Snake Farm

[StephenH]

Started on the snake box today. Most of what you see here will be covered by 1/8" pegboard in the finished bike, but something's got to hold the pegboard.

Due to the geometry of the frame and the angle mounts, I didn't have as deep of a box as i wanted (it has to clear the handlebars and the bolt on the underside of the stem). So I put the 1x2's below the bottom piece, so the sides will actually be a bit deeper than the bottom.

I didn't notice until I had all the pieces drilled that the plywood is just a slight bit too far back. My steel loop that goes around the head tube will interfere with the pegboard on the back of the box. So I'll have to notch out a little piece of pegboard at that point.

I'll have some more 1x2's running around the top of this, then a plywood or particle board lid with hinges at the rear. I'm pondering hanging rubber snakes from the front of it.

 

[StephenH]

Put the top runners around the box and attached the pegboard.
Part of the pegboard looks like it has no holes, that's just because there's not a 1x2 behind that part.
Still to come: A lid, black paint on the box, lettering of whatever I can work out (haven't figured out how to do that) and maybe some fake snakes.

 

[JoeyMac]

I think it would a pretty awesome bike if you kept a real snake in it.

But maybe not good for the snake.

 

[Markm]

cool!!

 

[StephenH]

Finished the snake box today.

Basically, I'm done with the construction here. I need to stencil lettering on it, and need to paint some of the shiny hardware.

If I was doing this with higher quality, I'd bend those angles so they held the box right down over the front wheel, which would also allow a deeper box. I didn't intend to slope the box quite that much. The geometry of the frame limited what I could do the way I went about it.

I'm not sure of the best way to go about lettering it. Homemade stencils cut from cardstock sounds like the best approach right now. I can print the letters on the cardstock and then cut them out. I had in mind that the lettering would look bad, but it has to to look bad in the right way. I'm after an old circus look, not a kindergartner-did-it look.

The live snake sounds like a cool idea, but I can't imagine that it would be that practical for me. I don't really want another pet to have to take care of. A real snake would hide in the corner when you wanted him to be hanging his head out the lid, and then would escape in the night when you wanted him to stay in there. I may dangle a couple of rubber snakes out the front of the lid. I've thought about building an electric rattler that would go off when someone opened the lid, or maybe just have a switch on the handlebars. Or a snake head raising the lid every now and again would be cool.

This bike is really too small for me to ride, and the ladies of the house for some reason seem not to appreciate the coolness of riding a rat Snake Farm bicycle. I can't imagine that.

 

[CCR]

listen to R.W.H. much ?

this bike looks as good as new and a lot cooler too !!!

as far as extras ... maybe somethin as simple as a rattle snake tail in the spokes to rattle around when cruisin... or not. looks good as she sits

 

[StephenH]

I've heard the song "Snake Farm" once or twice on the radio, not really a Ray Wylie Hubbard fan, though. The song is not really the inspiration for the bike, and I didn't think of the connection until I had thought of the idea. (I also considered "Snake Pit", but that doesn't fit the idea of a snake delivery bike as well.) The tone of the song actually fits the bike really well, except that the song has a sexual element that isn't intended here. I've thought about labeling the bike as "Garland Snake Farm" or something like that as opposed to just "Snake Farm" to avoid the connection.

 

[KOTA]

Wow! You took an inexpensive (cheap), girls bike from WalMart. And made it to something VERY COOL. 8) My hat's off to ya! Great job!

 

[StephenH]

Started in on the signage with homemade stencil. The paint dripped on a couple of the letters here, but it looked okay that way, so I left it.
It'll say "Garland" on the top line and "Snake Farm" on the middle line, those being in white. Haven't laid out the sides or the filler plate signs yet.

 

[StephenH]

The stencil wouldn't stick as close to the box as I wanted, and then I was having more trouble cutting it out, too, so I'm not too happy with the results, but it'll have to do for now. I used tape for the open dots in the A's and R's, and that is more distinct than the letter shapes.

 

[Boneshaker]

Next time you must discover the magic of spray adhesive.

 

[Gold Street Customs]

All you need now is a mount for a snake pole, My dad used to relocate rattlesnakes when he found them on his properity. Which would require me to hold the snake pole with the snake out of the window of his truck while driving down a bumpy road to release them in this washed out canyon.Ahh fun on the ranch :shock:

 

[GTCOMA]

Got my handlebars and stem in.
The handlebars aren't quite the shape I was thinking, I was expecting the handles to be pointing more straight back.

These are pretty crusty, but you can have them for the price of shipping. Just let me know

Bike is looking good!

 

[StephenH]

Thanks for the offer, but I'll stick with the ones I've got for now.

 

[StephenH]

Got the sides painted. Only thing left now is the filler board on the frame itself. Haven't decided what to put there.

 

[StephenH]

I downloaded a snake pattern for the side of the bike and made a stencil for that, painted it on each side, and then put the snake box back on:

Then after a trip to Rain Forest Cafe and the Dollar Store, I was able to deck it out some more:

 

[KOTA]

This bike is just too cool! It just keeps getting better! 8)

 

[Gold Street Customs]

Looking good, nice piece of hssssstory. :lol:

 

[karfer67]

i would have to have the head of the snake riged so that when you pedal it moved side to side. neat bike gotta love black and red