Alt Bike Culture - Snake Farm Bicycle

On another website, they were having a rat rod bicycle build-off, so I tried my hand at it. Thought y'all might be interested. Not pretty, but it's different.

I started with a cheap Kent women's bike that we bought a couple of years ago:
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/SnakeFarm/SnakeFarm1.jpg

Made some minor styling changes:
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/SnakeFarm/SnakeFarm5.jpg

Prepped it by masking off what I didn't want to paint and used some good ol' 99 cent spray paint:
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/SnakeFarm/SnakeFarm7.jpg

Added some snake box supports:
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/SnakeFarm/SnakeFarm9.jpg

Painted the rims red:
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/SnakeFarm/SnakeFarm10.jpg

Put a seat I had laying around on it, got new handlebars and stem to clear the snake box:
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/SnakeFarm/SnakeFarm15.jpg

Built a snake box with pegboard and scrap wood:
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/SnakeFarm/SnakeFarm16.jpg

Did some stenciling to the best of my abilities (and downloaded a snake image for the frame):
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/SnakeFarm/SnakeFarm24A.jpg

Rounded up some snakes from Rain Forest Cafe and the Dollar Tree:
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/SnakeFarm/SnakeFarm26.jpg

Now to find a rider.

sweet. I would totally ride that thing!

Very nice transformation :thumb:

looks good

but who would argue with some one that has a box of snakes

It looks waaaaay better than old blue.......:thumb:

that thing is pure awesomeness :D

so cool. never thought of using aluminum foil as masking tape.
now all you need is to make it so that when the wheels spin, it makes the snakes squirm.
i bet at speed, peds don't notice they're rubber./

that's a pretty nice seat for something you just had layin' around!

:thumb:

Several months ago, I got an Arpan India-made low-gravity bicycle. That seat is what came with it. It's similar to some of the Brooks seats, but the cover is rigid plastic, not leather. The springs are bent so that the seat leans to one side slightly, though not visible in the photo. So it looks cool from a distance, but is not really worth much.

I thought of different schemes to liven the snakes up. One was to mount a weight where when you hit the brake, the weight would slide forward and push the cover open with a snakehead. Another idea was an electric rattler, either rigged up to rattle from a handlebar switch or when the lid is opened. But I haven't progressed beyond the dreaming stage on either idea. (It might be a better way to clear the MUP when i rode through.) Right now, the snakes are just set there and are not attached. The big coral snake on top would actually slide off if you rode with him there.

awesome.

have you ever seen the prank/novelty "rattlesnake eggs" envelopes they sell at tourist shops?

it's basically a paperclip type frame, a rubber band, and a washer. you wind up the washer, so that when someone opens the envelope, the washer unwinds, makes a lot of rattle type noise, and freaks the victim out.

i'm thinking you could do something similar, but on a larger scale, for showing off the bike/theft protection...

Do you have radio in there somewhere playing Ray Wiley Hubbard?

There's sure room for some sound, and the pegboard would let it out.

Actually, somebody else asked me about that. The "Snake Farm" song wasn't really the inspiration for the bike, although the tone of the song fits what I had in mind for the bike. But the song also has a sexual element which I didn't have in mind here, and that was one reason I went ahead and labeled it "Garland Snake Farm" instead of just generic "Snake Farm".

On the rattler idea, I haven't really planned that out. It would probably be something more like an electric motor driving a paddle in an envelope or envelope substitute. But it would take a bit of experimenting.

If you don't like "Snake Farm", then "Cooler 'n Hell" would be just about as appropriate.

Very nice. Would not believe the end product started as a ladies bike.

It's an anti-rat rod bike now;)

It's an anti-rat rod bike now;)

be even funnier if it was a Mongoose :lol:

Beautiful. Hmmm...I wonder if I could get the three snake boys to put up with riding around in a box like that?

East Hill

Looking nice

Now you've got me curious as to what the three snake boys are...

Now you've got me curious as to what the three snake boys are...

Mr. Bump--Pueblan milksnake, apricot variety
Mr. Whump--Durango Mountain kingsnake
Mr. Che--Sinaloan milksnake

East Hill

Oh cool, you need a bike just like this. Need to train one snake to hang his head out to help clear the bike trail.