Happy Monday fellow builders. Hopefully everyone got some stuff done over the weekend. Not a whole lot of major stuff done, just finished up some more little stuff getting ready to get assembled here.
However, I finally finished up my first ratrod build and had to take it over to the park a couple times on Saturday. A snazzy Transformers Decepticon themed vintage folding bike I garbage picked out last year.
Did some paint work, and butchered up a Brats' cruiser and some Walgoose Mags. All my friends I show my collection to says this one is the coolest.
No major mods here, just a custom headbadge logo.
Yes, Chunkpunk is only my 2nd bike build I've done up with paint and such, everything else was just swapping parts around.
So, my goals for this bike and build were to try and build something that would defy imagination. Something that looked like a bike initially, but something that required a second take, then followed by a thorough look over to make sure what you were actually looking at. I really want people to think a legit time traveler actually whizzed by, or at the least that its a movie prop.
To do this, I had to tune every minute detail I can find. Some might say I am abit weird, or that this level of detail is excessive (painting washers?) but I want *EVERYONE* that looks at this to not find one part that hasn't been made to look the part of a post apocalyptic, highly stylized, baby eating time machine. This includes anyone that might even take it apart.
First off, the seat I'm using. It had steel rivets which were starting to rust out, as well as chrome bars. Can't have that. I want no part of those metals. Painted the rivets with some gold paint and a Qtip, leaving the rust Patina there and only going over the steel, as well as giving the bars a brass luster.
OCD? Maybe? But I plan on putting paint details on every nut, bolt, washer, crank plate, etc. Nothing on this bike can say that its a 2014 Walmart bike.
I had toyed around with a different color for the cranks, but with the predominately copper colored frame, I've found that having all of the additional pieces and parts contrast best in golds tones.
So, one of the biggest issues I'm trying to deal with on this build is to try and fool your eyes into thinking this is something more than a bicycle, let alone a brand new bike with completely modern MTB geometry. This bike in general has a bit longer wheelbase than a typical bike, but just looking at it in its unmolested state, its nothing special at all.
My plan to with this is to take your main visual focus away from where it typical would fall in on a bike, which is the main triangle area, with your eyes slightly moving to the front and back to get a complete picture. What I am going to try and do is to take that focus area and stretch it out all the way from the very rear of the bike, going up to the front of the bike.
By putting highly stylized elements at either end of the bike, it will not allow for you to just glance at it quickly. I want it to follow a logical flow of how something "could" work. Once it looks like it could work, then it has to be made to look fantastical, something out of this world or time and place.
Heres a quick mock up of the progress so far.
I have a few more tricks and styling elements up my sleeves. I just need to find the materials to make what I need. I find myself drifting more towards a Mad Max type Genre as opposed to the original steampunk I set out to do. I may or may not use some of the design elements I put in the thread already. I'm starting to think the EL wire and/or the Plasma Ball might throw off the general stylistic principles I'm going for.
What is to come of this bike? Find out next week!
Same fat time, same fat place!
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