Marty Eden: Message From Maui

I had been working on a couple of designs; and I was pretty excited and started to build. Funny how a flame can influence a kid. As soon as I had handed it to one, all the boys and their friends wanted to try as well. Over the past three weeks a total of 17 people have welded on this bike- just a little something we have been calling the Ripper! . It started out life as a pun to my drag car, a '68 Camaro, which is white with red interior. I called it Chicken Ripper at the races so it kinda stuck; and I think it's just hilarious! Anyway, I was thinking I needed a pit bike to match my car; and ideas started to flow. Funny though, how kids can influence change, as well.  Even though I had made the main structure for a

Okay, so I kinda took the summer off, you could say.  I didn't build any bikes until the past three weeks and this new bike, the Ripper was totally inspired and constructed with the help of some young folk I have grown to love like brothers and sisters. I moved a couple months ago, into a friend's house. He's a builder; and Bill, my good buddy, added an addition to his home, and I moved in! . Bill has five kids, well four, and an adopted son, you might say. Anyway, at first these boys were up to no good, you know, like bringing home bikes that don't belong to them. Mmmm, yep, I had to return one to the local bike shop; 'cause the last time I was in there I had seen it. Ooops! Needless to say, when they found out about it, I was hated from that moment on; that is, until I finally started to weld something!

24-inch chopper; when the kids all got together and I told them that if I continued with this bike, they really couldn't ride it cause it would be too big for them.  But, of course, I'm willing to conform; and that afternoon was convinced to make them a bike they can rip it up on! The Ripper was born, and over the last two weeks, a total of 17 kids all took a chance at learning to weld. I gotta tell ya the best of the bunch was a girl. Yep, she took excellent direction and we nearly finished the front end together. Thanks, Rochelle! Well, the kids would go to school every day, and bring a new friend home that afternoon. We had a blast building this bike.

Yes, I robbed the boys of all that glory of assembly, but got to unveil it to 'em at once; and they all were happy with the outcome. Now I will be the first to admit this bike is rough. The paint job is not a nice one- I should have done a day's more worth of grinding and polishing. Nope, this bike will never win a show; but what these kids helped accomplish makes me sure feel like a winner! .

Ours isn't perfect but very close. We welded that all the way around, and then cut off the extra tubing that was sticking out. I took pics of that, but I think they got lost. Anyway, the seat was next . I wanted again, nothing to do with a bolt-on seat- TOO EASY GUYS ! So we basically winged this together, funny how that works sometimes. We almost called this bike WINGER, by the way, LOL! So the next day it was on to making a fork. A bunch of kids had come by this day and I was toying with different ideas. Talking it over with the boys, I started putting something together like the Bandwagon bike, when Anthony says to me, "Flip it around"!

And yep, six kids all at once said, "That's sick!" . Hey, enough said about that, LOL . It was my focus to use this left-over Schwinn-style springer forktube; you know, it's got a tube on the bottom. Well, I figured that by just welding another tube to the top of the lock nut- BAM! It's totally easy guys; please everyone try this! Why haven't more guys toyed with the idea of girder forks ????? Anyway, I love this fork. I'm really happy these kids were around, 'cause I think it is about the sickest-looking thing I've done so far. What did I just say?  WE HAVE DONE, SO FAR!

The fork was a lot of work- about as much as the frame; but man it was so worth it ! The kids came up with something totally unique I feel, and it sure sets the bike off. OK, so on the next day, it was time to start final finish and polishing of the bike; I hate this part. Ever hold a grinder for a couple of hours? It will wear ya out!  I first went over all the welds with a flap disk. That was one day's work; then the next, I went around the whole frame, polishing it with these fiber disks I buy at my local welding shop. They look like a Scrunge pad, but round, and do they ever work good! But man- wear a mask, or you'll be picking a bunch of winners! .

At the end of that day we wiped it down and went over everything with a base coat of white. Do buy quality paint for this; those dollar cans of paint are crap- be warned ! We still had some daylight left, so on went that fluorescent yellow, and POW ! WOW what a color, but this is crap paint as well, the fluorescents, and it all cracked. Funny. the kids liked it and so did I; so we sprayed on more, LOL! Assembly happened the next morning, and I was so excited I forgot all about going to work. This is way more important,  right? Wheels on this bike were left over from a BMX bike I bought a while back. I just disassembled them, painted the rims and put them back together. It's a great way to add more color to your bike; and I think it makes this bike look fantastic!

We had a blast building this bike; and the boys are already bugging me to build the Chicken Ripper and more. So tune in next issue. God only knows what the King will have up his sleeve. In closing, I want to say I had a blast with these kids. We all learned so much together; and boy do I need to learn a lot about kids. Oh, they all got to me one day, they would keep sneaking up on me to slap my bald spot, it's irresistible, I know. Anyway, I finally blew up and took 'em all on in the front yard- six of them took ten minutes to finally get me on the ground, LOL! OK, it was more like a minute. I about died from exhaustion- those little farts! I dig 'em.

Anthony was great, and hung out for all of the building process. He did all my spot welding, and helped me mock everything up. We first made the main frame, then made two rear sides- one on top of the other. We eyeballed these well; making sure the rear axle was properly placed, then we spot welded them on, then we cut and made a nose piece, that's the point in between the chain- right in the middle of the bike. The next thing we did was drill holes in the rear end for the axle. I went to Home Depot and bought allen bolts that I had to shorten, and welded coupler nuts to the jam nuts on the axle this way; eliminating the need for axle nuts. I love this look, and hope to see everyone else who makes Kustom bikes follow suit with this idea. It's too easy you guys!!!!

Then, I carefully ground these holes until the tube I put in was square with the frame- very important, otherwise your wheel will be crooked in the frame!

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