Atomic Zombie's Bicycle Builder's Bonanza [ILLUSTRATED]

Editorial Reviews
Review
...cool bikes from old scrap...for anyone...the cheapest novice bike hobbyist can realize...dreams of building...wildest bike -- www.recumbents.com, Dec. 2003

of great interest…a fine and useful book…[makes] it possible for many people to make their own bike dreams a reality. -- BikeRod & Kustom, Dec. 2003

Review
A book review by Warren Beauchamp

Warren's 'bent rating: 5 sprockets!

I have been following Brad Graham's (mis?)adventures on his Atomic Zombie web site for a number of years. I always got a chuckle at his latest junk to gem creation. It always amazed me how he could take a pile of junk bicycles from his local scrap heap, whip out his grinder and welder, and create something wild and perfectly functional. Okay, maybe the skyscraper bikes were a bit less than practical, but who cares they were fun! In any case, the Atomic Zombie had alluded to the fact that he was writing a book about his bicycles and now it's a reality.

Atomic Zombie's Bicycle Builders Bonanza is a practical guide to building cool bikes from old scrap bikes. This is truly a book for anyone, even people with no building experience. He starts with detailed instructions on how to build a workbench and how to weld, and proceeds from there with explaining how to acquire and then dismember the bikes you'll use to create your own masterpiece. I wish I had a book like this when I was starting to build bikes! Brad explains in detail how to build 14 different bikes, including choppers, tall bikes, recumbent bikes, and some really odd ones. My favorite is the Marauder low racer.

Each project details the parts you will need, shows detailed pictures of the building process, and then shows the completed bike in action. Brad mixes stories of bikes gone awry in with the instructions to provide a humorous style that is informative as well as a good read.

With this thick 388 page book, even the cheapest novice bike hobbyist can realize his dreams of building the wildest bike on the street! (www.recumbents.com )
Product Description

* Provides detailed, step-by-step instruction showing how to build your own customized bicyles on a shoe-string budget

* Thoroughly illustrated--includes 50 blueprints and 200 photos

* Includes ideas, techniques, advice, and practical tips for the creative builder

* One of the author's creations will be included in the Guinness Book of World Records for the tallest bicycle (20031210)

From the Back Cover
ATOMIC ZOMBIE'S BICYCLE BUILDER'S BONANZA

SUPERBIKES (FOR STINGY BUDGETS)

For bicycle lovers, tinkerers, and inventors, this dream resource offers hours of fun, creativity, and adventure. If you have standard workshop tools, Atomic Zombie's Bicycle Builder's Bonanza provides everything else you need to create cool custom bicycles on a shoestring budget. You'll find exciting plans for choppers, low racers, tallbikes, recumbents, tandems, and others that defy description.

You'll learn how easy -- and cheap -- it can be to build machines with names like Marauder, Sky Cycle, and Hammerhead -- to construct bicycles whose profiles will make you gasp -- and to make your own recumbent bike that can speed along at 80 kph on the flats. This book shows you how to build them all, complete with photos and detailed instructions!

Written by long-time bike hobbyist and inventor Brad Graham, founder and host of the atomiczombie.com bicycle builder's Web site, and creator of the world's tallest bike, this value-packed, heavily illustrated manual offers an exciting range of resources from complete custom bike plans to details on working with tools and customizing bikes you already own. Look inside for all the help you need with:

* Getting parts for free, or almost free
* High-speed recumbent low racer with hydraulic disc brakes
* A two-headed winter-ready mountain bike
* A bicycle so tall that you have to duck under power lines
* Ultralong fork choppers with loads of attitude
* A rugged all-terrain mountain tandem
* Pedal-powered vehicles that seem to defy the laws of physics
* Customizing details, such as getting a smooth paint job and removing rust from old chrome
* And much, much more!

About the Author
Brad Graham has been constructing creative bicycles since the early 1980s. He is founder and host of the atomiczombie.com Web site, dedicated to his flamboyant bicycles and inventions, which receives approximately 2500 hits a week. Co-owner of Freedom2000 Complete Technical Services, which provides robotics design, computer network setup and maintenance, data storage and recovery, and security services, Mr. Graham is also a Network Engineer, Electronics Technician, and Programmer.

Kathy McGowan is also a bicycle enthusiast and proud owner of her custom Kool Kat low racer. Additionally, Miss McGowan coordinates the logistics and marketing aspects of Brad’s many bicycle, robotics, computer, and publishing projects, manages the daily operations of Freedom2000 Complete Technical Services, and provides customized personal computer training.