Atomic Zombie's Firecracker kids' chopper bicycle

Choppers aren't just for grownups, dude! In fact, with the abundance of little kids' bikes at yard sales, scrap yards and dumpsters, it only makes sense that this had to be done. Even brand new, a 12-inch wheel kids bike will only set you back a little more than 50 bucks.

As for learning to ride a chopper, kids just don't seem to know the difference - they wobble around on the bike without a care in the world. Most kids that tried the small choppers that I made, could ride them on the first try. I guess if you're not used to a standard bicycle yet it may even be easier to master a chopper. Old dogs, new tricks, you get the idea.

More cool projects can be found at: http://www.chopzone.com and
http://www.atomiczombie.com

Step 1: Choose the donor bike

Because of the size of the tubing on these bikes, and the fact that the rider will not weight very much, a single tube can be used to extend the frame into a chopper. Notice the oversized down tube on this bike (Photo 1), it will be easy to lengthen this to create a stretched frame chopper.

Comments

[duckman633]

I wish i could weld 2 but i cant

do you what i should do

[I luv Duct Tape]

learn

[TSC]

Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fortneja]

If you didn't need to extend the forks much, you could just use the fork off a full size adult bike. Just an idea if you want to do as little welding as possible.

[duck_tape_]

exactly what I was thinking.

[Robot Lover]

my friend made an electro- magnetic one and had shockks

[camholland]

im like 16 and i have a motor ona bike like this i think it wud b sweet if i had it a chopper

[pandaboy292]

when i was little my grandpa put a steering wheel from a go cart on my bike.

[clickdeath]

dunno if im into the lack of brakes, but kids seem tough enough to take a few tumbles every now and then!!

[hyperactiveguy]

in America coaster brakes are the standard for kid's bikes (you pedal backwards to stop), not like in England or other countries where those handle brakes are used...coaster brakes give a cleaner look to the bike and don't wear down like other brakes.

[sory24712]

lol that why trees are here to stop us

[davetp425]

It probably brakes when you pedal backwards; a lot of kids' bikes do that instead of a handbrake.

[metaljoe0]

it's got caster brakes, thats what that little tab attached to the rear hub is for. you can see it well on the breakdown photo.

[bedbugg2]

so simple!

[lemonie]

The before & after says it all, this chopper is way cooler than the bike you started with.

[VirtualJWN]

Cool and nicely done. I built one of these for my younger cousin when I was about 12. Worked well on pavement. not so great on gravel. Caster (or camber????) on wheel changed too quickly to steer effectively.

[Crash2108]

This was on the news...

http://kutv.com/peterrosen

Second movie, near the end

[pazu]

It's cool! I like it, but I don't know if I can make a modification like you or not.

[KoolKat]

Sure you can! Check out http://www.atomiczombie.com .
Lots of folks in the builder's forum are newbies and creating some very cool chops.

[bigboybob]

that is the pimp mobile right ther

[KoolKat]

The little girls were checking out our young rider and he loved every minute of it! Sweeeet!

[TheCheese9921]

i say get the kid a miny bike and let im go at it

[KoolKat]

It has a coaster brake.

[CementTruck]

It might be cool to extend the pedal crank housing forward and use a banana seat. This way the kids aren't sitting so stiff and vertical, but rather laid, just like the bike. The banana seat could hang slightly over the back seat, and you could lean the handle bars back even farther. Just a thought.. Hmm....forget the crank housing extension. Can you say weedeater motor with a torque converter?