NWArkansas-Homeless guy's DIY M-bike hits 45 mph !!

[bamabikeguy]

Pretty Cool !!

Daren Garner compared the difficulty of cutting and shaping steel parts for his motorized bicycle with a hacksaw blade to breaking out of jail with the same tool. Garner is a homeless job seeker from Rock Island, Ill., who, when not riding his bicycle in search of work, does volunteer work at Helping Hands in Bentonville.(Daily Record photograph by David Frank Dempsey)

'Depression vehicle' makes man smile

By Tabatha Hunter Staff Writer ! tabathah@nwanews.com

BENTONVILLE, Arkansas - "This is my depression vehicle. No matter how bad things get, I know it will work," said Daren Garner of Rock Island, Ill., as he proudly displayed his motorized bicycle.

After finding himself laid off in February 2008, Garner mowed lawns and worked doing any odds and ends he could find to pay the bills, but that only went so far. Before long, the bank wanted his house back.

With no home, no job and no prospects, Garner boarded a bus headed for northwest Arkansas, hoping the job market would be better here.

Since he arrived two months ago, Garner has put in work applications in hopes of getting a job as a mechanic or a hotel maintenance man, or just anything he can do to make an honest day's wage, he said.

Shortly after arriving in Bentonville, Garner decided he needed some form of transportation to allow him to travel to and from job interviews. With that in mind, he started to build a motorized bicycle.

Using a bike that was donated to him through Helping Hands, Garner searched for parts in trash bins around town - anything he could find to make the bicycle work, he said.

He traded an old laptop computer to get the motor from a skateboard scooter. A piece of scrap metal he found one day became the bike's motor mount. He hit the jackpot when he found a solarpowered battery charger. He mounted the charger on the bike's handlebars to power his headlight and iPod.

With a maximum speed of 45 mph, Garner's bicycle gets him around town in a timely manner.

"I passed a guy on a scooter (Wednesday). When I passed him, I saw his mouth drop," Garner said. "I just slowed down a little bit, looked at him, sort of smiled a little bit, hit the gas and passed him by. I am sure he was thinking, 'How did I just get passed by a bicycle?'"

Everything on the bike - except for the belt and ring in the rear wheel's spokes that allows the motor to propel the bicycle - was assembled by Garner, he said.

The bicycle took Garner just more than two months to complete, which was like going to therapy, he said.

"This was a building project that was just healing to me," Garner said. "Put me in a garage full of parts and a few motors, and I would be just tickled."

If he is still unable to get a job in the coming weeks, Garner plans to ride his bicycle to Nebraska, where he has heard there are manufacturing jobs available.

http://nwanews.com/bcdr/News/73458/

 

[stude13]

cool. i wish we could see the ring and belt. hire this guy.

 

[bamabikeguy]

e-mail sent this morning:

tabathah@nwanews.com

Dear Ms. Hunter,

Yesterday I copied and pasted your article about Daren Garner on the largest motorized bicycle forum, giving the writing credit to you and David F. Dempsey for his photograph.

http://www.motoredbikes.com/showthread.php?p=206192#post206192

The forum is international in scope, and very active sharing ideas that work, to get the highest efficiency out of an engine and the most reliability from wheels and tires.

Most members buy a kit and modify a bike, then tweak the system. But there are a few, like Mr. Garner, who have started from scratch. As you can tell from the way I titled that thread, WE ARE IMPRESSED by the 45 miles per hour Mr. Garner claims.

I hope the publicity he received from your article has helped him gain employment. If it hasn't, tell Mr. Garner he could fashion an insulated trailer for that bike and blow away the Domino's and Pizza Hut competition !!

However, I was wondering if Mr. Dempsey took more pictures of the drive ring and belt side of this bike. So many members of the Motorized Bike forums are "addicts" to the hobby, not satisfied with one bike, many find their carport or basement crammed full of frames and wheels.

"Homemade rings" have been built from many materials, from bucket bottoms to garbage can lids. We know about the quest for speed, and if more photographs of Mr. Garner's discoveries could be posted in that same thread, it may become probably will be mutually beneficial.

"Garner's Gizmo" would surely be jumped upon by the Motorized Bike addicts, and if it was improved upon, I feel sure the "tweak" or "modified device" would be passed along to Mr. Garner, either through the internet or possibly on a UPS truck to his temporary address.

I invite you or Mr. Dempsey to register at our forum, and post any more pictures you have, or updates of Mr. Garner's employment situation. We are interested.

Thank you,

bamabikeguy

p.s. In 2006 I came through your part of Arkansas, doing newspaper interviews in DeQueen and Nashville, in route to seeking the Guinness World Record at "Crater of Diamonds" State Park:

http://www.nashvillenews.org/index.php/comments/bike_built_for_mileage/


With Mr. Garner's tinkering abilities, he may wish to know that the small engine capital of the United States is in Nashville Arkansas !!

http://www.google.com/search?q="Nas...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

You guys could perk up additional interest if you send a letter to them....

http://nwanews.com/bcdr/News/73458/letter/

 

[bamabikeguy]

(to bad i dint proofread the e-male)

could be posted in that same thread, it may become probably will be mutually beneficial.

 

[stude13]

good job, thanks.

 

[sideshowsideswipe]

Very cool.

 

[bamabikeguy]

If a few of us submit a <350 word letter to the editor, that would be an easy way to help a fellow MBer, (especially one who could blow our doors away on a straightaway).

http://nwanews.com/bcdr/News/73458/letter/

When I read of the speed, I instantly thought of old Burt Munro in the "World's Fastest Indian", melting and molding his own pistons and cylinders.

 

[bigluelok]

wow that is awsome.

 

[Zev0]

cool. i wish we could see the ring and belt. hire this guy.

If you look closely inside the rear wheel you can see the gebe ring.

 

[solorbob]

Hey all, I live in Bentonville, and have seen Daren pass me by twice in one week. I was not able to stop and talk to him both times I passed him, but I'll be on the look out for next time. It's a pretty small place around here.

I'll try to find him and make some contacts. It would be nice to have another MBer around here, even tho I don't have a MB just yet.