BUILD OFF 4 DISCUSSION

[deorman]

Was that a pin dropping?

[JoKeR63]

OK. I'll bite.







Can you say, copyright infringment?!!!!

[JoeyMac]

think Elvis and MJ are jamming right now?

[Bendix]

Well, I finally voted. That wasn't so hard.....wait a minute.....oh crud- i think i accidentally voted for pat buchanan! Recount! Recount!

[karfer67]

dont go all gore florida on us now.

[ej599]

Shameless is my middle name.

[Bendix]

Shameless is my middle name.

shame is overrated

[onelesspedestrian]

Uhhhh.....



but in all seriousness, this was a really difficult vote. probably if I sat down to decide again, I might choose differently. I just chose bikes that I really liked, that I would want to jump on and ride more than the others, because there are so many worthy winners here.

I am surprised however, at the lack of votes for the ladies and the British. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, as that would be like going to a car show and complaining when you get beat by 32 ford roadster, I mean, it's gonna happen. I guess what I'm getting at is that this competition has escalated to the point that maybe there is room now for categories in the future. Best Paint, best Lady, best british, etc. and of course, the grand daddy Grand Prize. in a couple more years we'll be fighting for a trophy the size of the AMBR

All of the bikes have turned out awesome. I'm glad to have been a part of it, and well, it's a better introduction than my intro post.

[Schwinnspastic]

jeez I cant believe this is such a runaway vote , followed most of the builds and checked out all the finished bikes so why such a gap ?
Kram and Karfer built 2 Cool bikes but there are so many other really cool bikes , I figured it would be a much closer race !
I have narrowed it down to about 25 bikes that really stand out as a top choice....something I would build and ride with pride and of 92
bikes I see only a couple that just dont get it at all for me ...I guess for a few others as well
Thanks to those that thought the "Ratty News" was worthy of a vote as I built that bike pretty quick , took longer gathering parts from the
pile than the paint and assembly. OK back to makin my 3 choices

[2Fresh]

"Oh, what a coincidence, here's Jarno Saarinen THE FLYING FINN sporting #32 on his Yamaha in 1971. Wow, who would've thought. Wait, i think there was a bike somewhere here.. a Jupitah... or something up there with the same number on the number plate, yeah, now i remember, it was a JUPITER!!. It was top notch."


Jarno on ice, '63.



Thanks to whoever for the two votes. I Appreciate them.
-Timo

[onelesspedestrian]

yeah it's hard to say what puts some bikes over the top. bells that ring through carb stacks from a throttle grip maybe?

perhaps a lot of it is vote splitting. there are a ton of really nice basic (but really sorted out) balloon tire bikes in here, all very nice, all probably appealing to similar tastes - for ruby, in with a 38, subterfuge, bad influence, just to name a few. Those of us running ladies, or straight tube frames, british bikes, etc, are also splitting up votes among voters who like that sort of thing. most people here seem to like the ballooners the best, and Kram and Karfer just have something extra I guess. To be fair though I thought of both of them as serious contenders right from post 1. The depth of talent here just makes the win that much more prestigious.

[herr_rudolf]

yeah it's hard to say what puts some bikes over the top. bells that ring through carb stacks from a throttle grip maybe? :lol:

perhaps a lot of it is vote splitting. there are a ton of really nice basic (but really sorted out) balloon tire bikes in here, all very nice, all probably appealing to similar tastes - for ruby, in with a 38, subterfuge, bad influence, just to name a few. Those of us running ladies, or straight tube frames, british bikes, etc, are also splitting up votes among voters who like that sort of thing. most people here seem to like the ballooners the best, and Kram and Karfer just have something extra I guess. To be fair though I thought of both of them as serious contenders right from post 1. The depth of talent here just makes the win that much more prestigious.

I couldn't have said it better. I guess 99% of us are leaning towards the classic '40s '50s '60s american bicycle frames, coz lets face it, those are THE bases to make a hotrod out of a bicycle. It's these frames that got me into this custombike thing and I think it's just impossible to top those with a straight tube ladies frame, or a tricycle, or a tandem, or... But you(onelesspedestrian) came awefully close with that ladybike. One of my votes went to you. Besides a beautiful endresult, I think highly of the transformation some bikes went through. I think yours had the biggest and most surprising transformation of all this year. Too bad not a lot of people are seeing that.
As for the 'rest' of the traditonal american frames not getting a lot of votes... They were just too basic, imho. Don't get me wrong, basic is good! And all are REALLY GOOD... But to win, you have stand out from the crowd. That could be something outragiously over the top (but well engineered) like Karfer's carbs or it could be something subtle like Kram's Stripped and Teased. That bike is just perfect in ANY way. It's the combination of all the things together that makes this bike 'right-on'.
Those two bikes got most of the votes because of that little bit extra. The other votes are spread amongst personal favorites resulting in really good bikes getting just a few votes. It's because a lot of bikes are really good and were build that way just because the owners wanted them that way.

And that's a good thing.

[37fleetwood]

this build off has set a new bar, and introduced us to the future.
first, I have to say that everyone who's seen my bike has said wow! so to consider that it is in the bottom half of the lower middle doesn't lead me to think I did poorly, rather it says to me that the field is really populated with amazing bikes. it isn't as simple as saying I should have put carbs on my bike, both of the lead bikes are amazing regardless or their bells and whistles (pardon the pun). that being said I'm not feeling bad with the outcome, I had a great time building this bike with you guys.
second, welcome to the future. I have noticed in the last year or so more English roadsters and girls bikes showing up at the Cabe. I suppose it makes sense for two reasons, a) balloon tire bikes are getting harder to find, and more expensive, while lightweights and girls bikes are still plentiful and comparatively cheap, and b) as the guys who look back on their youth are increasingly looking back to the day they found a 10speed under the tree at Christmas, and the guys who look back to the day their Elgin showed up under the tree are decreasing. I take my 1964 Dodge Dart to the local cruise and the guys with their 32 Fords look down at me while I look curiously at the guys there with their mid '70's Camaros. I would expect to see more of the '60's and eventually '70's bikes showing up.

[herr_rudolf]

this build off has set a new bar, and introduced us to the future.
first, I have to say that everyone who's seen my bike has said wow! so to consider that it is in the bottom half of the lower middle doesn't lead me to think I did poorly, rather it says to me that the field is really populated with amazing bikes. it isn't as simple as saying I should have put carbs on my bike, both of the lead bikes are amazing regardless or their bells and whistles (pardon the pun). that being said I'm not feeling bad with the outcome, I had a great time building this bike with you guys.
second, welcome to the future. I have noticed in the last year or so more English roadsters and girls bikes showing up at the Cabe. I suppose it makes sense for two reasons, a) balloon tire bikes are getting harder to find, and more expensive, while lightweights and girls bikes are still plentiful and comparatively cheap, and b) as the guys who look back on their youth are increasingly looking back to the day they found a 10speed under the tree at Christmas, and the guys who look back to the day their Elgin showed up under the tree are decreasing. I take my 1964 Dodge Dart to the local cruise and the guys with their 32 Fords look down at me while I look curiously at the guys there with their mid '70's Camaros. I would expect to see more of the '60's and eventually '70's bikes showing up.

And that is also oh-so-true!
Nothig is simple. But what I meant is that it's 'that little bit of extra' that makes a bike a winner. That 'little bit of extra' could mean anything. In Karfer's case it's the carbs. But 'that little bit of extra' could also mean the stuff one didn't do to his/her bike. Like the FATRAT or NEXT BLOOD CLOTH. For me those are winners because of the things that aren't on the bike. In these cases the things 'less' ARE 'the things extra' that could've made em winners. But it just didn't.

I think the substerfuge is a gorgious bike with a headlight that could've been 'that little bit of extra' to make it a winner. But it didn't. Neither did my aluminum rack make my bike a winner. But almost all of us built what we felt like building and think is cool what we've build and are PROUD of what we've build. And that's the thing that matters. But winning the build-off would be extremely cool ofcourse, but it can only happen to the happy few amongst us.

But I really don't know if the bar is set higher this year... I guess I joined this comunity 2 or 3 days before the start of the build-off and was amazed by a lot of the bikes from previous build-offs. I think the bikes to beat are still there to be found and not in this build-off... I remember seeing an extremely ugly all-suspension mountainbike turned into a gorgious boardtracker/dirtbikethingy. And an ingenious remote clothspin-and-card-between-the-spokes-device. And a technical marvel with well tought-out and engineered suspensioned rust-rat. And a WWII-plane themed bike executed beyond perfection.... I think those bikes have set the bar to this day, and those are the ones that 'we have got to beat' yet. If we want to... but I'm happy with what I've done (and very pleased with the 2 vote's I got.) And I know for sure that most of you guys feel that way.


The second point you've made is also true. The classic ratrodbike material is becomming scarce and thus expensive. The comparison with the 32 Ford and the 64 Dart is dead-on. Something that was easy to find for just a few bucks on the scrapyard just wasn't anymore a few decades later. It's a natural process that's happing whether we want it or not... Also I think more and more foreigners (like me) are joining the build so you WILL find more and more of 'the other bikes' in the build-off because of lack of classic ratrod-material in their countries. But I think the diversity and the inspiration that comes with it is really a good thing.

This forum is great. The bikes are great. The people are great.
Glad to be part of it.

[beatcad]

another subtle suggestion for you guys and gals that havent voted yet.



but seriously. i'm kinda suprised sir loin of beef isnt getting more points.