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Born to Ride! The world's smallest handmade BMX Bike in the World by Dr Willard Wigan MBE

When we think of extreme sports, we generally think about fast, action-packed, adrenaline fulled sportspeople pushing themselves to the limits of what is humanly possible. The term extreme sports describes people who live and breathe adrenaline, people who live on the edge of life and danger, people who choose to challenge themselves to achieve the impossible. I am the impossible. I am the world's best Micro Sculptor who creates the most extreme Microsculptures in history from Nothing. So I challenged myself to create the world's smallest BMXer.

The World's smallest BMX bike. Made 24-carat gold and mounted on the tip of a dog's hair.

Find Your Limits and Go Beyond It!

Typically, extreme sports and extreme sportspeople operate outside traditional mainstream sports. I operate outside of the mainstream art and sculpture scene by performing unbelievable and phenomenal works of Micro Art that shock and leave people in a world of wonder. The above image shows the final Microsculpture of the BMXer in all its extreme miniature glory. The miniature BMXer is mounted and placed on the tip of a dog's hair and visually gives the impression of the BMXer jumping out the end of a ramp. This micro sculpture is so tiny that it is almost impossible to see it with the human eye.


"My Microsculptures are so unique, so mind-boggling miniature that they will baffle you and have baffled scientists, artists and other micro artists from all over the world".

 

Go Small or Go Home! Insane Size & Scale

I pushed myself to the most extreme levels of what is humanly possible. The BMXer Microsculpture's scale is off the wall. Believe me, this is the smallest handmade Microsculpture of a BMXer ever made.

The handmade Microsculpture measures 0.250 mm, which is 250 Microns in size.

Each part of the bike was made out of 24-carat gold and painted with a tiny paintbrush made from an eyelash. The wheels, handlebars, pedals, frame, bike cables, helmet, and BMXer were all individually made just like a normal bike would be. I put the Microsculpture together just like you would do if you were building a normal bike. I then mounted the piece on a dog's hair which is thinner and more delicate than an eyelash.

One of the most difficult and tricky components to make was the wheels. I destroyed quite a lot of rims whilst trying to add the hubs and spokes. Each of the component's scales is so extreme that scientists can't explain how I do it. Each of the bike's components is measured between 0.010 mm to 0.150 mm, that is 10-150 Microns in size.

"The smaller your work, the bigger your name will become".

 

The secret of life? Just enjoy the ride! My Tiny World of Art, Science and Magic

I place my micro sculptures in the eye of a needle, on the head of a pin or on the end of a hair for scale and impact. My work combines art, science and magic to make my Microsculptures come alive. My ability to slow my heartbeat down as I enter a meditative state, allows me to prepare myself for the pain and stress caused to create the world's tiniest Microsculptures.

Whenever I am working on a new Microsculpture it can be very stressful, mentally exhausting, physically draining and pushes me to breaking point. Sitting still and concentrating as much as I do, for as long as I do, cause me severe headaches, stress and eye pain. I don't enjoy making Microsculptures, but I do enjoy completing a new one.

Meditation and focus are key requirements to do what I do. Learning to relax and calm the mind, focus your intentions on the task ahead, believe and see the final Microsculpture is when the magic happens.

Just because you can't see something, doesn't mean it's not there.

 

If it was easy everyone would do it

The Microsculpture of the miniature BMXer took me, three attempts and many months, working 15 hr days to complete. I misplaced and lost the first two Microsculptures I made, and on my third attempt, just before I was about to mount the Microsculpture I zoomed in so close that I got the piece stuck to the lens of my microscope. I had to use another microscope to find the tiny Microsculpture that I had made I also made a tiny pair of tweezers out of my own eyelashes to pick up the Microsculpture without damaging it any more than I had done.

Once I had the piece back in a workable position, I then had to mount the piece to the end of the dog hair. Mounting anything to the end of a hair is not easy and can be more stressful than making the piece itself. Forces of nature, tension and the trampoline effect can cause me many problems. If you think about bouncing on a trampoline for a minute, bounce in the centre of the trampoline, you tend to go straight up and back down, which is fine because the piece will fall back where it started. But if you bounce off from one side, your body tends to be thrown off in the opposite direction, and just like a micro sculpture one wrong move and the miniature sculpture can be catapulted far and wide, never to be seen again.

"The smaller your work, the bigger your name will become".

 

Extreme Sports

When the X-Games first aired in the mid-1990s, I was introduced to all kinds of new sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, cliff jumping, skydiving, BMX and other action sports. The different sports fascinated me so much that I made my first tribute micro sculpture to the skateboard scene back in 2010. As the X-games became more popular it raised the profile and economic viability of these sports forever. Extreme sports gives men and women the chance to explore themselves mentally, emotionally and physically, pushing the boundaries of the human body of what is possible.

The image below is of my first extreme sports micro sculpture I made in 2010 of a skateboarder doing a blunt on the end of an eyelash.

"When I was a kid, I had trouble at school because of my learning disabilities. Carving is my body compensating for the lack of other skills".

 

Watch Some Action - Teaser Video

Thank you for reading - Dr Willard Wihgan MBE

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