OUTDOORS
Freakbike Militia
May 1st, 2006
South Florida's New Craze!
We’ve all seen the custom choppers that line the front of every local bar. Attend any bike show and you’ll drool at dozens of custom bikes, chromed out and loaded with fancy parts. Those beauties are great for the guys that can afford them, but what about the guys that just like to tinker with some scrap metal and turn their tinkering into rolling masterpieces? Since most of us don’t have thousands of dollars to drop on these customs, ever wonder what you could build with some scrap metal in your garage?
While on a recent trip to South Florida, I ran into an old friend I used to ride mountain bikes with. Mountain Bikes in Florida? I know, it’s sort of an oxy-moron, but there used to be a few local trails that were surprisingly fun to ride. Fast forward ten years and the development has bulldozed everything we used to ride to make way for another strip mall; so no more mountain biking.
With a huge biking community and no where to ride, what did all these guys do? They started a new group of bikers and rather than save up thousands of dollars for the latest and greatest new gadget, or the lightest piece of carbon fiber you could afford, they started building bikes from scrap pieces they found lying around. Mixing pieces of old fence post with an IV Bag Holder, maybe a sink faucet part welded onto a fancy custom fork, anything they could get there hands on to make their bikes standout from the store bought cookie cutter rigs. Sort of like the story we did on Rat Rod’s last spring, these bikes are very similar.
I hate to use the word ‘Chopper,’ because it’s so over played these days. With every guy and his brother sporting a West Coast Choppers sticker on their vehicle, most not even owning a bike to begin with, 90% are just posers. But back in 2003 before the chopper thing had really taken off, Ken Prather said to his ol’ South Florida mountain biking friends, let’s do a Chopper Ride. Think Custom Chopper meets Back Yard welding machine and you’ll get an idea of Ken Prather and his rolling works of art, or Freak Bikes as they like to call them. Prather said “For this first theme ride, everyone created Choppers. They built the bikes with anything they could get their hands on.” Ken handed out flyers and even made up some trophies for the guys who showed up with the coolest looking bikes.
A new light was starting to shine on the South Florida biking community and suddenly they had something to channel this love of everything with two wheels toward. The plan was to meet up and ride their newly made Choppers right into downtown West Palm Beach while playing some goofy games. Sort of a Freak Bike get together. On that first ride 47 riders showed up. Not a bad showing for a brand new club. With each month, a different theme was chosen and new bikes were made to go with that theme. One theme was a Hillbilly Ride, the guy who won built a custom three wheel bike that resembled a John Deere tractor. They had a Colors Ride where everyone had to design their best Colors similar to the Motorcycle world. A Road Warrior Ride and for Halloween they all dressed in costumes and stopped people on the sidewalks as over 150 riders from all over the state showed up to cruise down the street. Every month it’s a different theme and each participant makes a new bike just for that ride.
I don’t think Ken originally planned on this taking off the way it has. They call their club the “Freak Bike Militia” and have grown from a few guys getting together for monthly rides, to hundreds of riders coming from all over the state literally taking over the downtown West Palm Beach area. There are off-shoots all over the country, web forums for riders to share new ideas and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger with each ride. The best part; most of the bikes are made with 100% recycled parts.
Prather says he finds most of his parts in the trash and to see the collection he has in his back yard, you’d think he was running a bike shop right out of his house. He recently sold two of his creations to a woman in Miami so she could hang them in her house as pieces of art work! Not bad for a self taught welder that was just looking for an outlet on his lost Mountain Biking energy.
Check out Ken’s Latest bike that he is building for a Canadian Bike Build Off. This isn’t just some lame ten speed, we’re talking some serious thought and creative techniques put together. Here is the story behind the latest work of art.
The Amputee... A Tribute to the Late Great Lumberjack, Franklin Bernard Mitchell of Elk County.
Since I am in the U.S.A. and my entry had to have a Canadian Theme to it, this build is a ‘Tribute’ to a Great Canadian, rather than a "theme". I hope the judges find it worthy.
Legend has it that in the winter of 1896, Lumberjack Franklin Bernard Mitchell (FBM) lost his way in unfamiliar territory in the Manitoba Mountain Region. After several weeks in the cold, a storm came through and lightning hit nearby and gave FBM fire to keep warm. It also gave him fire to cook, although there was nothing to cook, no animals anywhere to trap...... he took a lace from his boot and tied it tightly around the upper part of left his arm to cut off circulation. After an hour, when the arm was numb, he took out his pocket knife and dismembered the arm. He then cooked his own arm over the fire!
The protein in the meat of his arm was enough to get him through another few days but with no rescue in site it wasn’t long before he thought about which leg was going to go.
FBM did the same to his left leg, using the lace and knife to remove it, and the fire to cook it.
Rangers found his body near the Colonago River, 2 months after his disappearance. They say he hopped for over 15 miles from his makeshift campfire to where he was found.
This build is dedicated to FBM.
The Bikes Stats.
*single sided Springer fork leg (which actually works!)
*one chain stay
*Friction brake lever for pretty sparks while riding at night!
*Maple Syrup Patina Paint job
*A picture of The Legend himself on the Tank
*OCC Rear wheel and tire, WCC front wheel and tire, saddle, tank and bars
*Brass goodies from a plumber friend
*grips, skull, chain, spring etc...all leftovers I had lying under the work bench
*Build time. Less time than FBM was lost!
*Total Cost, $2.00 Dollars. Like Franklin, I used what I had and found what I needed. The 2 bucks was for Rattle can Black and Clear coat paint.
*The frame, like the story of FBM, was completely made from scratch. LOL
Editors Note: How long did he have to search to find a legend with the guy’s initials matching the initials of his Bike Group? FBM = Freak Bike Militia
For more of Ken’s work or information about the Freak Bike Militia, go to www.chopperbicycle.net and click on "gallery."
Also read up on Freak Bike Militia’s around the World on www.bikerodnkustom4.homestead.com which also has a interview with Ken Prather this month! My story is very miniscule compared to this interview, you should definitely click on this link to read this interview which is much more intense and explains a lot about this famous builder in the Freak Bike World!! http://bikerodnkustom4.homestead.com/kennyp_interview.html
Check the Web site for specific dates and times of upcoming events or to see if there is anything in your area.
By Pat Bonish – Photos by Ken Prather
Got something to say about this article? Email us at info@smalltownlowdown.com
