Jake likes to make bikes of a more “unusual” variety, and has been for many years now. Most of us would look at his bikes and think they’re all a little weird, but in some circles he’s been criticized for making his bikes look too neat and clean (just trust us). And so this chopper was born. He wanted to carefully craft a bike that intentionally looks like it was drug out of a damp barn.

He a stretched Schwinn frame, relocated the seat position and welded on a saddle that had been to Burning Man one too many times (no, Jake has never been) and you wont believe us from the photos, but it’s surprisingly comfortable. It has an old broken yellow lens light from an old Portland Shipyard forklift, custom cut and mounted fenders, and a “fuel tank” made from an old oil drum. And a keen eye will notice the 1-1/8″ headtube that he stitched on so he could fit a fork from a Kona Humuhumu he got from Cary. And we hear there’s a bottle opener hidden somewhere on the frame too, obviously.

Jake is typically a pretty darn good fabricator, so it’s funny to see welds and fixes intentionally made rough and chunky. He’s never clearcoated anything on the bike and has left it out in the rain for a few years to develop a patina.

This bike might not be for everyone, but in Jake’s words, “You feel like a gangster when you ride it!” and that’s good enough for us! For anyone interested in more of his work he’s apparently started up a YouTube channel to document some of his funky projects: Fiets of Strength