There’s a new club in town

[Club founder, chops.]
Photos by dropoutbikeclub

It’s not every day I get to tell you about a brand new bike club, especially one as interesting as Dropout.

The Dropout Bike Club wants to spread the love and fun of mutant and freak bikes (like tall bikes and choppers) to everyone. They’re sort of a kinder, gentler, more inclusive (and less reclusive) version of our other freak bike club, CHUNK 666.

David Darby (aka chops) is the brains behind the club. Chops is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and a long time Portland bike activist who is well-known in the community for his creativity. You might remember him from the BikeCraft Faire where he read his poem, Next Time (see the video, read the text). He is also a talented artist whose work will be displayed in tonight’s art show at City Hall.

Here’s more from chops about his new club:

[Where it all begins.]

“We will soon have a monthly ride and we are working on building a loaner library of tall bikes and choppers for people that would like to ride but don’t want to spend the time on maintaining their own bike. From this we will build our club membership and will have a good base to host a yearly event and also visit other clubs around the country and maybe the world.”

Chops and his friends are behind many of the amazing bikes you might have seen around town, including the Juggernaut which was unveiled at the recent Bike Fair.

Many of the bikes originate in chops’ very own freak bike shop, a fully stocked and tooled-up shop in his garage in Southeast Portland. (I hope to visit and bring back a report in the very near future!)

For photos of Dropout’s first official freak bike ride, check out their Flickr photostream.

It’s great to know about this new club. As someone who loves these D.I.Y. builders and their creative bikes, I am totally lacking in the tools, know-how and support to ever make my own mutant bike. Hopefully now there’s finally going to be a tall bike in my future!