Anderson’s Kool Kid’s Cruiser

Many here at NAHBS fondly remember their first bicycle. Imagine those memories if your first bike was the child-size cruiser displayed in Keith Anderson’s booth. A Lafayette, IN native now in Grant’s Pass, OR, Anderson describes himself as primarily a painter these days. He has painted at least eight bikes at the show, including the remarkable Candy Stripe bike for Peacock Groove, and is presenting a seminar on The Wonderful World of Color Graphics. Once it had come to him, the cruiser idea and grew to be nearly an obsession, something he said he just had to do.

The father of three young sons, Anderson said the bike contains elements inspired by each of his boys. The seat tube is a piece of steel aircraft foil, cut out to accommodate a rear wheel tucked in “aero” style. The bike sports disc brakes and painted-to-match rims laced to Phil Woods hubs. The metallic red spoke nipples match the disc brake mechanism, brake lever brackets and headset.

The bike’s most distinctive element is the fantastic pair of wooden fenders Anderson created. Made of padouk and wenge wood and inlayed with paua shell abalone, the curved fenders are fully functional, says Anderson ... “I hate flat wooden fenders, they just don’t work.”

No kid’s cruiser is complete without a spoke card to make a little noise, and Anderson’s is one of a kind. Actually it’s three of a kind; three playing card sized sheets of carbon fiber are permanently mounted under the left chainstay. “They’re tuned for sound,” Anderson said.

In order to keep the peace at home, Anderson hopes to sell the bicycle at the show so the boys won’t have a chance to fight over it. Some lucky kid is going to have fond memories of this bike for many years after he outgrows it.

Mike Marley