Vancouver Makers Make “Art Bikes” to Help Promote Mini Maker Faire

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Vancouver Makers Make “Art Bikes” to Help Promote Mini Maker Faire

Vancouver Makers have been preparing, in epic proportions, for this year’s Mini Maker Faire, happening June 23-24. Mike Zeitz (left) approached me early in the year with an idea for helping promote our fair. He really wanted to learn how to fabricate bicycles, and wanted to use the skills that he would gain to help promote the event.


Mike has been collecting old bike parts otherwise destined for the landfill, and has been pulling people together to create a set of tall bikes with Maker Faire branding on them. He learned how to weld for this project at local makerspace, Vancouver Community Lab, and has since created some eight bikes, with the help of Ryan Paton (right). And he isn’t stopping anytime soon.

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Every time I talk to Mike, he has new ideas: Last time, he wanted to install a Christmas tree in the middle of one of the bikes, and build a tall bike around it. He’s also been working with others to help decorate them, with a zip tie bike due to be completed in the next couple of weeks, a yarn-bombed bike, two red bicycles with doodles on them … the list goes on.

Mike has an elaborate map of all of the bicycle racks in the city, and has been locking the bikes up every other day or so and moving them around to gain traction. He’s locked them up in front of events, at trade shows, and in high-profile areas.

To learn more about the Art Bike project, check out this interview with Mike on our website. This project is no where near completed. He has plans to build a recumbent bicycle (or two), bike trailers, and take an epic bike trip. To hear more about the Art Bike Project, Like it on Facebook, and follow Mike on Twitter @artbikeproject.

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Emily Smith is the driving force behind Vancouver Mini Maker Faire and Vancouver Maker Foundation. She is an avid textile artist and community organizer with a focus on facilitating collaborative and creative workspaces as well as maker-oriented projects and educational programming.

View more articles by Emily Smith

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