Hi, Im from Indiana.

Ive been following your sites for a

few years, even when I was working oversees. Now that
Im back, I plan to build a chopper like your Gladiator.
Thanks for last weeks tutorial on the wheels. Looking
forward to your piece on making the rims.
~ Paul B., Indiana

March 5, 2012
NEWS

Build Phat ass

AZTV
chopper RIMS
RIMs
Atomic Zombies Gladiator Part 2 By Brad Graham , AtomicZombie.com

In our last newsletter (February 27, 2012), we showed how to add spokes into a common steel car rim to
lace it to a custom made bicycle hub. Now, we will continue working backwards to show how the rim was
adapted to take the bicycle spokes. If you are building your chopper around the rear wheel, then you can
make it whatever width you like, which is often dictated by the kind of rim and tire you can scrounge from
a junk yard. Practically any rim can be used as long as the outer rim is made of steel. The rim on the left of
Figure 1 was a basic solid steel car rim and the one on the right was a racing rim with an aluminum insert.

Figure 1 - Making
cool phat ass
chopper wheels is
inexpensive and
easy to do

A full steel rim is

much easier to
find, but will
require a little
work to remove
the insert.

If you can find a

car rim with an
aluminum insert, then you can just bash it to bits with a large hammer or cut it in half with a zip disc to
knock it out. Solid steel rims have a welded insert, but this is still not a big deal for anyone willing to put
in a little grinder time.

(Continued on page 2)

1
 Greetings from Thailand. Seen your web
site last year. You have much more stuff on it
now. Cool bikes, man and the videos, too.
Keep it up.

~ Andy K., Thailand

March 5, 2012
NEWS

(Continued from page 1)

Figure 2 - A typical el-cheapo 15 inch diameter

steel car rim
AZTV
The garden variety 15 inch diameter steel car rim
shown in Figure 2 is a good start because you can
get these just about anywhere, and then find a
suitable tire to fit. If you want total bling for show,
then try to find a super wide rim and tire like the
one I used on OverKill, which was 15 inches across
the rubber.

For more ridability, a typical car tire with a width

of 10 to 12 inches will be good. Either way, you are
going to blow away any tire those departments
store chops may have, so even one of those "donut"
spare tires will work. Another option is a well worn
motorcycle tire with the same bead size as a car rim - you can usually score those for free if you ask nicely.

There will be four or five weld beads holding

Figure 3 - Cutting away the welds that hold the insert
that insert into the steel rim. They must be cut
in order to knock out the insert. Locate the
welds and then use a zip disc to grind the weld
right along its center in order to release the
two parts. You will also grind into the rim a
little when doing this, but that's ok as you can
easily fix the mess later.

Do try to only dig as deep as necessary

though, which will mean a depth of about 1/4
inch for most rims.

(Continued on page 3)

2
 "Just discovered Atomic Zombie. Going to build a bike for
my 12-year-old son who recently had a stroke. He can't ride
a regular bike, but I figure the Warrior Tadpole might work
best for him. Anybody else built this or another trike for
someone with a disability? Any tips?" ~ Vincent C.

March 5, 2012
NEWS

(Continued from page 2)

Figure 4 - Knocking out the center of

the rim
AZTV
The rim center is not only welded
to the rim, it is also press fit into
place, so most likely it won't just fall
out once you grind away the four or
five welds that hold it there. You will
need some kind of large chisel or
wedge and a heavy hammer to knock
out the rim center.

Place the wedge on the edge of the

insert at the point where you ground
away the weld and start hammering
until a very fine hairline crack opens
up between the rim and the center. If
you did not dig deep enough into the
weld, then no amount of hammering
will open the joint, so run that zip
disc into the weld area a little more.

Once you see the hairline gap, move

to the next joint and repeat until all
four or five joints have separated a
slight bit.

Figure 5 - The rim insert removed

from the rim

(Continued on page 4)

3
 Howdy from Oklahoma. Embarking on my first
bike projectMarauder recumbent. Checking in
at the forum almost every day for building tips.
Great group of people you have there.

~ Larry S., Oklahoma

March 5, 2012
NEWS

(Continued from page 3)

Keep whacking the joint area

with the hammer, opening the gap
AZTV about 1/4 inch each time before
moving on to the next joint. This
method makes it easier to remove
the insert as it keeps it from
jamming up on and angle in the
rim. If you tried to bang out the
insert on only one side, it will
become wedged in really tight and
impossible to remove.

You will probably have dug into Figure 6 - Cleaning up grind marks on the rim
the rim a little when grinding
away those welds, so these areas need to be repaired. Run a bead of weld along the gap and then use a
sanding disc (flap disc) to grind the area flush with the rim. When you are done, there will be almost no
trace of the welded area, leaving you with a blank rim to now add spoke holes to. You can also create a
spokeless rim insert like the one used on our Vigilante chopper if you like.

Figure 7 - Using a bicycle rim as a spoke hole

marking guide

You will need to decide on how many spokes are

going into your rim at this point. As we mentioned
in the first part of this tutorial, this type of
conversion basically makes a rim on each side of
the car rim, and the final wheel will have 56, 64,
72, or 88 spokes depending on what type of bicycle
hubs you chop up to make the ultra wide hubs.

(Continued on page 5)

4
 So glad I stumbled on your site. Now, I have a
new hobby and making new friends around the
world. Thanks!

~ Andrew L., Burlington, Ontario

March 5, 2012
NEWS

(Continued from page 4)

So, if you decide to use a 32

spoke wheel for parts, then each
AZTV side of the car rim must have 32
holes drilled into it. Since you
are using a 20 inch bicycle wheel
for parts to make the hub, then
the rim itself makes a perfect
template to use for marking the
holes on each side of the rim.

Figure 7 shows a 36 hole BMX

rim sitting over the car wheel as
I trace down and mark the drill
holes for the spokes.
Figure 8 - Drilling out the spoke holes using a 3/16 drill bit
The spoke holes are drilled on
the inside of the rim away from
the bead well so that the tire does not have to be fit over the spoke nipples. The bead well is the curved
low section of the rim on the other side of the raised outer lip. On most car rims, there is another raised
section just past the bead well. This is a good place to drill the spoke holes. Don't worry that each side of
the car rim is slightly different; just drill the spoke holes the same distance from the outer edge of the rim
on both sides.

Once you have marked the holes on the car rim using the bicycle rim as a
guide, use a punch to mark the drill point and then drill all the holes using a Advertisement

3/16 drill bit. After the first hole is drilled, insert a spoke nipple to ensure that
it has a little bit of play so it will turn easily when in the hole.

If the spoke nipple seems too snug, move up to a 13/64 bit to give it a bit
more room to spin freely in the hole. I find this job easier to do if the rim is
placed on a bench with a solid backing so that I can lean into the work when
drilling.

(Continued on page 6)

5
 Hey dude, thanks for the friendship on
Facebook. You bike freaks make some
pretty cool (stuff).

~ Enzo U.

March 5, 2012
NEWS

(Continued from page 5)

Figure 9 - The drilled and sanded

rim ready for primer

AZTV

Once all of the spoke holes are

drilled, you will need to clean up the
rim and then prime it so it can be
painted. Use emery cloth to cut down
the paint a bit and fix any really bad
spots using a sanding disc. Old paint
does not have to be completely
removed for priming, just cut down
enough so that it is smooth and not
glossy.

If you take your time and clean the

rim up nicely, the final product will
look excellent once painted.

Figure 10 - The primed and painted

rim ready for lacing

Let the primer cure overnight and

then paint the rim, being careful not
to overspray. I only use department
store spray paint for all of my
projects, but the final paint job looks
almost as good as a
factory job most of
the time.
(Continued on page 7)

6
 Atomic Zombie is the best bike building
site on the Web. Im constantly amazed
how much information you put out there.

~ Carl M., Louisiana

March 5, 2012
NEWS

(Continued from page 6)

The key is to spray on light coats, working around the rim while holding the spray bomb about 12
AZTV
inches from the surface.
Paint also needs to cure for
a few days so that it will not
easily scratch, especially
when adding the spokes to
the rim.

Figure 11 - A pair of
converted car rims on the
Gladiator chopper

You can build practically

any kind of chopper
imaginable using the
converted car wheels, even a
trike or quad. A lot of people
ask how a bike with such
Atomic Zombies Gladiator
heavy wheels rides. Well,
the truth is that they ride
great, and once in motion, seem to glide effortlessly
forever.
AtomicZombie
Of course, you won't want to run an uphill marathon on
Facebook fan page a chopper with 50 pounds of ass, but let's face it, these
things are so much more "custom" than anything that
Show the world that you like comes off an assembly line.

Atomic Zombie and bike Next time, I will show you how the actual hub is made
building. using a few old steel bicycle wheels for parts.

7
 Clear and concise with plenty of photos. A well
put together guide (Warrior tadpole trike).

~ delandem

March 5, 2012
NEWS

Building custom bicycles is a great hobby that

can be learned by anyone with a desire to
create. The skills needed to dismantle, alter and

g i n t o repair bicycle components can be easily

AZTV
Sp r in learned, and the parts and tools you will need
are quite inexpensive.

il di ng Discarded or worn out bicycles offer many good

e b u parts and can often be found at local scrap
bik yards, city dumps, or yard sales for a few
dollars. Even if you plan to build a custom
creation using all new parts, this hobby will
seem inexpensive compared to many, as you
can purchase a brand new bicycle at a store for less than a hundred dollars.

The great thing about hacking and welding bicycles is that you will be working with all steel
components, which are much stronger, more common, and much less expensive than high
grade aluminum or carbon fiber bicycle parts. If you have never torn a bicycle apart before,
then this basic introduction will show you all you need to complete a total bicycle autopsy in
minutes, stripping an entire cycle down to the individual parts
using only a few basic hand tools.

You can build your own recumbent bike, tadpole trike,

chopper, velomobile, electric scooter, delta trike, quadcycle or
tandem trike from our easy to follow plans. All of our plans are
easily modified to suit your own needs and you can work with
the materials you have on hand.

Combine the ideas presented in several plans into a unique

home built recumbent bike, or create your own racing trike
based on one of our DIY plans. The possibilities are endless!

Join the Atomic Zombie family of bike builders

Send us a picture of your completed handmade bike.
Each picture less than 2MB in size, please. JPG preferred.

>> gallery@atomiczombie.com <<

8
 Its so nice to see the AZ community coming
together for a cause (Project Freedom).
Much admiration and respect from your bike
building buds in Panama.

~ Kris W., Panama

March 5, 2012
NEWS

Steve Hartlepool (disabled), UK

AZTV

England

Howdy. I just recently downloaded my trike designs and wanted to thank you for incredibly
well-written and documented plans. They downloaded without a hitch, and I was able to back
them up with a CD in case we have (another!) computer crash. I am so STOKED! I can't wait
for garage sales so I can start collecting my parts and get going on a trike build. I especially
liked the heavy duty home-made hubs and how you do some really cool fabricating with
limited tools.

I have been handicapped for nearly 35 years and want to build a trike so I could ride again
(since most store-bought recumbent trikes won't work for me), and this will be my ticket to do
so. I'll be sure to send photos as I get it done.

I'm an airbrush artist by trade and plan to do some unusual things with paint and the powder
coating equipment I just invested in. This was by far the best $25 I've ever spent! Thanks
again!

P.S. Your forum is (almost) as cool as the plans! What a gold mine of info! Phil C.

9

forum, your blogs, newsletters and videos.
NEWS
Tip on welding on EMT Conduit
Hey Zombie Builders: I have a tip for
those of you who are welding EMT conduit.
AZTV As you know it is coated with zinc and zinc
makes a messy weld. Here is the cure:
Before you weld take your flap wheel and
sand of the zinc coating in the area that you
will be welding. You can tell when you get
down through the
More>>
Back Seat Driver
Had an idea for a tandem, based on the
Dutchman cargo bike, so the stokers
position at the rear would be the steering
position, effectively a back seat driver. Not
too dissimilar from Onderwater tandem, but
making proper seats rather than wedgy
seats.
Upfront would be one of my kids, making it
easier to talk them whilst riding, but also
their seat would be lower, so I could see
where we going.
More>>
Support Project Freedom
An inspiring AtomicZombie
community effort. Read about it.
10
"Way cool stuff, guys and gals. Enjoying the
How do you do all of this stuff and when do
you sleep?
~ Jeffrey W., Idaho
March 5, 2012
Hello from Wyoming
Hi, I just joined the forum and I've ordered
"the book" which should be here tomorrow.
I'm mainly interested in building one or
more of the recumbents. I'm still deciding if
I will build one. I will need to buy a stick
welder and learn how to use it before I do
anything. I'm looking at the 115v models
since I don't have a 220v outlet in my
garage. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot
to choose from as far as I can see so, if
anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.
I already own four recumbents and I've
been riding them for 13 years now.
More>>
Oldest pilot so far
I've been sharing my Warrior with
anyone who is game. Kinda why it's not
painted yet. This gentleman hopped on and
disappeared for 10 minutes bombing
around the taxiways of the airport where
I'm based.
More>>
Advertise in the weekly
AtomicZombie newsletter.
Affordable rates, high visibility.
Contact KoolKat for more information.
 I'm very happy! Now I can start build my own
Trike! ;) Thanks very much!

~ te0p1n

March 5, 2012
NEWS

Built by Wobut, Grand Junction Colorado, USA

AZTV

Electric Warrior tadpole trike

England

San Juan Capistrano,

California

Built by Ben Berry

11