popular here in NYC; it seems that every other bike here has a Specialized decal on it. The qualities that make their bikes so tough off-road make them equally suited to the hellish environment of NY streets. I see a lot of old ones, also, so they obviously have what it takes to survive. Their website is very interesting and entertaining, as well. A special feature is a page devoted to their imaginitive Concept Bikes, by their brilliant design head, Robert Egger. I have recent experience with Specialized which has shown me another reason they are so popular: customer service. I found a bike in the trash. From the decal remnants, I was able to figure out that it was by Specialized. After finding the serial #, I sent an E-mail to Specialized asking for year and model information on it. I also mentioned that I wasn't the original owner, and that I'd trash- picked it. I wouldn't have been surprised if the inquiry were ignored. Not only was my information request not ignored, but Shawna Kuddes, of Specialzed Customer Service, went to a great deal of trouble to find the right information for me, culminating in my getting a fax of the appropriate tech literature page for my new/old 1989 Hard Rock. |
Bikesite http://bikesite.com/inside/index.shtml There are plenty of us who think that Mountain Bikes are overpriced and unneccesary yuppie toys. That, unless you're going up or down a mountain, or charging through the backwoods (and I know plenty of people who hate them for that reason alone), almost any other type of bike is more intelligent. Another of those culture differences. The MTB culture has produced its own benefits to the rest of us, a whole other world of parts for us to draw upon, (albeit, a hideously expensive one). Bikesite is a good source for everything to do with MTBs, including MudSluts, a vastly entertaining webzine. Check it out. |
J&B Importers This company has almost everything you could possibly want if you're building, fixing or kustomizing a bike. And their prices are cheap, because they're basically a supplier to bike shops. Large quantities get more discount. It's pretty tough to get on their dealer list, but they'll fill adecent-sized order from an individual repairperson. The site has a form for ordering their monthly catalog. |
Luxury Lowrider http://www.luxurylowrider.com/ Yet another source of LRB bikes and parts; but they also carry a lot of NOS parts for Schwinn Krates and others. I shouldn't tell anyone about this, but I'm a self-sacrificing kind of guy: they have NOS Shimano disc brakes! $40 apiece, or laced to any size wheel for $100. I want one so badly, I'll die if they sell them out before I get one. |
Rideable Bicycle Replicas http://www.hiwheel.com/ Another resource for LRB & kustom parts. They're also a source of replica highwheel bikes, pedicabs, and other exotica. They can recreate virtually any type of extinct wheel. They make an interesting creation called a PhatBike. It's a 26" lowboy cycle style of thing, with extended frame. Very interesting concept. |
lovelylowrider http://www.lovelylowrider.com/ Like the Muscle Bikes they're based upon, not everybody loves Lowriders. As far as I'm concerned, though, time spent messing-around with bikes is time well spent, no matter what kind of bike it is. The greatest thing about Lowrider Bike culture is that a manufacturing base has grown up to fill its needs. Before I found outfits like lovelylowrider, I had to depend on local bike shops for overpriced, unattractive parts. Have you seen the quality of plating on a Wald fender? It looks like the back side of aluminum foil. And the prices are very reasonable, also. Those radial- spoked wheels we love so much wouldn't exist except for Lowrider culture, and since LRBs're mostly based on 20" Schwinns, they're a good way to keep that semi-pure Krate riding around cheaply. |
Rivendell Bicycle Works http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/ None of that state-of-the-art stuff for these guys. They build what you would call retro bikes, except theirs aren't repops of balloon- tire classics, they're the skinnier-tire classic road bikes.The nice thing is, they also sell the bits and pieces that give those bikes their retro style. Kool, if you're into this type of thing. The site's got some nice educational features, as well. |
Harris Cyclery Home Page http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/ This is the late Sheldon Brown's stomping grounds. It is, by far, the most informative bike site I've found on the web. His glossary of bike terms could give Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary a run for its money. It's totally opinionated and incredibly far-ranging. The rest of the site is equally great, with lots of useful information. Sheldon is gone, but his information remains. |
Menotomy Bike Discussion Lists http://oldroads.com If it weren't for Vin at Menotomy, BikeRod&Kustom might not exist. I found Menotomy during a search for parts and for a site like BR&K. I found the parts at Vin's site. During an E-discussion, I mentioned the need for a webzine for our kind of bike activity. Vin volunteered space and management for the site. I got pretty excited; then had to leave for California for a prolonged time, due to film work. Once I got back, and was into the swing of normal life, I discovered that Vin had set up a vast set of discussion lists on the Menotomy site. I couldn't see holding Vin to his original offer, because he obviously had a lot on his plate. So, I used the Custom Discussion List to establish contacts and get an idea of what people's interests are in this field. Thanks, Vin! From the above URL, you can explore the many lists of value to us, and check out the merchandise |
Choppercabras This is another nest of chopper freaks. I wasn't able to figure out their location from their site. There's something about chopper bikes that brings out the outlaw manque in their devotees; so maybe there's a good reason for their geographic non-specificity. Their recent dipping into the stretch cruiser area is a refreshing move on their part. |
C.H.U.N.K. 666 http://www.dclxvi.org/chunk/ This is the seminal and most fun-oriented of all sites to do with bicycle hi-jinks, basically to do with choppers. Like IHPVA , they're regrettably unconcerned about aesthetics, except in this case it's because they seem to put their energy into partying and pillaging. They claim to be an"outlaw bicycle gang", but I don't think they're so tuff. What say we go over there and rumble with 'em? I'll bet we can kick their asses! |
BikeRod&Kustom B I K E L I N K S This Page Is Always Under Reconstruction And Updating. Compiled and Annotated by Jim Wilson. |
International Human-Powered Vehicle Association http://www.ihpva.org/ This is a must site for anyone interested in human powered hot rods. It covers everything. Most of these guys don't spend nearly enough energy on the aesthetics of the machine; but to give them credit, they're spending all their energy pedalling their amazing creations. Their archived discussions are really informative on the nuts and bolts of HPVs. |
International Human-Powered Vehicle Association http://www.ihpva.org/ This is a must site for anyone interested in human powered hot rods. It covers everything. Most of these guys don't spend nearly enough energy on the aesthetics of the machine; but to give them credit, they're spending all their energy pedalling their amazing creations. Their archived discussions are really informative on the nuts and bolts of HPVs. |
BikeRod&Kustom B I K E L I N K S This Page Is Always Under Reconstruction And Updating. Compiled and Annotated by Jim Wilson. |
Kultural Entities: |
Sources And Info: |
C.H.U.N.K. 666 http://www.dclxvi.org/chunk/ This is the seminal and most fun-oriented of all sites to do with bicycle hi-jinks, basically to do with choppers. Like IHPVA , they're regrettably unconcerned about aesthetics, except in this case it's because they seem to put their energy into partying and pillaging. They claim to be an"outlaw bicycle gang", but I don't think they're so tuff. What say we go over there and rumble with 'em? I'll bet we can kick their asses! |
Choppercabras This is another nest of chopper freaks. I wasn't able to figure out their location from their site. There's something about chopper bikes that brings out the outlaw manque in their devotees; so maybe there's a good reason for their geographic non-specificity. Their recent dipping into the stretch cruiser area is a refreshing move on their part. |
Menotomy Bike Discussion Lists http://oldroads.com If it weren't for Vin at Menotomy, BikeRod&Kustom might not exist. I found Menotomy during a search for parts and for a site like BR&K. I found the parts at Vin's site. During an E-discussion, I mentioned the need for a webzine for our kind of bike activity. Vin volunteered space and management for the site. I got pretty excited; then had to leave for California for a prolonged time, due to film work. Once I got back, and was into the swing of normal life, I discovered that Vin had set up a vast set of discussion lists on the Menotomy site. I couldn't see holding Vin to his original offer, because he obviously had a lot on his plate. So, I used the Custom Discussion List to establish contacts and get an idea of what people's interests are in this field. Thanks, Vin! From the above URL, you can explore the many lists of value to us, and check out the merchandise |
Harris Cyclery Home Page http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/ This is the late Sheldon Brown's stomping grounds. It is, by far, the most informative bike site I've found on the web. His glossary of bike terms could give Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary a run for its money. It's totally opinionated and incredibly far-ranging. The rest of the site is equally great, with lots of useful information. Sheldon is gone, but his information remains. |
Rivendell Bicycle Works http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/ None of that state-of-the-art stuff for these guys. They build what you would call retro bikes, except theirs aren't repops of balloon- tire classics, they're the skinnier-tire classic road bikes.The nice thing is, they also sell the bits and pieces that give those bikes their retro style. Kool, if you're into this type of thing. The site's got some nice educational features, as well. |
lovelylowrider http://www.lovelylowrider.com/ Like the Muscle Bikes they're based upon, not everybody loves Lowriders. As far as I'm concerned, though, time spent messing-around with bikes is time well spent, no matter what kind of bike it is. The greatest thing about Lowrider Bike culture is that a manufacturing base has grown up to fill its needs. Before I found outfits like lovelylowrider, I had to depend on local bike shops for overpriced, unattractive parts. Have you seen the quality of plating on a Wald fender? It looks like the back side of aluminum foil. And the prices are very reasonable, also. Those radial- spoked wheels we love so much wouldn't exist except for Lowrider culture, and since LRBs're mostly based on 20" Schwinns, they're a good way to keep that semi-pure Krate riding around cheaply. |
Rideable Bicycle Replicas http://www.hiwheel.com/ Another resource for LRB & kustom parts. They're also a source of replica highwheel bikes, pedicabs, and other exotica. They can recreate virtually any type of extinct wheel. They make an interesting creation called a PhatBike. It's a 26" lowboy cycle style of thing, with extended frame. Very interesting concept. |
Luxury Lowrider http://www.luxurylowrider.com/ Yet another source of LRB bikes and parts; but they also carry a lot of NOS parts for Schwinn Krates and others. I shouldn't tell anyone about this, but I'm a self-sacrificing kind of guy: they have NOS Shimano disc brakes! $40 apiece, or laced to any size wheel for $100. I want one so badly, I'll die if they sell them out before I get one. |
J&B Importers This company has almost everything you could possibly want if you're building, fixing or kustomizing a bike. And their prices are cheap, because they're basically a supplier to bike shops. Large quantities get more discount. It's pretty tough to get on their dealer list, but they'll fill adecent-sized order from an individual repairperson. The site has a form for ordering their monthly catalog. |
Bikesite http://bikesite.com/inside/index.shtml There are plenty of us who think that Mountain Bikes are overpriced and unneccesary yuppie toys. That, unless you're going up or down a mountain, or charging through the backwoods (and I know plenty of people who hate them for that reason alone), almost any other type of bike is more intelligent. Another of those culture differences. The MTB culture has produced its own benefits to the rest of us, a whole other world of parts for us to draw upon, (albeit, a hideously expensive one). Bikesite is a good source for everything to do with MTBs, including MudSluts, a vastly entertaining webzine. Check it out. |
Specialized These people build fantastic bikes. The things are extremely popular here in NYC; it seems that every other bike here has a Specialized decal on it. The qualities that make their bikes so tough off-road make them equally suited to the hellish environment of NY streets. I see a lot of old ones, also, so they obviously have what it takes to survive. Their website is very interesting and entertaining, as well. A special feature is a page devoted to their imaginitive Concept Bikes, by their brilliant design head, Robert Egger. I have recent experience with Specialized which has shown me another reason they are so popular: customer service. I found a bike in the trash. From the decal remnants, I was able to figure out that it was by Specialized. After finding the serial #, I sent an E-mail to Specialized asking for year and model information on it. I also mentioned that I wasn't the original owner, and that I'd trash- picked it. I wouldn't have been surprised if the inquiry were ignored. Not only was my information request not ignored, but Shawna Kuddes, of Specialzed Customer Service, went to a great deal of trouble to find the right information for me, culminating in my getting a fax of the appropriate tech literature page for my new/old 1989 Hard Rock. |
BikeIcons "A Unique Two-Wheeled Time Port to the Past" This is a good source of vintage bikes and parts. The site itself has a lot of good information. They're also a source for some modern iron- like classic repops and interesting conceptual rides, such as Phat Cycles choppers, etc. |
First Flight Bikes http://www.firstflightbikes.com/ This is another good source for bikes, vintage and otherwise. A recent tour of their parts department turned up lots of goodies, including NOS Shimano Disc Brake Hub kits for $40. |
Gaerlan Custom Cycles It's tough for most people to envision themselves building a bike frame from scratch. It's maybe conceivable to picture themselves hacksawing old frames apart and putting the pieces back together in interesting ways. True design freedom comes with a pile of virgin tubing in the right wall thicknesses and diameters. You can walk into a typical metal warehouse and buy almost anything you want- in 20' lengths. Assuming you'll eventually use it up, then it's maybe back to the scrap pile to cannibalize dropouts, etc. Gaerlan carries all the metal stocks needed to build frames- in the kinds of lengths you'd want to build one or two frames, with stuff like oval chainstay and fork blade stock, bottom bracket shells and head tubes without hacked-off stubs, etc. And they have dropouts ready to weld on. After you've made your dream frame, they have all the bits and pieces with which to turn it into a functioning bike. Sometimes, one-stop shopping has a high price on the convenience. Not so with Gaerlan, their prices are what I consider cheap. In the past couple of years, Gaerlan has also been positioning itself as the most comprehensive source for folding travel bikes. They carry folding tourers from 16-26" wheel sizes, and fitted cases for transporting them to your starting destination. |
Bicycle Forest Some more of our Canadian cousins, Bike Forest is an Ontario-based shop set up to build frames to your own design. A very cool aspect to their site is interactive frame-design software, which allows the design of a wide variety of frame types, from suspension MTBs to tandems. Very much fun! |
Recycled Cycles This is a Seattle-based shop which specializes in used parts of the Rivendell school of bikerodding. Lots of Campy and Suntour-type stuff, for the skinny-tire set, but cheaper than newer and crappier hardware. |
Mike Siewert's Rod Links http://fsra.org/rodlinks.html This is mostly to do with automotive rods & customs, but we're all part of kustom kulture, so it's a kindred site to us. Mike is also a bike head, which explains why we found his site while running a search for sites which have links to BR&K. You can see his Murray-based kustom in our Gallery. and it kicks ass, you may rest assured. |
Cyclecide This is a fun group from San Francisco. They put on bicycle rodeos. I've never seen one, but sources have told be that they put on a good spectacle. They have tallbike jousting, which is an interesting combination of two extremely weird things to do. Ahh....to be young and indestructable again! One of the extremely kool features of their shows is bicycle-technology-derived amusement rides for kids. |
GT/Dyno Kustom Kruisers So, maybe you want a kool kustom ride, and don't have the time or skills to build one yourself. No problemo, Dude. You can buy one. The KK site will direct you to the closest dealer. There are photos of all their models, and pictures of all their bikes, too. Yes, this is one of those bikini-babe sites. Nothin' queer about ol' Jim; but IMHO, if the bikes are sexy enough, the babes are a distraction. And these bikes are muy sexy, especially the stretch roadsters. You can also see all their sexy kustom parts, also, presented sans the T&A. |
Ed "Big Daddy" Roth- Official Site As the human face of the golden age of Kustom Kulture and its most brilliant practitioner, Ed Roth needs no props from us. Which is good, because we think his "official" site sucks. It's amazing that it's possible to build a web presence around one of the most brilliantly creative wild guys ever, and make it dull as a Romanian Auto Show. The doormat page consists of three unsharp photos which could have easily been rendered much crisper in Photoshop, as could their composition through a modicum of cropping. The photos show the Maestro in his trademark top-hat, as well as a tailcoat and gloves. looming over his latest show car- Stealth 2000; he is in turn loomed-over by huge amounts of sky, mountains, and desolate black-top-paving foreground. The vehicle itself, in spite of its name, is certainly not "stealthy", and it's the most old-fashioned- looking concept that's ever gone out under the "Big Daddy" aegis. Benefitting it with probably more irony than it would want to claim; it seems like a take on those flivver-ish roadsters Mickey Mouse drove in the old cartoons. It even has that vestigial Model-T hood contour. However, I don't think Walt drew running boards on his creation. If that's what those plank-like protrusions are, which stick out from the sides. Or maybe they're singularly-un-aerodynamic ground-effect aids? The thing's a design mess; more like a piece of long-lost juvenilia than a state-of-the-art Roth creation. The rest of the site is equally dismal., aside from a dull bio of a fascinating subject. The site sells Roth T-Shirts and Mini-Posters. That, and a tour schedule, are pretty much it. Whatever. My take on the site is that of extreme disappointment. Why even bother to have a site, if it can't be more entertaining than this? Von Franco may be a young pup at this stuff, but he understands fully that the idea of being an artist is to show-off your work, and entertain people. We mourn the loss of "Big Daddy", but the site still sucks. Any associated site, such as Mooneyes, adds more glory to his name than this dreary mess. |
S.C.U.L. Another chopper organization, this one in New England. The site is based upon the conceit that the bikes are spacecraft, and their "pilots" are members of a spacegoing para-military group. A very witty and well-written set of content. |
NACC Sidecar Notes It seems that there's an English association devoted to motorized bicycles. Motor-biking was much more prevalent in the UK than it was in the US or Canada. A relatively more prosperous working class in North America meant that most adult working males could afford to own some sort of automobile. Moto-bikes were mostly the province of children, albeit adolescents with newspaper delivery routes to support the moto expense. Considering the greater reliance upon bikes as sole personal vehicle in the UK and the Continent, it is no wonder that moto-biking was much more widespread and important there. So finding such a wealth of information and thinking on the subject at a British site is a treat. After all, one of the koolest kustom things you can do to a bike is to work a pretty motor into it, in a pleasing way, right? |
Sidecars are also another one of the koolest-looking things you can do to a bike. It requires several technical mechanisms unknown to normal bike tech. Therefore, in bicycle context, it's inherently more interesting looking. The styling of the sidecar fuselage adds a whole other set of creative possibilities. |
Just think, you have the fun of designing the sidecar, the greater kustom painting and graphics possibilities which accompany vastly greater surface area. And you get to think in terms of interior design and real upholstery. The Lowrider bike guys have amped-up (literally, in most cases) their creative possibilities with their trailers. As they already have a trike class, it's sort of odd that they've never gotten into sidecars. Considering that a sidecar, especially an occupied one, adds considerably to the workload of the powerplant, the Sidehack Kustom Moto-Bicycle category seems to be a natural show class. |
Aside from the informational aspects of The Sidecar Notes Archive of the Sidecar Section of the National Autocycle and Cyclemotor Club, it is also extremely witty and wordy in that endearing English manner. An excellent, entertaining site!NACC Home Page |
The cherry on top of this treat is that this group has a sidecar attached to it. Like moto-biking, bicycle sidecars were also much more important there.The combination of the two things seems especially sweet to me, in a Kustom sense. |
Joshua Putnam: Basic Brazing Information Steel bike frame sections are joined together using one of two methods-welding, which is faster and theoretically stronger, or brazing, which is usually strong enough for the job and a much neater process.. This article isn't a how-to piece, It gives basic information about the way brazing works and covers the different types of brazing. A good introduction for someone thinking about getting into it. |
Robert Williams:Two Interviews This entry would have been "Three Interviews" hadn't Carbon-14 online recently removed their excellent interview. Mr. Williams gives good interview. These are great, In addition to being a brilliant painter, as creator of the journal of lowbrow art and culture Juxtapoz; he is the current avatar of Kustom Kulture. We could be doing a lot worse, believe me. He's been amazingly influental to BR&K, in spite of the fact that he doesn't do bicycles. |
Bicycle Bill's Pages Bill's one of those balloon-tire guys, and an old acquaintance of ours. He's a professional photographer here in NYC, who also has a bad old-bike jones. To support the habit, he deals some of them on the side. Curiously enough, he doesn't show bikes from his own collection, for sale or otherwise, here. What he does have is a lot of nice old snapshots of people and their bikes and pedal-toys. Extremely useful are a pair of articles written by Bill, based upon his experience, which tell exactly how to properly pack a bike for shipping, and how to perform a good clean and fixup on an old bike, so it'll look good without serious restoration. |
Lightwheels, Inc. This is an alternate-transportation-oriented site located in Lower Manhattan. There is a store involved where one can buy Urban EV things and pedal-powered freight haulers. There's a proposal in the site for kid engineers to design their dream vehicles for a competition. We're going to challenge them to a showdown drag race between unlimited recumbents in Union Square next summer. |
Aluminum Anodizing This is an article on a UK site called: Workshop Techniques http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~chrish/techindx.htm It tells you everything you could possibly need to set up an aluminum anodizery (or whatever they call the setup.) Aluminum is a wonderful metal for bikerodders. Assuming that you have a basic machine shop, it is very easy to make into kustom parts. I've done some pretty impressive parts with only a hand drill, a sabre saw, and a hand-held belt sander. Aluminum may be worked and polished to a mirror (chrome-like) finish. Polished aluminum in its natural state will oxidize, however, so you will have to polish it fairly often to keep it looking chrome-like. Unless you anodize it. Anodization is a process which changes the normal oxidation process to form a tough layer of hard, transparent oxide on the surface. The final hardness is achieved by immersing the part in boiling water. Until the anodized surface is sealed in the boiling water, it will accept color dyes, including black. Color anodizing is one of the nicer options for aluminum chainrings, but many other parts can benefit from the jewel-like colors which may be attained rather simply with the process, once you're set up to do it. The article is extremely thorough in detailing every aspect of the process. It was written by a guy who manufactures aluminum telescopes at home. Not surprisingly, black is the most difficult color to achieve well, which makes the author's thoroughness understandable. An excellent piece of instruction. |
Psychocycles This site is chock full-O-stuff revolving around bike advocacy. Based in Ohio, it's well worth a visit. |
CARS-R-COFFINS This is a Minneapolis site devoted to single-speed bike racing and punk rock music Damn! Why didn't I think of that combo? Interestingly, the combo works. |
Unusual Human Powered Vehicles What a fascinating site! This and a link annex are compiled by Roger Gilmore, who is interested in the more unorthodox forms of HPV. It will give you links to every oddball method of making a machine travel from place to place by hand or foot propulsion. Not just land transport, either- he covers boats, submariness, ice-craft and air-craft.Who wudda thought there were so many? A must-see site, for people who appreciate outside-the-box thinking. |
Mooneyes Dean Moon was one of the pioneers of the original hot rod and kustom kulture He made and sold beautiful performance parts to drag and salt-flat racers, and the builders of street and show rods. In my youth, putting a set of Moon's spun-aluminum wheel discs on your car was the first thing you did, even before "souping-up" the engine, or de-chroming and painting it. Merely by the car's wearing them, you were establishing its credentials as a hot rod in progress. Once the car had the discs, it was entitled to wear the most famous logo associated with hot rodding- the Moon Eyes "Moon Equipped" decal. The decals are such kultural ikons that Mooneyes is now the name of the corporation, with a branch in Japan. They still carry the exquisite performance parts, but the line has been broadened to include a great many cultural/lifestyle items associated with Ed Roth's Rat Fink character. And bikes. The Mooneyes bike is made by GT/Dyno, and sports several hot-rod style components found only on this bike. And, they have Moon Discs as an option. Moon has offered the discs in bike sizes for years, for people building CA beach cruisers, originally, but now for kustom and hot-rod bikes in general. At one time the discs were comparatively inexpensive. Now, adding them as an option to your Moon Bike will set you back $300 for a set of four. It's worth it if you can afford it, because there's nothing else that comes close. Mooneyes also carries the Dyno Von Dutch bikes, and the Dyno Deuce Bike. |
International Bicycle Fund Described as "A non-governmental, nonprofit, advocacy organization, promoting sustainable transport and international understanding. Major areas of activity are non-motorized urban planning, economic development, bike safety education, responsible travel and cycle tourism, and cross-cultural, educational programs." IBF's site is a good resource for those looking for information on how to make the world better through the application of bike-think. |
Rad Bike This is Torrey Nelson's site to do with kustom biking. It's fairly new, so the content is limited, but what's there is good. |
Bowcycle An excellent site in Alberta, CA. Interestingly, they deal in both bikes and motos. If they also dealt in HotRods and their associated parts, we might never need another bookmark. This is one very slick site, and well worth a visit. They have an extremely nice gallery of classic bikes, too. |
CyclArt Jim Cunningham's CyclArt has been in operation since 1976, and has justly gained a solid reputation as a leading source of high-level restoration and kustom painting for bicycles. They have all the needed processes needed for restoration in-house, which adds to the efficiency of a job. This usually saves the customer some money. They do the paint, the decals, the leather work, the chrome-plating, whatever is required to do the job. I notice that they're now selling parts, and even whole bikes. These tend to be considerably pricier than Gordon T. Bradbury's junkers, and would all seem likely to benefit from some aspect of CyclArt's services, but they're very nice if you're into that vintage thing, and interested in adding to your collection. From our perspective, of course, we mostly see CyclArt in the role of high-level kustom painters. Some of the very nicest bikes in the BR&K gallery wear CyclArt finishes. |
South Prairie Custom Cycles The site of a BR&K Gallery denizen, devoted to Classic bicycle restoration and customization- specializing in vintage Schwinns and custom chopper fabrication. Jason shows lots of his bike projects, many of which are available for sale. Our favorite is a Ghost Restoration of a BF Goodrich "military bike", which is notable for a nicely-made and detailed potato cannon which it tows. Damn' clever! |
Bike Parts USA Building kustombikes isn't always about coming up with exotic parts and components; hell, those you can make, if you want them badly enough. Nope, mostly it's about finding ordinary parts, the kind you'd go to the Western Auto store for, or your local bike shop, when you were a kid. Your local bike shop will be glad to sell you a set of $40 bars for your BMX, or an alloy seatpost at NASA prices. Try walking in and scoring a set of 26 X 2.125 whitewalls, though. Won't happen in any bikeshop I've been in lately. And I haven't seen a Western Auto store in years. What you need is a web parts outlet that's got all that stuff that's in the J&B Importers catalog, but which they won't sell you unless you're a dealer. Bike Parts USA is our kind of place. Their prices seem very reasonable, especially when compared to some of the specialty outfits, or your local bike shop. They've got the chrome ducktail fenders, for example, just like the lowrider parts sources have, except for a few bucks cheaper. And, since they're not 20"-centric like the lowrider sources, the odds are that they have the stuff in 24" and 26" sizes. It's got so that I always check BPUSA first, when I'm looking for something, and they usually have it. And they take filling and shipping the orders seriously; unlike some of the LRB sources I could name, which seem to be run along the lines of a hobby activity. BPUSA is a great resource; everyone I've turned on to them always thanks me profusely for doing them the favor. |
Chopper Riding Urban Dwellers (C.R.U.D.) Yet another pack of rabid choppaholics, this one from San Francisco. Paul Engeman, a long-time dweller in our gallery is a member of this outfit. They do some really interesting rides, which are well worth studying. New England Muscle Bike Museum OK, so these are stock bikes in this collection, but at least they're kustom-style stockers. This site is a great resource for identifying that repainted carcass you're about to butcher; so you'll be able to tell your friends what you started out with. Professional Rake and Trail Calculator by RB Racing http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/advchoppercalc .html Suggested by Pat Mackey, this is on a motorcycle site, but the information should work for bikes, as well. I'm personally not qualified to write anything on the subject, although I can BS as well as the next guy. Check it out, before you take the hacksaw to that frame. |
Rockx ~ Custom Frameworks Joris has lots of great information for the prospective frame designer, with many handy tools, such as: ~ Rake & trail ~Maniken: a jointed human figure pattern ~Tube names & types ~ Mitering tubes ~ Drivetrain & hub ~ Chainring sizes ~ Custom chainrings ~ Custom spoke~patterns ~ Spokelength calculator ~ Units converter ~ Gauges ~ Tire & rim sizes ~ Some frame~distances ~ Standard dropout~spacings ~ Tap & drill sizes ~ Drilling and holesaw spindle speeds ~ Welding helmet shades |
Freak Bike Militia Founded in West Palm Beach FL, by Kenny Prather and friends, FBM is a fun-loving bunch devoted to cruising and partying, a popular concept with most of us in the kustombike movement. This explains the rapid spread of chapters around North America and the rest of the world. Rat Patrol Originally spawned in Chicago USA, Rat Patrol is also spreading; in this case as far as Africa, where it seems to be performing a genuinely humanitarian mission, in teaching the locals how to modify bikes to make them more suited to local conditions and needs. As I am an absolute sucker for this sort of concept, I can't praise the efforts of RP Founder Mr. Johnny Payphone and his cohorts too much. An additional plus is that RP has actually taken its message to Nashville, TN, of all places!. Having spent a decade in that dismal burg, in the space of a year, back in the late '60s, I can attest that Nashville needs the Rat Patrol spirit even more than Africa does. |
Chopaderos Outlaw Bicycle Club Another popular organization devoted to the social activities our kind of people like. Numerous chapters, maybe one near you. |
Choppers US http://www.choppersus.com Alan Discount, proprietor of CUS has become the greatest source of kustom parts, in a very short history. When CUS arrived, I knew that we had a viable movement going. Prices are good, and orders ship quickly. A great resource. |
