BY: Mario Mungaray

KIDS TAKE CENTER STAGE

The LoPro

Back in the day, you would see kids riding their bike with a friend riding on the handlebars. Not anymore. Today the handlebars are not built for riders. They are just one part of an artistic creation that has risen to take center stage from the traditional lowrider vehicle.

The lowrider bicycle appeared not very long ago as a curiosity at lowrider car shows. At first the bicycles were stripped of paint, chromed, and were then fitted with smaller wheels to give them a lowered quality. Not bad for starters, but as ideas started to take shape, innovations would soon follow.

The cars had custom upholstery so why not the bicycles? Cars had special frame & body work done so again, why not bicycles? Metal fabricators used remnant pieces from larger projects to fashion the custom parts for tricked-out bikes. Things started to take off and now a whole new market for customized lowrider bicycle parts has exploded onto the lowrider scene. Demand for the parts rose quickly and the rest is history.

As the quality of the bicycles improved, the quality of the parts had to improve with them. Now chrome was not enough. Gold plated trim soon became the hot item. Cars had fender skirts, and now the bikes have wheel covers. The forks for the bicycles were too plain. Customized forks are now fabricated to your desired specifications. New customized wheels were fashioned to compliment the custom forks. Standard frames were too common, so tubular extensions had to be fitted to make the bicycle longer and sleeker in appearance.

If cars had custom paint and graphics, then why not bikes? The bicycles needed additional surface for graphics, and so fiberglass bodies were cast and added to the frame. Some bicycle craftsmen have gone so far as to add 3-dimentional characters to the fiberglass bodies.

The genius of the creative mind is amazing. The kids are no exception. The kids have seen the themes for the lowrider vehicles and have also demonstrated that they can come up with their own themes for their bicycles. There are Raiders, Dodgers, Lakers bikes, Southpark bikes, Felix the Cat, Bugs Bunny, Tigger the Tiger, The Hulk, Superman and Betty Boop bikes. The list goes on to include ethnic themes, movie themes as well as exotic tropical themes. “Way-to-go kids.” If you want to check them out, just go to Tightbikes on this website and see for yourself.

“Lowrider of the Year”? Move over. Here come the kids, and come 2008, they gonna be sporting their own Trading Cards. What do you think about that for recognition?

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Youngsters take Center Stage!