Doomed from the start.

[GJunktionMike]

I keep getting asked why I build thing the way I do and how do I come up with my ideas. This got me to thinking (a real far stretch for me) back to one of my first build as 9 year old kid. I found a couple broken tricycles at my granddads junkyard (this would be the first give away that I was doomed) and took them home to fix.
So just for fun I made a list of possible out comes for the given age. Not knocking one way or another because I don’t think about being labeled as one thing or another. This is just for fun and to get you to thinking.

#1. Build it back original and be happy with the dinged up paint.
#2. Build it back original and spray bomb it with your choice of color.
#3. Sand it all down, build it back original and go back to original colors (with dad help).
#4. Sand it all down, build it back original and go hog wild on paint and chrome (with dad help).
#5. Because their junk, through them back.
#6. Dad out sourced the build.
#7. Reverse the handlebars and forks; flip it over slap a piece of wood on the back rails. Bomb it with what ever paint you can find in the shed. And pray to god that there is nothing in the road over 1” tall or you will high center.

Where did you fit in?

I was #7 [ddd

 

[MikeR]

Any pics of the trike build?

 

[Willowbilly3]

I'll have a beer

 

[sneakysnake]

I was a take parts from half a dozen to build one that worked. Frankenbike

 

[Neverdone]

I was a take parts from half a dozen to build one that worked. Frankenbike

That's where I was found also.

I remember one day in like 4th grade me and two friends where cannibalizing a stack of bicycles that were in a barn at my buddies house. The one we had the most fun with was an old 20" came out with a different set of forks, banana seat complete with sissy bar and a scooter wheel in the front. Couldn't make a corner or the pedals would hit the ground and you were done for, but it was good time!

 

[donsrods]

I fit into the category of not being able to leave anything alone, I had to cut up and modify everything. My Mom went to Western Auto (remember them ?) and bought me a brand new bike. As soon as I got it home I started pulling the fenders off and reversing the handle bars. A few years later she bought me a Sears riding mower to make my lawn mowing chores easier, and I immediately replaced the muffler with a straight piece of water pipe and removed the fenders. I tried changing the gear ratio, but that was too hard, so I bypassed the governor.

Her toaster stopped working so I tore it apart and put it back together. I had 13 parts left over (no fenders to remove this time ) but I shortened the springs that eject the toast. When the cycle was done it would eject the toast two feet into the air. I wasn't exactly what you would call a "bright" child. (and I still pull the fenders off of everything I build today)

Don

 

[Sam_Fear]

That's where I was found also.

I remember one day in like 4th grade me and two friends where cannibalizing a stack of bicycles that were in a barn at my buddies house. The one we had the most fun with was an old 20" came out with a different set of forks, banana seat complete with sissy bar and a scooter wheel in the front. Couldn't make a corner or the pedals would hit the ground and you were done for, but it was good time!

That sounds kinda like me. We'd cut off the forks from one bike and slide 'em up onto the forks of another and make a chopper out of it.

If you jumped one of those old 20" bikes off a 5' ramp and hit the brakes at the same time, you could take out ALL the spokes of the back wheel on landing. Learning moment: while in the air I realized that pile of bricks was a lot closer than it appeared then when on the ground. It was a perfect landing and I stopped very quick, but I also bent the frame and the ape bars. I think that's why Dad let me buy an electric guitar.

 

[maverickmk]

I am definitely a #7 kind of guy.

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

We'd cut off the forks from one bike and slide 'em up onto the forks of another and make a chopper out of it.

Haha! Did a couple of those myself! [cl

Bikes taught us to hang the term "suicide" on everything. They also made us familiar with the iodine bottle, providing that nice rust-colored stain.

BTW, ten-speeds make a terrible stunt cycle, those skinny wheels fold like a napkin.

 

[earthman]

Had a wagon that was built by a neighbor. The steel tub was gone so it had an
indestructible oak plank instead.Solid wagon wheels on the back and tricycle spokers on the front.
Discovered that if i flipped the axle and put it on top of the board i could steer it downhill with my feet and man did that board wagon look like a hotrod

 

[Ol Blue]

When my youngest brother was little, Big Wheels were the new thing so I flipped the frame on his trike and put the seat part of a child sized lawn chair on it and made like a Big Wheel.

Blue

 

[Tim...Ok]

I was definitely #7 but with parts from 3 or 4 other bikes thrown in to make it "better"..

there is still a pile of rusty bike parts behind the shed at my moms old house..

 

[GJunktionMike]

And this is what I do to wagons [ddd Now the grandson is doomed.