You've Never Seen Machines Like These

One Bike Mechanic's Vision for Your Old Bike Parts

You've seen bike parts turned into clocks and picture frames, into furniture and key chains, into lots of things. But you've never seen it turned it to the machines like the ones long-time bike mechanic Chris Cole has been creating. Scavenged head tubes, bottom brackets, and drop-outs along with your standard cogs, cranks, and miles and miles of old greasy chain are welded and bolted into motorized, moving, creatures.

Two decades as a bike mechanic, fixing drive train issues, replacing cables, pulleys, and brake pads, and finding that squeak or grinding noise that's been driving you crazy, have left an indelible mark on Chris. In every derailleur pulley, he sees the link from a motor to a bird's wing or the pivot point to lift and lower the jaw of predacious fish. He sees eyes for his newest sculpture when you all you see is a worn out cassette. In fact, he'd really like to use the hub from your too-bent-to-be-trued wheel; the tail he's adding needs a nice smooth joint, and your bearings are still in great shape.

All of Chris's sculptures move, either driven by small motors or by hand cranks that are, not surprisingly, crank arms some cyclist decided to replace. The flapping, swimming, spinning pieces are mesmerizing. To the average spectator, they look nothing like a bike, but to someone who's just dropped a few hundred bucks at their local shop, they have a remarkably familiar air about them.

The abundant refuse of the bike industry is collected in heaps in his garage/studio. Combined with auto and farm equipment salvage, the metal parts take on new life. "I'll the first one to tell a cyclist that their chain needs to be replaced," confesses Cole. "But it bothers me to see so much wasted, headed for the landfill. So I take the worn out chain home and add it to my overflowing buckets." Fortunately, bike chain has become a staple in Cole's work, giving it a very industrial feel.

If you're going to be in the Northwest this summer, you can see some of his most recent pieces in real life at Portland, Oregon's Guardino Gallery. For details and to see more of Chris's work, including videos of the sculptures in motion go to www.chriscoledesigns.com.

Contact:
Chris Cole
chriscoledesigns@gmail.com
www.chriscoledesigns.com
541-350-2147