Fully-Faired Electro-Bike This bike is based upon the Ford Motor Company's Think Bike. This is the wilder, wheelie-poppin' kustom version of a typical recent electro-bike.Ape- hanger bars, way-back seating, and a sissy bar let baby-boomers go back to the future in a stylin' way. Integral wheelie bar helps keep the rubber side down. |
From Jim Wilson's S K E T C H P A D : |
1957 Plymouth Belvedere Promotional Bicycle. A Phantom Restoration. |
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This bike literally appeared to me in a dream. The day after Thanksgiving Day, having driven from Southern New Jersey to Manhattan, I dozed off on the sofa. I dreamed that I was driving again, when I passed a young woman riding something like this bicycle. I realized that it must be a rare example of a Chrysler Corp. promotional bike from the '50s. I pulled alongside the young woman and, using sign language, indicated a request to pull over so I could look at it. She did so, and I inspected it closely. It was really beautiful, and just like new. It had the actual auto taillight cluster at the rear, housed in a perfectly formed fiberglass replica of the 57 Plymouth tail fin. Hers was in the Fury trim pattern, in an aqua and white 2-tone paint job. The chrome Fury badge was in place on both |
Above: Trim Pattern of 1957 Plymouth Fury |
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Granted, this is an extreme example of a recreation of a bike which never actually existed, but it would be a really interesting kustom project, and a hit at shows, I'm sure. Other potential subjects for this style of phantom bike are other classic fins such as the '57 Chevy, '59 Cadillac, and many others. |
PHANTOM RESTORATION: These are bikes which have, essentially, been fixed-up and repainted. Superficially, they appear to be stock bikes of a given period and style. However, they are made up of whatever components the builder wishes to use. In addition to the workmanship and paint finish, phantom restos are judged by the cleverness of their make and model graphics and detailing; for a phantom resto may not be a duplicate of any actual bicycle ever made, but it should seem authentic to its given vintage. In many ways this is a research project similar to ones assigned college art history students: create a pastiche, done in the manner and subject type of a particular artist or school of art, which looks reasonably authentic. Cleverness, workmanship and finish quality will be judged on a scale of 1-5 each. |
sides of the fin. At the forward edge, under a replica of the auto's headlight brow, was a single headlight in a polished aluminum surround, reminiscent of the auto unit's. The fiberglass composite bodywork completely enclosed the frame of the basically-stock middleweight bike "chassis". Visual comparison shows that the down-tube edge of the shell matches the edge contour of the auto's flared front wheel opening. The auto's rear wheel opening edge contour is repeated at the bike's rear wheel location. I had just asked the young woman if she'd be willing to sell the bike. She had just said yes; and I was about to ask the price when my wife woke me to ask a question. Maybe that's why I remember the dream so vividly. The following day, I got on the computer and recreated the bike in Photoshop. The most usable image of the 57 Plymouth I could find was of this Belvedere model. The Fury model had a different trim arrangement, like a hockey- stick shape in chrome strips, sweeping up at the rear of the fin. This provided the separation for a second color of paint. The bicycle I used for making this sketch was a Columbia middleweight of the same period. Any similar frame would provide a good chassis. Some might prefer a balloon-tire frame for a more "retro-futuro" look. Either way the tires should be whitewall street treads. A kustom bike of this type would fall into the following class in the proposed IBRKA show rules: |
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Below: 1959 Cadillac bodywork on Ladies' Middleweight Frame. |
Side-By-Side Tandemized XR2s With "Mid-Car" Pod I've been thinking a lot about sidecars lately. While studying the XR2, I thought that a pair of them, locked together with S&S fittings and lightweight connecting tubes, would make a very efficient quadricycle. One or both XR2s could be fitted with assist-on-demand electric power, with the speed control slaving the speed of one motor to the others'. Front forks would be synced by removable Ackermann linkage. I had originally thought that there.could be a simple sling seat in the middle-for a child or groceries. The structure would also suited for the mounting of a composite pod. For passenger use, it could be fitted with a windshield and folding top, or a blown plastic streamlined canopy. |
Fully-Faired Electro-Bike This bike is based upon the Ford Motor Company's Think Bike. This is the wilder, wheelie-poppin' kustom version of a typical recent electro-bike.Ape- hanger bars, way-back seating, and a sissy bar let baby-boomers go back to the future in a stylin' way. Integral wheelie bar helps keep the rubber side down. |
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All designs and text Copyright 2000 Jim Wilson |