‘Freak Bike Fall’ starts tomorrow

See larger version of flyer here.

“Freak Bike Fall” kicks off tomorrow night with alley cat races and the monthly Dropout Bike Club ride. Then on Saturday there’s a big Freak-Cross Race which is followed by a BBQ and live music. A hearty Zoobomb or three will wrap things up on Sunday night.

For more info on the what’s in store, check out the event website.

What exactly is a freak bike? It probably depends on who you ask. To me, it’s a bike that has been hacked/welded/put together by its owner to create something out of the ordinary. They often take the form of a tall bike — but as you can see by the photos below, tall bikes are just the tip of the freak bike iceberg.

In honor of this weekend’s event, I thought I’d share a few Portland freak bike photos from through the years. I love these bikes and the people who build them! They are true expressions of playful ingenuity and they show vast amounts of creativity and skill…

Art Bike Parade at Cirque du Cycling-2

Freak Bike Alleycat-6

Freak Bike Alleycat-10

Freak Bike Alleycat-13

Bike Fashion Show_ride and afterparty-88

Bike Fashion Show_ride and afterparty-98

Bikes seen at Alberta Art Hop-17

Robert Stapletons Tall Bike-8.jpg

Dabe Alan's custom tall bike-4-3

Clownhouse tallbike race

Art Bike Parade at Cirque du Cycling-6

Art Bike Parade at Cirque du Cycling-56

Zoobomb 8/28/05

CARCass-9.jpg

Mini Bike Winter 2010-9

Chunkathalon, Portland OR

Alberta Street clowns

2013 Multnomah County Bike Fair-3

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

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Todd Hudson
Todd Hudson
10 years ago

Surprised that this montage didn’t include pictures of Dingo.

Adams Carroll (News Intern)
Reply to  Todd Hudson

Hey Todd,

Keep in mind I have hundreds of photos of tall/freak bikes… And for this series I sort of had my eye more on the bikes and not the people….. But, since you mentioned him…

2013 Multnomah County Bike Fair-3

Clownhouse tallbike race

Bikes seen at Alberta Art Hop-17

clowns and kids: Fernwood parade 2006

😉

Carl
Carl
10 years ago

These are worth additions to your photoset!

Adams Carroll (News Intern)
Reply to  Carl

done.

Alan 1.0
Alan 1.0
10 years ago

I luv that shopping-cartfiet…funk + function!

Joe
Joe
10 years ago

awesome alleycat race thanks to all 🙂

Brian Sysfail
Brian Sysfail
10 years ago

We had a great weekend and nobody got hurt too bad;)