Quick Build #21: T-R3X Speeder Bike
/This year, the LEGO Speeder Bike challenge is back with an awesome theme. Thanks to our very own Ted Andes, LSB26 transformed from a contest into a challenge under the name LSB Spindlejack Challenge. Inspired by the zero-gravity bike messengers from the video game series Citizen Sleeper. You can read everything about the challenge and how to enter it in this article.
Want a teaser of the instructions to come? This is the T-R3X Speeder Bike, with instructions and part list below.
Dark Turn… Just Before Halloween
What’s even more interesting is what happened a week after the challenge kicked off. In the “LEGO SPACE!” Discord chat, a fellow builder named Kyle started building a messenger bike, but then things took a different turn:
"I started out trying to build a Spindlejack, I swear... But as I tinkered, more and more sinister purpose crept into what I built. For while a Spindlejack may be mostly safe deep inside Far Spindle Station, to venture outside the safety of the pressurized corridors isn't without danger and risk. Lurking in dark gaps between hab modules, creeping along the shadowed side of small asteroids, the natural predator of the Spindlejack hunts.”
The bike that Kyle built
“These Swindlejerks, lawless thieves on rocket bikes, swoop in from the pitch-black to snatch away the valuables carried by their busy victims. The goal isn't to kill, but to steal. To chase down a Spindlejack and make off with their backpack, satchel, saddlebags, and any parcels they might be carrying.”
Swindlejerks
And from there a new faction was born, called the SWINDLEJERKS. This hooked me immediately, and I wanted to build something scary that one of the SWINDLEJERKS would ride. On my desk is a build I made years ago when the show Primal came out, featuring the two main characters, Spear (a caveman) and Fang (a dinosaur). And when fishing for ideas, I saw the little build and thought, “Why not make a dinosaur bike? How cool would it be to scare the ‘good’ Spindlejack messengers by riding after them on a T-REX?”
My version of spear and Fang, built the same way as the speeder.
*The final step (not included in the instructions) is adding a small white rubber band piece that you can slide onto the back side of the lower jaw.
You can download the full BrickLink parts list here. (Parts lists are an XML file that can be uploaded to BrickLink or Stud.io.)
side view
Back view
The biker is not included in the instructions, but you can build anything you like and put it on top! :)
The bike itself does not feature a lot of pipes and open elements, but in my mind under the T-R3X skin, there is a simple pipe frame that makes the bike, but the rider decided to make it extra scary and build the T-R3X body kit on top of the frame.
Instructions to Build a Cool Bike Stand
And finally, because the bike itself can’t stand nicely on the ground (it sits at a weird angle by default), I made a simple thematic stand that allows you to display it and have that mean dino look.
No questions for you today, but a message: pick a challenge and build something for it. Thank me later! Ok, one question… do you like dinosaurs? ;)
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