Rear fork

And here is about two hours of work...

These will become the rear fork.

Picked up Some Steel at Lunch Time Today!

2 - 6 foot lengths of 1.5 inch, 14 gauge, square mild steel tubing. Cannot wait to get cutting.

Atomic Zombies!

I've been into bikes since I was a kid. I used to customize my bikes and make tweaks to them. I loved bikes so much that I was more interested in getting new bike equipment than bothering with a car. 1996 changed everything for me. I was riding my mountain bike in Palmer Park (Colorado Springs) and had a bit of an accident. I landed head first and the next thing I knew I was laying there getting slapped by a couple of buddies who were trying to wake me up. Luckily, I didn't break my neck or back. I did end up with a pretty messed up shoulder and collar-bone. My helmet (Bell Image) was pretty much pulverized.

Since then, my enjoyment of standard upright bicycles has just not been what it was. Not because of fear or anything like that, it's just very uncomfortable to put weight on my shoulder the way you have to if you want to rip down a trail. Then came the tadpole trike. 

I bought a TerraTrike from Angletech Cycles and fell in love with biking all over again. Sitting in a reclined position all of your weight is on your backside. My trike had the 3-speed Sturmey Archer transmission though and it really was not suited for dirt or hills. I took it off road anyhow but I digress.

I recently discovered a site called Atomic Zombie. It's run by this guy named Brad and his girlfriend Kat. They have a whole different take on what building bikes is all about. They build them with inexpensive tools and recycled bike parts. 

They sell plans and have an online forum where a community of bike building enthusiast-amateurs support one another and experiment.

I'm hooked.

Yesterday I finally picked up two donor bikes from Goodwill (19.99$ USD each) and spent a couple of hours doing a bike autopsy. 

I nearly used up an entire grinding disc on my Harbor Freight angle grinder. So far I've cleaned up the rear triangle in preparation for the trike build.

This blog is intended to be a journal of my bike building endeavors. Enjoy my journey with me.