Wybie Lovat's Chopper Bike Prop From the Movie Coraline

If you haven't seen the movie Coraline, you're missing out on a spooky treat. This year my daughter and I decided to create another couple costume. She'd be Coraline and I'd be Wybie. This movie is a cult favourite and google searches reveal thousands of costumes paying homage to the movie. The one thing I couldn't find though, was anyone that had built Wybie's chopper bicycle. It's not seen much in the movie, but he make a grand entrance on it in the beginning of the movie. So this year, I decided to build a replica of the bicycle to go along with my costume.

This is a pretty specific build, but everything happens on this blank canvas, a lowrider chopper bike with a springer front end. Building costumes is one of my favourite hobbies, but so is building bikes. So this year, I got to meld two of my passions. The supplies are somewhat random in a project like this. Because I'm a bike builder already, I have a lot of this stuff laying around. So.... I started gathering supplies at my yearly vintage bicycle show and swap. Luckily for me, the perfect frame was available. The bike itself was way nicer than what I needed to start with so I had to pay up to get the project started. But, if you're anything like me, there is no budget when it comes to building a Hallowe'en costume. Bike was $400. But.... I sold the seat and eventually the wheels. And my good friend BENZO had a hole box of vintage ratty old seats to choose from at the show and he graciously donated one to the cause along with an old welding helmet that I could use later for Wybie's costume.

To start, I needed to add the frame details. This includes the tank on the front and the rear wheel skirts that fit on either side of the back wheel. I started with some aluminum flashing and made simple templates out of some construction paper. I was able to wrap the aluminum around the frame and shape it by holding it in place and using a hammer to pound it around the top tube. It wasn't a perfect process because the aluminum did kink in some areas, but it turned out better than expected. The skirts on the back were built in the same way. On the inside of the frame, I added some blocks so I would have something to stick the shifter to. I have large collection of old shifters and knobs so it was easy to find something that matched the prop from the movie.

Admittedly I fumbled around and struggled with this part of the build for a few days. The main reason for the trouble was that there were no really clear images from the movie of what the front of the bike actually looks like. I sorted through my bins of parts and wandered through the plumbing aisle at the hardware store until I cam up with a mashup of parts that I was happy with. The horns were simply from some old bicycle horns. The cylindrical shape that attaches to the springer fork was made by using an speedometer dyno wrapped in some more sheet aluminum. The rest is plumbing fits and random bits from my shop. At one point I had used parts from some LED lightbulbs, but I didn't like the look. In the end what mattered, was that I was happy with the look. Trying to make it look exactly like the movie prop wasn't as crucial for this build because no one really has a great idea of that detail of the bike anyway.

One of my favourite details of the bike is the battery that's mounted to the frame with its iconic lightning bolt paint job. This was a relatively straightforward task. I estimated the dimensions by referencing my pictures from online. I bent some more aluminum flashing to make the tray, the battery box and the lid. I cut a lightning bolt out of some sticker vinyl and then attached the whole assembly to frame with some frame brackets and some self-tapping screws. To help keep the shape of the battery box, I cut a piece of foam to fit on the inside. I also managed to find a bicycle horn that I had in the shop that ending up being the perfect size to hide inside the battery box and then run a wire up to the handle bars.

The motor on the back of the bicycle is also and interesting detail and I carefully consider how I would recreate this part of the build. I real motor that matched the look might be card to find but also very heavy to mount to the back of the bike. My idea started out with a small stainless steal mixing bowl. I like the idea of kitchen sink plug. I also had some 6" abs caps and fittings that were vying for a chance to make the final team. I even destroyed a couple magnetic parts trays. Again.... I stumbled and struggled through this part of the build. After making what I thought was the perfect motor, I realized the scale was completely wrong. I then ended up perusing the aisles of the dollar store and the hardware store, looking for bits that would help form a slightly larger more movie accurate replica. This was one detail that was much easier to figure out from pictures from the movie. After the first failed motor, I settled on a design that used another stainless mixing bowl, but this time I coupled it with the rubber end of a toilet plunger. With a bandsaw and some 1/4" masonite I was able to build and cut all of the cooling fins for the motor as well as the motor mount. To attach it to the bike I bought a flat metal bracket from the hardware store and bent it to accommodate the position of the back fender. I mounted the bracket to the rear seat stays and also through the top of the rear fender. With that part figured out, I simply added the top pipe which is just a galvanized pipe and cap from the hardware store. Then I took it the back yard to paint it with spray paint. I just used a some silver and orange and brown to try and give the motor an old rusty look. The interesting thing about the motor on this bike, is the fact there is not physical connection from the motor to the wheel.

To make the wheels. I decided to go with plastic 20" bmx wheel discs. These were a little tricky to use because the wheels that came with the bike had way too many spokes and they interfered with the mounting nuts and bolts. Even when I used some other rims that I had that only had 28 spokes I had problems with mounted. The plastic discs themselves were also a little bit smaller in diameter than the actually rims I uses, so when installed, there was a small gap all the way around. The nice thing about this build is the rustic nature of the bicycle. Because of this, I could be a little crude in my approach to solving this small problem. I ended up gluing a length of brake cable all the way around the rim to fill the gap where the wheel disc did not cover. I then cemented everything in place with some bondo. Crude, but it works. Then, instead of drilling out the bazillion holes in the discs to match the movie prop, I used garage sale price stickers evenly positioned around the perimeter of the rim. Then I painted both sides of the wheels and removed the stickers to give the appearance of holes in the discs. I was pretty pleased with the result. I used some more of the 1/4" masonite from before to make the brake discs. Another interesting detail on the movie prop. The bike has front and rear disc brakes, but no cables running to each caliper. These are the details that a bike builder notices. But it doesn't really matter in the movie, does it?

In the blazing heat of the summer sun, I took the frame outside to paint. Yes!! This build started in July, because it's just no fun scrambling in October to get things done. I wanted to get the prop finished so I would have time to focus on Wybie and Coraline in the fall. I started with some orange and then a bunch of other random rattle cans I had laying around. Again, it didn't have to be perfect. It had to look rusty and beat up. This kind of paint job is fun to do, because you really can't make any mistakes. With the frame and fenders painted, I assembled all of the parts and then moved on to adding the tiger stripe details with some POSCA paint makers. I also used some various colours of acrylic paint to add more rustic details on the frame and accessories. I must have neglected to take pictures of the headlight and taillights. I think that part went so smoothly and quickly with overthinking that I didn't stop to snap any pics. I used some battery LED bicycle lights I had kicking around and fitted them inside an old headlight and rear fender taillight. I couldn't find the colour and gauge of wire I needed, so I spray painted some green wire with yellow and blue paint to create the details for the motor.