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His Are Not Just Any Bikes ; No Brakes on Creativity As Designer Fabricates Custom Two-Wheelers

Posted on: Thursday, 4 November 2004, 03:00 CST

Dennis Throckmorton's inquiring mind needed to know.

So when he was 9, he took apart his Roadmaster bicycle in hope of discovering how it worked. What he noticed first was how dirty all the parts were.

Remembering that there was plenty of Mr. Bubble left in the bathroom, he put the disassembled bike in the tub for a long soak.

Once the dozen or so parts were clean, Throckmorton was faced with a more difficult task: putting the bike together again.

"Of course, I didn't put it back together exactly right," he said. "But it worked pretty good."

Not much around the Throckmorton house escaped Dennis' inquisitive nature. He took apart most of his toys, from remote- control cars to computerized games, when he was a child.

Now,at age 23, Throckmorton is still at it. A junior at Virginia Commonwealth University, he's established First Born Bikes, a part- time business that specializes in building and modifying bikes.

"I gave him creative liberty," said Jill Evans, a senior at VCU. "I wasn't disappointed."

Last winter, Throckmorton built Evans a single-speed bike from the parts of a 10-speed. He painted the finished piece bright yellow, then made a star out of metal and welded it to the top bar of the bike.

"That's the best part of the bike," Evans said. "I get compliments all the time. I wanted something fun. I use my bike more than my car, so I wanted something special."

Throckmorton has completed other projects as well. He's built a single-speed road bike and modified a mountain bike with a disc brake mount. He's working on a single-speed road bike with coaster brakes (you brake by back-peddling), as well as a motorized bike (it will be powered by a 1978 Honda Z-50 motorcycle engine).

A popular request is for bikes with no brakes, and Throckmorton is happy to oblige. He's already built a track bike with no brakes or gears.

"Kids like it because it's something new and something hip," said Throckmorton. "Plus, there's hardly any maintenance. With no gears and no brakes, there's nothing to fix."

And since the bikes are lighter, they go faster. To stop, cyclists shift their weight to the front tire.

"They can be dangerous for an inexperienced rider," he said. "You really need to get a feel for it before you treat it like any other bike."

A former bike messenger and competitive cyclist, Throckmorton is comfortable riding just about any kind of bike. It's the only way to travel, he says, and he means it. He doesn't own a car.

He lives in the Fan, so he's close to school. He cycles every day to Bon Air, where he works part time as an arborist.

"I have a pretty physical job, but I still feel the need to get out and get the exercise," he said. "I love to know that I've exhausted myself at the end of the day."

If he's not riding a bike, he's coasting around town on a skateboard. He can't carry much on a bike, after all. That's when his longboard - a skateboard about 5 feet long - comes in handy. He rides on one end and puts his laundry basket or whatever else needs hauling on the other.

"He's always going a mile a minute, which I think is great," said his father, Ray Throckmorton. "It means he's really going to enjoy his life. When he's 70 or 80 and sitting in a rocking chair, he won't look back and regret not doing something."

Father and son used to ride downtown together on bikes when Dennis was a child. As a teenager, Dennis competed in local mountain bike races, but didn't stick with it because of the expense.

After graduating from Douglas Freeman High School, he went to college for a few years, then worked as a mechanic and later a bike messenger. He has since returned to VCU to study business management.

He built his first bike about a year ago out of a frame salvaged from an alley, and First Born Bikes was established. He liked the first bike so much that he kept it for himself. He designed it with no brakes and painted it green. The finishing touch was a four-leaf clover emblem welded to the bike.

He was so happy with the result that he makes emblems for most of the bikes he modifies or builds. He draws the design - from stars to battle axes - on a flat piece of metal, cuts it out, grinds down and rounds the edges, polishes it up and then welds it to the bike.

"That's the personal touch," Throckmorton said. "I wanted to do something a little different from everyone else."

After finishing college, he expects to come up with even more ideas.

"Eventually, I'd like to own a bike [shop] or fabrication shop," he said. "That would allow me to build something unique and not an assembly line of the same old thing. I just love conjuring up strange new ideas."

FIRST BORN BIKES

CALL: - (804) 833-7038

VISIT: - www.firstbornbikes.com

Source: Richmond Times - Dispatch

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