Tom Thumb Tiki bike

[Tommy Atoms]

As some of you may know or not know, some of us are having a mini buildoff at this years Detroit Autorama. http://www.forum.freakbikenation.com/ph ... f=6&t=2613 I decided to build a mini tiki bike in 50 days. Autorama is Feb. 26th-28th. See frame build below.

I'm working on accesories. Here is my headlight. I started by drawing my tiki god on a section of 3" exhaust pipe.

Next drill a few holes for my airsaw blade to slip in and begin cutting. Add lips and a nose and holes for eyes and were off to a good start.

More progress to come.

 

[Rodban]

Re: Tiki light ( Detroit Autorama mini buildoff)

Looks great! Hope to see a pic after Autorama :wink:

 

[Chainsaw]

Re: Tiki light ( Detroit Autorama mini buildoff)

Hey Tommy, The tiki is cool "as all get out"! Knowing the detail that you do on your bikes, I can hardly wait for Autorama. But knowing how much I've got to do ... I hope it takes forever to get here! :lol:

I kinda stole your idea of teasing the guys and posted my start up down in the Other Bikes section.

Looking forward to hanging with you in Motown!

 

[user 135]

Re: Tiki light ( Detroit Autorama mini buildoff)

I like the Porkchopper.

 

[Tommy Atoms]

Re: Tiki light ( Detroit Autorama mini buildoff)

Yeah I feel the same way. kinda a love hate thing. And to top it off I am finally getting over the flu followed by a very rough cold. I worked on my inside stuff like my display. So it wasn't a total loss.

 

[Tommy Atoms]

Re: Tiki light ( Detroit Autorama mini buildoff)

Well with the weeks winding down here I need to kick it up a notch. I have now added eye sockets and a top and bottom.

Here is a view from the back (the ugly side).

I also finally decided how I am going to light up the eyes. I picked this up at "the electronic connection" in Westland, MI. Plug. I am going to substitute the red LED's with these green ones (keeping with the tiki theme) that I had leftover from another project.

 

[sojudave]

Re: Tiki light ( Detroit Autorama buildoff) 2/6/10

That front end is mad-capped. Just one question, is it homemade? I mean, if mad max had a bicycle, it'd be that one.

 

[Tommy Atoms]

Re: Tiki light ( Detroit Autorama buildoff) 2/6/10

Nope, the front end is not homemde just homechopped. The forks are from a huffy porkchopper.

 

[yeshoney]

Re: Tiki light ( Detroit Autorama buildoff) 2/6/10

I have a cool seat for you. i saw the request in the WANTED section. Go check it for pics.

Joe

 

[Tommy Atoms]

Re: Tiki light ( Detroit Autorama buildoff) 2/6/10

Distractions, distractions! Well just when you think youre getting ahead of the game.....I get this.

So no heat in the shop till I get this guy processed. I was glad to get it, with my red meat supply getting low but it couldnt have come in the worst week with Autorama 2 weeks away and plenty enough to do already. But with the blood mopped up and the venison packed away in the freezer I push on. Here is the latest progress on the tiki lite. I added teeth and the backs of the eye sockets. And also made the battery mount (not visable) and the plate to seperate the batt. compartment and the circuit/led area. This should be done and ready for paint by the end of the day.

 

[Tommy Atoms]

Re: Tiki light ( Detroit Autorama buildoff) 2/14/10

After painting the tiki black, I decided I didnt like it so I sandblasted it off and went with dark brown instead. I feel the results are much better and good thing seeing we are only 5 days away from showtime. Now I will let it harden up for a day or so and install the electronics.

I also made the bracket to install it on the forks. Here is a sneak peak at the frame colors. I got it back earlier this week and was very happy with the paint work. See you this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Cobo hall.

 

[Tommy Atoms]

Re: Tiki light ( Detroit Autorama buildoff) 2/20/10

Thought I was done welding till I found out these massive handlebars had the wrong diameter for the goose neck. So fire up the miller one more time!

 

[Tommy Atoms]

Re: Tiki bike ( Detroit Autorama buildoff) 2/27/10

Well the autorama has been great so far so time to show my entry. I built this frame in 6 hours starting with only the rear triangle and the head tube.This frame used to belong to a Huffy Porkchopper 12 inch bike with training wheels.It had a plastic engine and a little plastic gas tank.

I then took the original handlebars and used them to make the bottom bar by chopping them in half and indexing them to form the s shape. The top bar is one that I made for another bike and didn't like it so it just seemed to fit this bike better so I used it. The 2 bars that go under the top bar are from a vista that I cut up for its tubing.The forks are the original forks with I think about 8 inches cut off at an angle. I then welded the axle tabs from the cut off tubes back on.

Here is the bike frame finished with the smaller apes on it. I actually used a pair of 24 inch bars on it for the Autorama.

I'll post the pictures of how the bike looks at Cobo hall tommorrow.

 

[wheelenwilly]

Re: Tiki bike ( Detroit Autorama buildoff)

I seen this build at the Detroit Autorama VERY NICE job.

 

[Tommy Atoms]

Re: Tiki bike ( Detroit Autorama buildoff)

Well even I cant believe it, but I pinched myself and Im not dreaming, that is a 1st place trophy sitting in front of it. The trophy is for lil custom cruizer class.

I told my son he could ride it in Cobo after the show but he only made it a couple of feet before almost dumping it on the concrete :shock: but hey he did get to ride it. Sorry no pics of that.

 

[wheelenwilly]

Re: Tiki bike ( Detroit Autorama buildoff)

I know what you mean about dumping it on the concrete. I dumped mine going at a pretty good clip last night that smooth concrete and those phat 3" skins it wuz like being on ICE.

 

[Tommy Atoms]

Re: Tiki bike ( Detroit Autorama buildoff)

Wow I missed that. Did Chainy ride his tall-bike?

 

[aka_locojoe]

Re: Tiki bike ( Detroit Autorama buildoff)

Congrats on the trophy. Cool bike!

 

[Chainsaw]

Re: Tiki bike ( Detroit Autorama buildoff)

No Tommy, I wussed out. LUCKILY! When we got home and unloaded, I realized that we never tightened the steering wheel! :shock: I'm sure that if I had rode it, I would have crashed! Gonna try to get some pics and video tomorrow or Thursday.
Congrats on the First place! Everyone I talked to wanted to extend the seat post and take it for a cruise. Thanks very much for putting up with us!
I will start posting pics tomorrow night.

 

[Tommy Atoms]

Re: Tiki bike ( Detroit Autorama buildoff)

Hey Jim I just want to thank you and Dora for looking out for my stuff when I wasnt there. Also for talking to the judges for me (when I wasnt there) that was just plain cool. I seem to always walk away right before important things happen. Everybody was great down there and I had a really good time hanging out with the freakbikers all weekend. Its also really cool how all of us recieved a trophy. There is some real talent in our area with these bikes.