The Chain Reaction

Photo: Sam Milianta
When it comes to the freak bike/mutantbike/franken bike genre, tall bikes areking. A freak bike is any bicycle thatisn't a normal bicycle and was built forfun. Most commonly they are madefrom recycled bicycle parts and includeswing bikes, tall bikes and choppers toname just a few. Lately tallbike sightings in Salt LakeCity are becoming morefrequent.

Tall bikes date back tothe late 1800s. The mostfamous model, the GiraffeLamplighter's bicycle, wasbuilt in 1898 by RecordManufacturing Company.Its seat was over seven feettall, and was used daily bylamplighters to light gasstreet lamps in Chicagoand New York City. Fromthe early 1900s up to theearly 1970s, tall bikeswere common in manylarge cities in the USA andEurope. In these placesthe tall bike was used inparades, circuses and evenfor casual uses and speed.The actual production on tallbikes seemed to fizzle outshortly after gas lamps werereplaced with electric onesand the smaller modernbicycle started to becomemore practical. In the 70sand 80s, tall bikes became somethingmade at home for fun. As sleek newtechnology in bicycles became thenorm, the tall bike became less commoneventually to the point of practicalextinction.

The tall bike's recent popularity,however, was kick-started by the BlackLabel Bike Club in Minneapolis, Minn.Black Label, started by Jacob Houleand Per Hanson in 1992, was the firstofficial outlaw bicycle club with theirbest known chapter in New York City.Their DIY tall bikes were an immediatehit with industrious and light-heartedcyclists around the country and spurredmany other freak-bike clubs such asSCUL in Massachusetts, Rat Patrol in Chicago,Dead Baby Bikes in Seattle and C.h.u.n.k. 666in Portland and New York City. This summer agroup of freak-bike enthusiasts have been ridingin organized rides right here in Salt Lake City.

Currently without a name of their own, but ridingwith others from the Salt Lake City BicycleBrigade, this SLC group of freak bikers are justin it for the DIY fun. Kemmer Evans, a Sandyresident and pioneer of the SLC tall bike group,started building tall bikes for just that reason."I think that something that is that much funand doesn't really cost anything will just keepcatching on. The bikes are recycled and thewelder is borrowed," he says.

Reasons for gettinginto tall bikes are similar across the board. "I hadto be a part of it," says Mark Polichette, whomoved to SLC for work and school. Polichettebuilt his tall bike after meeting Evans and ridinghis. "After riding Kemmer's bike and seeing thebikes he built I had to build one to show himup," he says. Emeliniano Hidalgo, a SLC localand more recent tall bike convert, got into ridingtall bikes after Polichette let him ride his. "I wasscared to ride it at first, but once I got it I didn'twant to stop," says Hidalgo. Earlier this summerthey built a new tall bike together for Hidalgo and he hasn'tlooked back. The chain reaction has just continued with Hidalgo."When I let other people ride it they have fun and that's the mainthing. That's what we do," he says.For Evans and the others, the DIY spirit involved in building tallbikes is a party all on its own. "There are so many ways you canpull from waste: exercise bikes, furniture... almost anything canwork," says Evans. The basic tall bike is made by welding twoor more bike frames together. "I used two mountain bike framesand kept most of the mountain bike components," says Hidalgo.Once the frames areattached, the drivetrain is extendedto meet it's newelevated demands.Hidalgo explains:"The chain is fixed toone gear, but it stillhas a free wheel."One of the greatestchallenges of ridinga tall bike is the factthat you can't justput your foot downand stop for a periodof time. Hidalgo hasbecome a pro in thefew months he's hada tall bike. "To stopI just hop off, but toslow down I do havea front break." Oncemounted, the tall bikerides remarkably likea normal bicycle, butthe general publicdoes not treat it likeone.

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Comments on this article

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Chainsaw

Great article! If anyone would like to talk about their FreakBikes, feel free to join our messageboard! www.freakbikenation.com We have a section on our board where you guys can post any of your upcoming FreakBike rides or any other "off the wall" type of bike events. Thanks, We can always use a few more Freaks!

Posted on January 8, 2012 by AlisaWilcox

I guess that to receive the home loans from creditors you should present a good reason. But, once I have received a short term loan, just because I wanted to buy a bike.

 

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