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Last Updated:
Mar 19th, 2008 - 07:43:02 |
Rat Rides:
Freak Bike Militia
The first time I saw the bike, I noticed the abnormally tall sissy bar, the duct taped flashlights functioning as high and low beam headlights, and the plumbing parts-cum-frame sections, but I definitely did not know that the seat was made out of an old pair of underwear.
Welcome to the Freak Bike Militia.
What began as a small movement out of Florida in 2003 has gone global, with numerous freakbike groups organizing worldwide. It’s a hobby for most, a lifestyle for some. The purpose? “You just try to make something that’s rideable and looks crazy,” says FreakBike Militia: Great Lakes Region member Jeremy Tanner of Davison. “Just start cutting pieces up and welding them together and see what you come up with.”
The Great Lakes chapter of the FreakBike Militia was co-founded by Jim and Dora Johnson of Holly, along with friend Bud Herz, in 2003 and extends across Michigan. Jim admits that the wild rides aren’t the couple’s first foray into wacky extracurricular pursuits. “We used to do pig wrestling,” he says, “tug of war, mud volleyball … For our wedding, it was a pro wrestling-type wedding. We had a guy who was like 6’8”, 350 pounds — a minister friend of mine — we dressed him up as a referee and he married us. Everybody came dressed as their favorite wrestler.” That underwear-based bicycle seat I mentioned earlier? They were Jim’s old pair — emblazoned with the N.W.O. logo.
The bikes themselves tend to look like a cross between a junkyard monster and a rolling outsider art sculpture — which is understandable, given that most of the components come from garbage picking. “You go out on garbage night and find out what people’s thrown away,” Jim says of how the bikes begin life as he gives a guided tour of one such creation. “This bike over here’s got all kinds of plumbing parts on it. This part and this part is off of a HealthRider exercise machine. These are off of a couple different BMX bikes. These are steel Weed Eater shafts.”
“You know what night to go out for which area,” Jeremy says standing next to his super-stretched red sparkle freakbike before detailing its motley origins: “I just grabbed a frame off my rack — [Jim and I] both have, what, 20-30 frames (in their garages) — and I just started cutting it. I looked and seen the exercise bike and thought, ‘Hey, that’ll work good for the other tubes,’ and just started going at it.”
These self-proclaimed "freaks" aren’t alone. “We’ve got about 20 people so far that are pretty active,” Jim says of the Great Lakes chapter. “But if everybody would show, we’d probably have 40-50 people. We’ve got a couple guys, we call ‘em our ‘Exchange Freaks.’ One is from Amsterdam, and we got a couple from Germany ... It’s all over the place.”
Before he came to freakbikes, Jim did wing eating contests. “I was ‘Chainsaw’ in there,” Jim says of his nickname in that other weird world. “Did that for a little while, a couple other eating contests … as you get older, you slow up a little.” At this, surrounded by freaky bikes and good friends, Jim and Dora laugh. | RDW
FreakBike Militia: Great Lakes Region will host a ride in Owosso on August 19 at 10 a.m. beginning at House of Wheels bike shop; and another ride on September 2 in Clarkston.
More info: freakbikenation.net
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