SCUL Boston Bicycle Chopper Gang

One fateful morning I pondered "What would a tallbike look like if it weren't made from other bikes?" — so I made this sketch. I used a lot of curvy, cruiser-style frames as building blocks for my previous builds. While straight tubes make lighter bike frames than curved ones, curves seems to make sense on a tallbike.

I spent the next few weeks expanding and evolving my doodle into a full-scale Illustrator template, complete with cut list. I used the line tool and set the width to the tubing diameter to draw the tubes. I do all my design work at actual size and scale.

Tile printed on tabloid-sized paper, the blueprint was laid on the shop floor for reference, to make sure the bends were correct and everything fit as I formed and machined each tube one at a time.

I've welded hundreds of bicycle frames, but alignment is a lot more tricky when you have no fixtures or jigs, particularly the rear triangle of the frame.

After weeks of nights and weekend sessions, it was thrilling to see this project literally leap off the page.

This tallbike was a build of epic proportions. If I wasn't working, sleeping, or eating, I was at the shop making progress nights, weekends and holidays.

I wanted the headbadge for this bicycle to be something special, so I put a great deal of work into it. Starting with pencil drawings, I used a light board to ink the illustration before digitizing and then vectorizing the image in Illustrator. The image needs to be made negative: the toner acts as a resist for the copper etching. The design needs to be horizontally because it's applied face-down on the copper.

The toner was heat-transferred to the copper using a lamination machine, then the badge was placed in an acid bath to etch my design into the copper. Afterwards it was time to cut, bend, polish, epoxy, and fasten it to the frame. Surprisingly, when cutting copper sheet, tin snips were not as effective as my sturdy pair of scissors.

It's not often you get to place your headbadge at eye level. Applying the badge to the bike frame was tricky because it wraps more than halfway around the head tube. I used epoxy and zip ties to hold it in place while the glue set up.

It is nearly impossible for an existing bike to be retrofitted for internal wiring since the all the joints need internal holes for the wires to pass through. Bikes with electronics tend have a lot of messy wiring, but this one's built to be super clean.

I have built a lot of modified and electrified bicycles over the decades, but this one is exciting because the everything is compact and discreet. This little box houses a master switch, a circuit breaker, a meter, and a preamp for the sound system. There's a stereo amp in an identical box with heat sink on the other side of the frame.

Here is Syntax Error completed, 100% accurate to the design. I did everything except apply the paint. There is no other bicycle like this one on the planet.

Since it's christening, I have logged over 1,000 official miles on over fifty SCUL missions, including three centuries. Note the addition of panniers — and the subwoofer on the other side.

Styling elements for print with double-sided printing and very tight registration makes for some very tricky CSS styling and even customization for the printer, but the project was a big success and well worth the effort.

Each pilot, ship, and mission card contains complex and current statistical data, along with the a link to their relevant webpage.

The original card pack wrappers were printed on yellow paper, cut and folded around the pack, which contained nine cards, a sticker version of a card, and gum. The new wrappers are sourced envelopes and a silver foil sticker print to seal it, which are much easier to make.

Every SCUL pilot page, ship page, or mission page with an image has their own corresponding SCUL trading card.

Thanks to our extensive data retention, the total number of trading cards exceed 2,700 — many of which have stats that update to time of printing, giving a snapshot in time for active ships and pilots.

People can order normal, randomized silver packs, or custom-pick their card set pack at the gold-level.

Halloween Ride Poster

This print poster is used to promote SCUL's annual public Halloween ride: each season I repurpose the design by updating colorways, which works well for an annual event. We've drawn people from all over New England for this ride.

Orbital Pass

SCUL pilots can get a seasonal 'orbital flypass' which covers all mission dues for one pilot for one orbit around the sun. As proof of purchase, they are issued these fancy laminated cards.

The designs were updated each season with the collector in mind - some pilots fly for decades!

Cup Crusher

Playful Illustrations

I made a half-dozen of these doodles to be used for cheap stickers: this one is a good representation of the playful, loosely inked style.

Recently the 'cup-crusher' made the big-time as a tee-shirt and musette bag design.