On 'Frank'
Schon Slagle of Butler never knew he could love cycling until he met Frank.
“Frank,” short for Frankenstein, like the fictional big green monster, is Slagle's “new bike.”
And like it's namesake, Slagle's creation was born of a lightening strike idea and a slew of borrowed parts.
Specifically, Slagle welded together pieces from four old bicycles and a lawn chair.
The end product, his “bike,” is technically, a tadpole style recumbent trike, meaning it has two wheels up front and one in the back. The lawn chair is in place of a traditional seat.
Comfort, in this case, was the mother of invention.
And Slagle said his “Frank” so fills that bill that he's taken up a new passion for the sport, even occasionally using the cycle to make his 2-mile commute to work at Avada Hearing Care Center in Butler Township.
Slagle, a registered nurse and hearing care specialist, said he decided to redesign his old ride — a traditional adult two-wheeler — in April, after a Boy Scout camping-biking outing with his sons 15-year-old Jacob and 10-year-old Gabriel.
Pretty much the minute he returned home, Slagle said he chopped apart his 10-year-old bicycle. And for the next month he blended hubs, gears and cranks from some “old, and I mean old” bikes owned by himself, his neighbor and his wife.
Add tiny headlights and some green paint (in part because Frankenstein also was green, and in part because Slagle already owned green paint) ... and voila!
Frank's debut ride in May was the exact same 25-mile trek Slagle had made with the Boy Scouts a month earlier.
“I hopped off the bike and I felt fine,” Slagle said. “It's the most comfortable bike I've ever ridden in my entire life.”
Previously, Slagle said his bike riding was limited to once or twice a year with his boys. But the comfort and cardio workout Frank provides has lured Slagle into riding more often.
Slagle, 39, said Frank is easier on his back “hind end,” legs and joints.
The total cost of Slagle's project was $30: $10 for the lawn chair purchased at a discount store and $20 for some tie rods.
But Slagle said if he makes more for other people he'll invest in new parts and employ different construction ideas based on what he learned during his prototype construction.
“My boys are dying for a Frank,” Slagle said. “But the next one I make will be for my wife.”
Amy Slagle said she's always opted to walk the bike trail or bow out on cycling events because a traditional bike is too painful on her wrists.
But after trying Frank, she said she'd be willing to try a similar creation customized for her.
“Mrs. Frank is next,” she said.
