A: Jim I also would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to do this interview, I hope we can meet face to face someday.

Good luck with your website.
Rene Kleijer ( a.k.a. MasterRed )

And even more important I had this hub in stock at my shop; it came out of a used bike and was lying about unused for a couple of years already.

This was my first try at doing a triple-rimmed rear wheel, I had done about 4 or 5 with dual-rims and was feeling confident enough to step it up one notch, especially after someone told me that this idea of two rims laced together was done already "I came up with the idea all by myself ", but he directed me over to the BR&K site with the link to
Jim Junget's dual rim-trick, I think it was the first time I became aware of your site.
Until then I had just done some testing with custom wheels and some modifying with the Electra bikes I sold at my shop, and was imagining stuff I could do if I was to build a bike of my own. So after I registered to the forum the planning of HERO kicked off by my sketching stuff onto paper and returning to the bookmarks I collected during the previous year. It didn't take long to get back to the Pedal Hawg website, the decision was made to do a bike with this basic frame design but not until after I first got in contact with Brink Kuchenbrod by E-mail asking him if I could use his design to make a bike of my own.
BIKEROD&KUSTOM INTERVIEW  : RENE KLEIJER  (HERO)
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Radically-different frame designs do not appear too often. When Brink Kuchenbrod of the USA introduced his "Pedal Hawg" a couple of years ago, it created quite a buzz among our crowd. Although it possessed an innovative form, it was based upon typical bike frame materials (CrMo and steel tubing) and construction techniques. When Rene Kleijer of the Netherlands, with permission from Mr. Kuchenbrod, re-conceived the materials and techniques of the basic form to make his HERO, the buzz began anew. Upon recently receiving images and information regarding HERO from Mr. Kleijer, we decided that it would be good if we had a discussion with him regarding the design and technology behind HERO, as well as his interesting approach to the machine's circular underpinnings. JW
Kuchenbrod: "Pedal Hawg"
Kleijer: "HERO"
Q: How did you happen to decide on Brink Kuchenbrod's "Pedal Hawg" design as the inspiration for HERO's shape? And had you already planned that your project would be made using the unique method you chose?

A: It's an interesting sequence of events that led up to my choice of design and frame materials.

When I first came across chopper bicycles about 6 years ago it was in a professional way. As a bicycle-shop-owner, I attend many trade shows every year organized by companies where we buy our parts and bicycles. At one of these shows there was a selection of Electra choppers and cruisers they had just started to distribute over here in Holland.

I fell in love with these bikes the second I laid my eyes on them. My being a bicycle repair-salesman and a motorcycle guy at heart, I could really relate to these kinds of bicycles.

But, because I have my shop in a village where most people are very old-fashioned and not very open to new things, it took me another 3 years before I took the plunge and started selling a selection of about 12 different Electra bicycles, by then I'd started looking around on the internet to find out what else was out there.
One evening I typed "chopper bicycle" into Google and started to look at the image results. It took just 2 or 3 pages before I came across the "Pedal Hawg" by Brink Kuchenbrod, and I really "and I mean REALLY" liked this bike because of the originality of the frame design; so I bookmarked the page for future reference.
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I reckon the bookmark just sat there unused for over a year and I was just wandering thru the many sites "one in particular" was about chopper bicycles, the one that really stood out would be the forum chopperbicyle.net ( MAN how I hate to see it go to waste!)

I lurked around that site for many nights until there was word about a new BBO ( Biker Build Off ). This was my cue to register to the forum as a member and participate in the 2007 BBO; and I thought I might just as well enter the 2007 COTY at the Chopperdome's FBI meet in Amsterdam, because both deadlines were so close to each other.
Until then I had just done some testing with custom wheels and some modifying with the Electra bikes I sold at my shop, and was imagining stuff I could do if I was to build a bike of my own. So after I registered to the forum the planning of HERO kicked off by my sketching stuff onto paper and returning to the bookmarks I collected during the previous year. It didn't take long to get back to the Pedal Hawg website, the decision was made to do a bike with this basic frame design but not until after I first got in contact with Brink Kuchenbrod by E-mail asking him if I could use his design to make a bike of my own.
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The H-Beam frame was an idea I had come up with over that past year, thinking it would be something that wasn't done before, and that it would be radical-looking in many ways and, of course, the Pedal Hawg frame design was just excellent for making good use of that thought. So basically the answer to your question about the planning ahead for the making of the bike the way I did would be: Yes the ideas were all kinda there, but it really kicked off by my entering the BBO and COTY, now I had 2 good reasons to start a project.

A: I've been aware of the Pedal Hawg from probably about the same time you have. I first saw it on CBN, where someone had posted the link to Brink's site, along with a photo. (Maybe you posted it?) I too was very impressed by it, mostly because of the simplicity of the form.
Most people who set out to design a chopper bicycle tend to make them more complicated-looking than a regular bike frame. I'm a bit that way myself. Maybe that's why I like the look of your HERO more than I do the original. Yours is just more "interesting-looking" to me.
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I suppose almost any frame design would lend itself to your "H-beam" technique, but I imagine that the "Pedal Hawg" design lends itself better, due to its simplicity of form. The neat "classic" way you've joined the down-tube to the top tube: studs and chrome acorn nuts works very well with the H-beam style. I love acorn nuts; but I realize you could have maybe more easily just welded those components together. Is that sort of "old-fashioned" aspect of the fastening hardware a big thing for you? Or was it just convenient?

A: Actually, it was a bit of both, convenient because this way you can disassemble the bike to a little bit more manageable parts when needed; and I had in mind that if I would sell a bike like this, I could more easily convert the bike to make it fit for anybody's leg length by making whatever length down-tube, or drill some extra holes into the mainframe.

As for the look, I really think the acorn nuts go well with the H-beam to get that industrial look. If it were up to me, I would hide as much fastening hardware as possible; but I would keep these acorn nuts.

You should know that I have a brother who has a metal-working shop, where he makes like the big constructions for buildings and stuff like that; so I'm sure that some of the inspiration came from that. I helped him out more than once in putting up a steel structure.

And how convenient this type of fastening really was came to show when I had to redo the downbeam, during the initial design I took my own measurements for the distance from saddle to the pedals, but when I was making the down-tube later on, I thought it would look nicer to make it about 5 centimeters longer!! But I forgot the fact that my legs wouldn't get any longer during the build. Stupid me !!!!

But when the bike was done, I needed to use my toes to pedal; so after both competitions were over I took the bike apart and shortened the down-beam.


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Q: I know what you mean about the acorn nuts. They're like functional jewelry. My favorite hot rod engine is the Ford Flathead V8 (1932-1953) because it has so many chrome acorn nuts possible.

I've also made the mistake of going by eyeball, rather than actual measurements. Often it looks great and works well; but sometimes it doesn't. In a case like that, it's very good if you can unbolt the part that needs changing. I should do that more often ;-)

I agree about the "industrial" look of HERO. It looks like it could have been cast from iron in 1890. I presume that you made it of welded-up aluminum, though? 6061 alloy? And how thick is the stock you used?
I don't know if you're familiar with the "steam-punk" style, but it has some of that "Victorian technology" look about it. So, it could very easily be a piece of functional steam-punk sculpture, especially with brass or gold-plated acorn nuts and other components. I'd love to see that version! Not that this version, isn't great, of course ;-)

A: Actually, I wasn't aware of the steam-punk style and I was not really looking for that kind of look.

Basically, I am more the science fiction kinda guy, I would say.  For comparison: although I like the old-style looks of a Harley-Davidson soft-tail Heritage Classic, I love the sleek futuristic look of a Harley-Davidson V-Rod. Maybe that's why I would love to hide every screw, bolt, cable and electrics there are on a bike, if possible.
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Some guys over on Chopperbicycle.net suggested that I polish the aluminium frame and give it that really shiny look. I couldn't have agreed more with them that this would have been a phenomenal look for the bike; but because of the time-frame I was in, and this being my first encounter with welding aluminium, I had some welds to hide and polishing this massive frame would have taken ages. I've polished the alloy rims, and with the machinery I had to do that with, it took me lots of time.
The material measurements of the H-beam I used are like 14mm thick top flange, 10mm thick bottom flange, and the center is also 10mm thick.. I am not sure what type of alloy it is. I would say almost any sort of aluminium is strong enough for a bicycle frame done this way :-)

For the down-beam I used 10mm thick sheet alloy and as for the rear section I used 8 and 10mm thick sheet alloy.

It's funny you would say that it could have been cast iron because at the 2007 COTY show in Amsterdam, many people were having the same thought, so lots of people were saying that's a nice bike, but it's impossible to ride. Now I have proven otherwise by entering the 50K Night Cruise at the FBI week, and rode the distance without any problem.
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Q: Actually, I only thought it looked like it could have been cast iron, which is what made me think of steam-punk in the first place. I'm also more of a sci-fi guy; but every once in a while I get the urge to make something that looks like Victorian technology. Did people make that comment after lifting it, or only because it looks heavy (like cast iron)? How much does it actually weigh?

I can imagine how much work polishing all that welded aluminium would be. I wouldn't want to have that job! Not only that, but you'd probably have to polish it about once a week, if you didn't have it anodized. Paint or powdercoat makes a lot more sense to me!
Speaking of your paint job, the color you chose reminds me a lot of the pre-war French Racing Blue livery, as worn by Bugatti racing cars of the period. There is also a certain style similarity to one of my favorite Bugattis: the Type 57 SC Atlantic coupe. Are you familiar with that one? I saw an actual one about 30 years ago, and it was in the same "French Blue" color. Notice the body's center flange with rivets.
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A: At the COTY show, not many people had the chance of lifting the bike because it was behind ropes in the show area and everybody was very disciplined by staying behind them and not touching the bikes. But when the show was over and I was planning to go home I took the bike outside and it took over an hour to leave the park because lots of people wanted to sit on the bike or lift it, I told them with a big smile that I couldn't be held responsible for any back injuries.  The total weight of the bike would now be around 42 kilos (I didn't have it on a scale lately, and some minor updates like the light were added afterwards.)
I did a little photo-editing on my computer to come up with the color to use and I liked the black the most, but then the H-beam shadows wouldn't be there any more, so I went for the blue color.
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I had it powder-coated for two reasons, the first being that powdercoat is a thick layer that hides little scratches and some of my welds that didn't come out as nice as I hoped, and second it wasn't as expensive as professional car paint would have been. Anodizing would be a nice way to protect the aluminium from corroding and I am sure to look into that with another build.
I really like those lines on that Bugatti and I had seen it before, and yeah I can see why my style would remind you of this car, because of the flanges. Actually, rivets were and still are a possibility I had in mind to use on a build, they go really well with aluminium sheets.

Q: 42 kilos (92.4 pounds) isn't too bad. That's probably about the weight of a Schwinn Phantom, my standard reference for a "heavy" bike; and 12-year-old kids managed to ride them, back in the day. From the size of your front chainring, it looks like you have a pretty low possible gear ratio. How many teeth in your front/rear sprockets?

And that triple-rimmed rear wheel is pretty impressive. Was that the first one you've done? A bit of description of the process would probably be appreciated by our readers.
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A: On the front I am running 44 teeth and in the back 26 teeth, but this doesn't really matter because the rear hub has 12 gears inside so there are plenty of possibilities in choosing the right gear-ratio for different riding conditions.

Basically, I chose this hub not for the gears, but for the nice large flanges it has. This was the only hub where I could drill 2 extra holes between the original ones without having to be afraid it would crack.
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Cutting spoke to length.
Threading a spoke.
Spoke-length note.
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Back to the rear wheel: the second picture (Left) is the second 3-rim wheel I've done with a little different rims; and now with a coaster-brake hub. I made this so I was able to get myself another type of front fork into the bike. I was running with only a front brake before that.
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Q: I understand what you mean by this wheel-building process being a "treat". There's no more fun than assigning yourself a really challenging task and then successfully pulling it off. You should be very proud of yourself, your skills, and your perseverance. Just having to do the job while wearing gloves is quite impressive, in itself.
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And even more important I had this hub in stock at my shop; it came out of a used bike and was lying about unused for a couple of years already.

This was my first try at doing a triple-rimmed rear wheel, I had done about 4 or 5 with dual-rims and was feeling confident enough to step it up one notch, especially after someone told me that this idea of two rims laced together was done already "I came up with the idea all by myself ", but he directed me over to the BR&K site with the link to
Jim Junget's dual rim-trick, I think it was the first time I became aware of your site.
This gave me extra reason to do the 3-rims thingy; but I was in for a treat because there was a little more to make it work then I had anticipated.

First off there is the problem of having two different flange diameters, this would give me some different spoke lengths.

Second, there is this thing of having 3 rims so the nipple-holes weren't in one line either, so this gave me even more different spoke lengths.
So there was only one way I could come up with on how to figure out what lengths of spokes I would need and that was building the wheel with 3 groups of 12 spokes in it so that I could measure how long they would have to be.

I made 2 markings on the hub to keep track of where I started, and wrote down all the sizes I would have to make that weren't in stock- ooh yeah, and not lose the little piece of paper where I wrote that down :-)

After that, I polished all the spokes, rims, and the hub and rebuilt the wheel with all the 108 spokes, basically it's a standard 3-cross spoke pattern but then stacked 3 times.

Because of the polished finish I made myself wear cotton gloves to keep from touching the shiny parts so that this wouldn't affect the shine, this was even harder for me to make the wheel because normally you really need the touch to feel what you are doing.

So after 20+ hours of work I had something unique to show for it, and it got noticed by people that I hadn't expected to.

Just a few days after I posted the first picture over on chopperbicycle.net, of my finished rear wheel, I found it over on the Chopperdome site in Amsterdam with the remark that people were doing work on the bikes entering the COTY show; but even more was I surprised when Rhalf van Heusden of the Chopperdome phoned me a couple of weeks later to ask if I would want to come and work for him. My first reply was like "You got the wrong guy, because I have my own shop" but he replied with "I know, but before you say no, come over for a chat". Eventually this led up to my working for him for 3 days a week- from January 2008 onwards.

Actually, my 18 years of work in cycles became my hobby doing this kind of stuff, mostly in the evenings; and then became my work again in the Dutch "Valhalla" for kustom cycles. Nice twist, I would say.


Have you started designing your next bike project yet? Or have you already made several since finishing HERO?

A: Yes, I am working on the next bike- on paper and in my mind, that is.  And no, I didn't do several after HERO, hee-hee, I wish. The one thing I don't have much of is time, and I'm some kind of perfectionist (when possible). I don't want to build a bike to a deadline again.

The basics are going to be the same with the frame and probably the rear wheel, but after that not much will be the same. Just gonna give you some pointers as to what I am thinking of. It's going to be a themed bike. I already picked the theme, after some long searching of the web for something that has my interest, but could be worth something to the company from which the theme comes from, as well. This second bike could be for sale after some show time from my side.
I have some experience in electronics and want to incorporate that in some manner. As a coincidence, I just got a delivery today of some stuff I want to use (See picture, Left) this is going to be used in a manner I haven't seen before, just to make you curious ;-)

There are also some new material finishes I am looking into, like electro-polish (surface treatment of stainless steel) and car paints by the USA-based Alsa Corp. And there is going to be a lot more CNC machining going into the bike (I am learning to make 3D drawings on the computer) and I am also looking into making my own CNC milling machine.

Basically, I am collecting ideas on paper, in my brain, and on my computer, and am doing tests with some of
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that new stuff, to see if I can use it and how it would look. After that, I will pick the ones I like best and incorporate those. This next build isn't going to be with any time constraints; that's the one thing I've learned by entering the Chopperbicycle.net BBO. Three months is too short for artwork like this.

As you can see, there is lots of work and learning for me to do before I get where I want to be to start building. But as you might know, after good planning the work is a lot easier. One lesson I learned from a teacher in my school-days was: "A good mechanic is lazy- he thinks before he does."
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Q: I must be a good mechanic then, since I always put off starting work as long as possible. Or maybe I'm just lazy?

I also work with electronics in my spare time, and use a fair amount of home-built circuitry in my own bike projects. I couldn't tell exactly what you're planning from the pile of electronic parts; but with those two LSI (large-scale integrated) chips I could see in the photo, it should be very interesting.

On behalf of myself and our readers, Rene, thanks very much for the discussion. It's been fascinating; and we're looking forward to the next bike creation to come out of your brain and shop.

A: Jim I also would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to do this interview, I hope we can meet face to face someday.

Good luck with your website.
Rene Kleijer ( a.k.a. MasterRed )