El Loco was inspired by the "Bobber" style of Motorcycle Choppers popular in the 1940's, '50s and '60 and as such features a Springer style front end, Ape Hanger handlebars and 24" Front wheel and fat 20" Rear.

  The frame is constructed from a scrap BMX cycle and a frame that were sourced at a local Rubbish Tip (aka "Garbage Dump" in the USA) for £5 ($3). This same Tip also supplied the 24" Front wheel and tyre for free!

  As we were completely lacking any sort of pipe-bending facilities at this time the design restricted curved tubes to the crossbar only, which being quite a gentle curve we managed to bend by brute force alone!

  After cutting up and welding the two frames, it was time to try and incorporate the design feature that I wanted to have most, a "Suicide" or "Jockey" shifter, although in El Loco's case it operates a rear brake calliper, as the bike is gearless.

  After a lot of head scratching and design sketching it suddenly came to me that I could utilise the now redundant rear bottom bracket to provide a pivot for the shifter/brake. A quick bit of fabrication later and "Voila!" a working brake. We topped the lever off with a plastic skull for that authentic Bobber look.

  We finished El Loco with a quick smooth out of the welds with filler (Bondo) and then a few coats of Metallic Yellow paint, although the filling and paint will be redone at a later stage as we had to fill and spray the frame in one day to take part in our local (Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England) Carnival and it's not perfect at the moment!

Then it was a matter of fitting the Springer Forks, Ape Hangers, Electra brown leather Saddle and Grips and El Loco was complete....for now!