Hey Rats. I just signed up, but have been lurking since I discovered this site during the last week of the RBBO. You guys have fantastic building skills and unbelievable amounts of creativity. I really enjoy this place and have learned a lot from looking at the projects, tech tips, etc.
My name is Chris. My hobby is the restoration of vintage motorcycles and mini bikes. Most of my builds are restorations to original - although I’m looking forward to a “resto-mod” in the future.
I just completed my first ever bicycle build and thought I would share “before” and “after” pics for you experts to have a look !
My wife and I have an oceanfront vacation home on the North Carolina coast. During the summer, it’s quite difficult to get around by car due to tourist traffic. I’d been kicking around the idea of getting a Beach Cruiser to use for local transportation, but didn’t want to drop big bucks on an expensive new bike because the salt air takes its toll on things pretty quickly. I also wasn’t too interested in getting a more affordable department store bike because I wanted something that had more “character”.
To make a long story short......a neighbor gave me this thoroughly rusted out, 80’s-era Jamis Earth Cruiser. It was totally unrideable (rims rusted through, spokes broken, no chain, no seat and so forth). My challenge was to bring it back to life for as little money as possible. I recycled and refurbished as many original parts as I could. My final cost for the entire project was around $70 USD.
This is a “Rat-inspired” project done totally with “spray bombs”. It turned out surprisingly well for my first attempt.
Being a newbie, I probably violated a cardinal rule of Ratdom by using high gloss base with high gloss clear to top it off. Oh well.... live and learn. There's always the next project to make rattier.
I’ve named her POLE GIRL. She rides as good as she looks !
If any of you are interested, it would be my pleasure to start a separate post showing some chronological pics of this build in the Bike Gallery section.
Really looking forward to being a part of this community.
Thanks,
Resto
Before
After
My name is Chris. My hobby is the restoration of vintage motorcycles and mini bikes. Most of my builds are restorations to original - although I’m looking forward to a “resto-mod” in the future.
I just completed my first ever bicycle build and thought I would share “before” and “after” pics for you experts to have a look !
My wife and I have an oceanfront vacation home on the North Carolina coast. During the summer, it’s quite difficult to get around by car due to tourist traffic. I’d been kicking around the idea of getting a Beach Cruiser to use for local transportation, but didn’t want to drop big bucks on an expensive new bike because the salt air takes its toll on things pretty quickly. I also wasn’t too interested in getting a more affordable department store bike because I wanted something that had more “character”.
To make a long story short......a neighbor gave me this thoroughly rusted out, 80’s-era Jamis Earth Cruiser. It was totally unrideable (rims rusted through, spokes broken, no chain, no seat and so forth). My challenge was to bring it back to life for as little money as possible. I recycled and refurbished as many original parts as I could. My final cost for the entire project was around $70 USD.
This is a “Rat-inspired” project done totally with “spray bombs”. It turned out surprisingly well for my first attempt.
Being a newbie, I probably violated a cardinal rule of Ratdom by using high gloss base with high gloss clear to top it off. Oh well.... live and learn. There's always the next project to make rattier.
I’ve named her POLE GIRL. She rides as good as she looks !
If any of you are interested, it would be my pleasure to start a separate post showing some chronological pics of this build in the Bike Gallery section.
Really looking forward to being a part of this community.
Thanks,
Resto
Before
After
Thanks, Troy.
