L@@K~~ Monson, Mass - The Revival~~ Check in

[Graylock]

It was a great day but but I thought it was chilly enough to freeze the b's off a brass monkey but what the heck we can weld them back on. I'm proud to say we killed that DD gift card, thanks for your help guys. And what about that salute, your were all over that.

I took a few videos 'cause it was the only camera I had and I pulled a few snapshots out of them.

From the RRBBO 4 z-boy's The Crucible looking fine.

And then there was Rob's new lady bike from the latest build challenge. Here's Kota doing I don't know what to Rob's amusement. Nice bike Rob.

Steavevil's cool 20" 5-speed. I'm not to sure about the shifter placement :shock: , just saying.

KOTA left his bike in the driveway. Again! :lol:

Some things followed me home. I thought this came with a front wheel.........maybe it fell off on the rail crossing. :lol: Got it home, now I can ride a whole ten feet on it, thanks KZ.

Had a great time, good to see everyone,and hope everyone got home safe.

Be seeing you
Graylock

 

[KZ1000]

I had a great time also, Sold lots, bought a few un-needed items. I thought it was a fairly mild day but I did shiver all the way home. Thanks for the pics GL. It was great seeing all the Rat-Rod-Bikers again

 

[ej599]

Man, I wish I could have made it but I had some important Church stuff to attend to today. That was a great time last year meeting and riding with all you guys.
Seemed a little cool outside today and I thought of you guys. I don't think my backporch thermometer broke 40 today. Last year was a little brisk also, but the East Coast reps are a hardy lot.
I will be there next year with my latest creation though.
Hey Kota, you need a kickstand? I got a bunch of em! :lol:

 

[KOTA]

I DO need a kickstand! I was looking for one from a 24 inch bike (bent forks make it to low). Actually, REAL RatRods don't need no stinkin kickstand.

I rode a swing bike today!........Piece-o-cake :roll:

 

[KZ1000]

I rode a swing bike today!........Piece-o-cake :roll:

Maybe JELLO Cake

 

[Danimal]

Yup, fun day, but it was cold. Sold a few things, and in stark contrast to last year, I didn't buy a thing!

Nice to see you all again. Although I missed the free coffee...I thought getting there at 6:00 am was early enough. :shock:

 

[Graylock]

Danimal I'm sorry you missed the coffee, you were never around at coffee call and you had the salute too.

Thanks for reminding me KOTA about the swingbike. Jello cake? Maybe it looked like a jello cake riding a swingbike but it was KOTA's cat like responses and nerves of steel that got him down that sidewalk through people on one side and parked cars (expensive cars I may add) on the other. I noticed durring the day a few people grabbing the bars to see how it swings only to find (as KOTA put it) the frame swing quickly to your leg "like a dog in heat" :lol: followed by setting back on the stand as close to as they found it as they could. Z-boy was having a good time with it.
Also, did I meet Walker and pjbaz and not know it?

GL

 

[Walker]

Hey fellow RRB-ers. Monson 2010 was different that last year on a number of levels! For starters I let Danimal convince me into hitting the road at 4:30AM. This challenge was compounded by the Mai-Tai I had at the Chinense food resteraunt the prevous evening. Somehow I made it and we caravaned to monson with Dan setting the pace and me trying to keep up on the highway . We arrived a little after 6AM. Set up was well underway by a bunch of venders. Dan and I split a space on the lawn and spread out our wares. I migh have sold more bikes if people were't distracted by Dan's shiny bikes. His Ramshorn garnered a lot of attention.

Seems to me it's more about making connections and contacts sometimes. It was nice to meet some new people, both RRB members and non alike. I should have rallied the troops for a group photo. I met several nice people and had some fine conversations and learned a lot. At one point this guy says to me "do you know who the Rat Rod bike guys are? One of them is building (some kind of something i forget what). Where are they located?". I say, "we're an online forum, we're everywhere!". He kind of had a blank look on his face, I think he thought Rat Rod Bikes was a store...

There were several very fine bicycles and as well as other pedal / human powered vehicles. From vintage road, bmx, kids bikes, lightweights, middleweights, ballooners, tandems, tripples, tricycles, british, home made and custom and a fair ammount of parts to be had.

Some pricing was downrigh shocking, but there were some deals to be had especially towards the end. I did not find any 28" singletube tires or a headbadge for my 1898 Davis tandem but talked to a couple of people that "had seen them in the past" (very helpful) and some that offered their business cards and suggested i send them a note later on. It's a start...

And now, the photos:
Beautiful mens racer, with double chainstays and check out the saddle rails. the narrowest skiptooth chainring i have ever seen. It would have been neat to put this on a scale.

Nice Elgin

Just a little lube and some tires....

Sweet Elgin, I knew better than to look at the price tag, way out of my league..

Got Muscle?

Linked steering tandem.

Hello Ladies

Who says monotone has to be boring...

Clean tandem, clean bikes!!

Horrible dark photo of a Shelby

We know this bike!

Nice work, would have liked to see it in action,

Tables of stuff

View across the hall.

Scooter, cute as a basket of kittens..

kids toys:

I really liked this ski bike and rowing thing. $350 each :shock:

What can I say about this...

Neat stuff around the flagpole

Nice bike Dan! sorry i cut the wheels off.

$450 for the red/white elgin...

stuff

I was really drooling on this Elgin because the colors were just awesome. it had some issues though so I passed and was sold for $275.00.

Nice 24", the ladies bike in the background was the mate to my Huffy Byke.

Just Dan's (shiny) and my (rusty) stuff. Bikes in the background were super clean british Raleigh, BSA's and Triupmhs. I ended up giving the guy a Raleigh Headbadge and fork.

 

[thatismytruck]

Jamison. Look for the tallest guy there and say hello. The tallest guy is usually me ;unless Dan is there. And he will be. Have fun. Any bike to ride will be acceptable. 8)

The easy way to tell us apart is:

1) If you see someone who is really tall and very handsome, it's me.

2) If you see someone who is really tall, but kinda weird looking, it's Skip.

Hey!



ok

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

after seeing the photos of all that great stuff, I'm glad I didn't go. None of that stuff needs to be in my house.

 

[Graylock]

Walker, you took some great pics and lots of them. Nice of you to post so many, you captured the feel of the event. All I had was a Flip Video camera and it doesn't take snap shots well. I wanted a pic of that gator bike to show my daughters and now they both want one. Thanks :roll:

GL

 

[KZ1000]

Hey Graylock, about 5 minutes after you left that guy came out with the Gator to show you, that one was a toughy to ride because of the small swivel wheel on back.

Walker, when that guy asked you where the Rat Rod guys were, I think he wanted you to point us out to him

 

[Walker]

Something about the way the guy asked kind of made it hard to understand if he meant at the show or day to day. Or if he was "hunting someone down" if you know what i mean :?

I would have liked to see the Gator bike. I passed the guy as he was headed out and told him I thought the bike was pretty cool. At first i thought it was a Crocodile bike :wink:

I wish i had taken a video of the Whizzer in action and I totally missed the shaft drive that was right next to my stuff.

 

[yeshoney]

Great to see everyone there. Made a few deals, but this year I came home with more stuff and bikes than went with. I usually break even or come home with a little less!

Walker - someone will want that rusty, crusty Elgin. You gotta put up some pics of it. It was a bit "too patina'd" for me

Good deals were had before the sun even made its way over the horizon!

I was drooling over the Elgin Blackhawk that Keith has!

Joe

 

[Walker]

Sadly watching the Monson thread slowly sink down the list. So long Monson, see you next year......

 

[NLCTVWguy]

Well Cody and I made it there, as early as we could manage, and probably still missed out on the early morning deals. But we had a great time, met a few people I've only talked to by email, and I was real happy with my trade (thanks Walker, hope you enjoy your new toy too!)

I found a few key pieces for bikes I'm building, a really decent Schwinn derailleur and some tires. Overall I didn't buy much, but part of that was because the car was already pretty full.... I brought up my wife's '47 and my 64 Rat Racer. Thanks for all compliments guys... my wife is really proud and shows off the bike every chance she gets.

The Rolling Rock I picked up from Walker will be a great downtown ride once I detail it out. Nice and light for such a big bike... I haven't ridden these late model cruisers much and it's definitely not Chicago steel... much lighter feeling.

We did get to see that Gator bike in action... looks simple enough, may have to build one of those from all the shtuff hanging around here. I have the frames at my disposal... it is absolutely wild to see it being ridden... looks like a sea serpent or something, hard to describe.

Then we visited Cody's home just up the road, where he has probably another 50 cool old bikes. Too much to take in, and too much to take home, though a few of them will be mine... evil grin... and the Polara is just a beast from another time. How come 1960s houses don't have 30x30 garages for these kinds of cars?

On the way back, in keeping with tradition, we stopped at a yard sale and picked up... a bike! Yeah, did it again. Nothing amazing but I was happy to find out it's a USA-built Nishiki steel frame mountain bike, with identical parts to my old Trek. I like it and I think it's already found a home. Oh yeah, and its LIME GREEN!!! Even cooler, found a Tonka early-70's black VWE Beetle toy at the yard sale... hard to find period, and this one was original paint, in black, which I've never seen. If you've been to my house, you know the one thing I have more of than Schwinns, is VW toys...

So speaking of my house... yeah, we got 9 inches of rain from Monday into Tuesday. Had a dry basement when I went to bed Monday night, and thanked my lucky stars. When we got up, 1 inch of water. By 11 am, 3 inches of water and it was coming under the floor, out from cracks. Did I mention Cody was super awesome? My wife, Cody, and I bailed out the basement with hundreds of trips by shop vac, and a huge pump I borrowed from work. Thankfully, the rain has stopped, the bikes were saved, not too much got ruined, and the floor is sort of cleaner now... :/

As for Monson, enjoyed it, and we'll be there again next time!

--Rob

 

[yeshoney]

Rob,


At least we know Sting Rays can swim! LOL

Joe

 

[NLCTVWguy]

Rob,


At least we know Sting Rays can swim! LOL

Joe

Yeah, and we didn't have to take a ride to Mystic Aquarium to figure that out.

Fortunately all the bikes are expected to make a full recovery. But man was I worried when I found my box of Grey Ghost parts sitting in a couple inches of water...

--Rob

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

I had a good time there Can't wait for next year :mrgreen:
Nick 8)