Bike Kill has long been a personal favorite holiday. Each year in October, the Black Label bicycle crew throws this event somewhere in Brooklyn (or sometimes Queens). Some kind of strange hybrid of a demolition derby, a block party, and a mutant vehicle parade, all with a hint of Mad Max mixed in, Bike Kill is a day to imbibe and rejoice with other bicycle, metalworking, and/or art enthusiasts. Black Label builds a large number of these “freak bikes” over the year, then bring them to the event - however, everyone is encouraged to participate. After several years of wanting to make a freak bike of my own, myself and two friends decided 2019 was the year.
We came up with a plan to build a “swing bike,” a bike which has a turning system similar to the front of the bike on the rear end as well. Using the carcasses of 3 stripped, rusting, twisted, and forgotten bicycles plus components from my personal parts bin (I’m a former professional bicycle mechanic and permanent bicycle enthusiast) we sliced up the frames with an angle grinder, serviced the parts that needed it, cobbled things together best we could, then got out the MIG stuck it all together. The result was remarkably good considering we didn’t test the frame’s geometry with wheels until it was completely finished. Although the bottom bracket was lower than desired due to the far-too-aggressive head tube angle, the bike was rideable as intended (and one of the more rideable bikes at bike kill that year). Unlike many Bike Kill bikes, ours survived and lives with one of the friends who collaborated on this project.
