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One of the more pleasant fringe benefits of being Editor of BR&K is having surprising things showing up in one's in-box. Things such as photos of a sculptural tribute to the Bowden Spacelander bike, created by Ben van Berlo of the Netherlands. . The original bike, designed by Benjamin J. Bowden, and manufactured in 1960, was the first bicycle made of fiberglass. This and its futuristic styling make it the most "kustom" of factory bikes. As is often the case with radical product technology, the Bowden was a commercial failure, with barely more than 500 being manufactured before production ceased. . Mr. van Berlo's scaled-down take on the Bowden theme is executed in beaten metal, as an example of his metal-shaping skills. When asked, Mr. van Berlo graciously agreed to answer some of our questions about his creation. |
Q: I like it that you followed the basic form of the Bowden design, but didn't feel restrained to slavishly duplicate it in every aspect. I especially like the flames in the chainguard area of yours. Was something needed there to stiffen the form, or is it just a cool thing you felt like adding? . A: Duplicating would have been too easy. I wanted my bike to be something special- showing features that I can do in both skills and design. One of them was the embossed flames. They are just cool and not for stiffening. It helps stiffening but when I embossed the flames, the chain guard was all over the place and needed to be straightened out again; and that was a challenge. . Q: From the photos, the sheet metal you used to make it just appears "silvery". Did you use steel, and if so, any particular reason why that metal was chosen? . A: There were no particular reasons why I used this steel. The only reason is that I bought a pile of it a couple of years ago. It is 0.9mm thick and is just regular sheet metal, nothing fancy. The silvery look is only because that's the way it comes out after grinding. It will darken after a while. . Q: Since it's just ordinary sheet steel, I presume that it will rust if left alone long enough. Do you plan to give it a clear protective coating to prevent oxidation? . . A: Yes I will give it a clear coat. These days there are special varnishes on the market that your can apply to bare metal. ... Q: I just had a flash thought of your Spacelander mirror polished and chrome plated. Would that be as big a job as I can imagine it would be? I've never done any serious metal-shaping, but I've done enough metal finishing to know how hard that is. . A: That would be very good-looking but then I would have had to make a different start from the beginning. I would have used thicker material because I would have to do more grinding and spend double the time on the finishing of the panels before welding , and after welding it would still take a lot of time to get a mirror finish for the chrome. . Q: That sounds like even more work than I thought would be involved. Chrome's way over-rated anyway, eh? On your site, you call the project "Kid's Space Bike", which sort of suggests that the bike is rideable by a kid. Is it actually functional that way? I don't see any spokes in the wheel area. . A: Yes that's true, chrome's way over-rated. . My first thoughts were that it would be a usable bike for a child but when the project started to come together I was thinking more about the design and that I would use it only for display. I also wanted to make everything in steel, so that would be a bumpy ride on the steel tires LOL. . The "wheels"' are giving just that open look and they flow with the rest of the lines, at least that is what I see in it. Q: I see it that way, too. The open center of the wheels is very sculptural- much more so than if you actually had spokes in there. Was it my imagination, or did I see some spokes in one of the photos on your site? Was that just for checking centricity or something? . A: You have seen that right. In the beginning, I played around with the original wheels, then I had a tribal design laser-cut for the center of the wheels, but because of the chain guard you could not see much of it. There was also an issue with the original size of the wheels when I made the design of the frame. As you know, I scaled the big bike down to kid size. The kid's bike that I used for parts and dimensions had 20" tires, so what I did, without measuring, is multiply 28 by 25.4 to get metric, so that ends up being 508mm However. When I started using the wheels, they looked smaller in the frame, and guess what, they were? so I measured them and the size that came out was 470mm so that's why they did not look smaller- they were! . Q: I love that tribal stuff as much as anyone, but sometimes, pure negative space is better for visual-design purposes. I'm very glad you didn't force it, due to having already paid for something. Throwing away an investment is a very pure thing to do, and I congratulate you for doing it. That's the difference between an artist and a businessman. . A: That's what I taught myself , if it does not look right it ain't right, and I start finding new ways until it does. . No concessions, I won't stop until it is right. . Q: And very commendable, I'm sure. We kustomizers tend to be purists, after all. . I'm curious about something, Ben; metal-shaping is a very high-skill level trade, so I presume there's good money to be made at it. Do you do it commercially; or is it just something you do for fun? I've seen the cars you've done for yourself, of course, but I don't remember noticing whether you've done it for other people. . A: I did car repairs for other people but that was not metal-shaping, just dent and rust and patching repairs. . I did that as a side job to earn some money for tools, machines, etc. Not to get rich. . About eight years ago I got involved in metal-shaping. I thought I knew a lot about metal (duh); it took me until now to understand it almost fully. So it was not until a couple of months ago that I was telling the world through my website that I am ready for every metal-shaping challenge. I am hoping that there comes a time when the only thing that I am doing is metal-shaping. . Q: Well, Ben, based upon seeing your work, I think that very soon you'll have more business coming in than you'll want. This is a very good time to be someone with your skills and kustom way of thinking. . I find it ironic that just when the world is beginning to appreciate your sort of work in relation to cars, motorcycles, and bicycles, that there are fewer practitioners of it than there were in the past. . Thanks very much for talking with us and showing us your work, I hope we'll be seeing much more of it in the future. . A: We will see what the future will bring. If nothing comes out of it, I have a hobby that will fascinate me until I die and that's worth something. .. Special thanks to Wray Schelin, Dutch Comstock and Randy Ferguson who guided me through the amazing world of metal-shaping and brought me to the level that I am now. ... Thank you Jim, for taking the time to write an article about my work it was a pleasure to answer your questions. |
(This saddle is incorrect- JW) |
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Click to see |
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Ben's other projects. |
