Ladies and Gentlemen, and everything in between, I give you
""RAD ROT""
RAD ROT is my interpretation of what a Rat Rod Bike is. It’s based off the idea of the mid 50’s Hot Rod culture in southern California. Build with what you got, make it look good, make it go fast, stand out from the rest and call it your own! I wanted to build this out of parts and pieces I already had in my supply and to spend as little money as possible.
All nuts, bolts, screws, washers, pins, chains, etc are from boxes of old, unused, previously used hardware items. My dad and I never throw out a good piece of hardware. I did have to buy the Matte Clear for RAD ROT so I’m not totally without spending some money.
I rode RAD ROT last night and today and lemme tell ya….it rides very nice! Now if I could only figure out where I put the headbadge!!??
The Bike: 1948 Hawthorne, unknown model.
When I got it:
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=72044
Finished:
The seat is the one that came on it. The handlebars are a motorcycle set (I think) that came on an OCC chopper I cut up for parts. Chainring, guard and crank are from an 80’s Huffy Scout (I think). I don’t know what the pedals are from. I think they’re just from my box of parts. Horizontal chain guard is made from a left over pice of stell from BO#7 build of BOARDER PATROL. Bracket for the horizontal guard is the original but cut down to make the guard stay close to the chain. Valve caps are older steel pieces obtained from another member here in our parts trading.
Weird little light I got from my old neighbor that always got the best junk and scrap. Solid Oak rear rack was made by me last year when I was going to build this bike up as BO7 66 West, but didn’t.
There’s no seat post on this bike. I moved the seat back and down as low as I could. Once there, I had to figure out a way to keep it there. I started digging through the boxes and came up w/ these two little turnbuckles. The brain gears started turning and this is what I came up with to hold up the rear. So far, so good…..
The front of the seat rests on the seat tube. It’s held in place by a piece of brass strap and an old hose clamp. Surprisingly it holds fairly well. If you’re just cruising the asphalt trails its fine. If not, then I wouldn’t recommend it. I’m going to look for a stronger old hose clamp to replace this with but for now it’s okay.
Since it was suggested that I mount something to the candle holder, I did! There were 3 holes on the handle that needed filled. My mom has had an assortment of 4 antique-ish glass knobs lying around for years, so I commandeered them! The LED headlight was for a different build but hadn’t gotten to the lighting portion yet, so it was kindly donated to RAD ROT…. ;-)
I found a home for the 1 oddball glass knob on the Specialized stem I got off eBay over a year ago. It had a small hole that needed filled and the knob needed to feel like it belonged. The truss rod nuts are Schwinn seat post clamp nuts.
Wing nuts borrowed from BOARDER PATROL. (It's getting torn down and rebuilt so it won’t need them…..)
The trailer hitch is an unknown piece. I found it in a stash of bikes well over a year ago. The washers, bushings and pin are from the boxes and bins of hardware. The brass-ish looking chain is a picture hanging chain left over from many years ago that’s been in my dad’s shop since.
1953 California license plate was given to me about a year ago at an auction by the guy I was bidding against for a box full of miscellaneous items. That was the only bike piece in it. He outbid me and won. I approached him afterwards about buying it and he gave it to me. The “grips” are leather bootlaces that have been in my Mom’s sewing room for about 15-20 years. Two laces per side wrapped around the bar tightly. The tape used to help secure the ends and other places on the bike is an old roll of the sticky, fabric like electrical tape. My Dad has had this in his tool box since he retired 20 years ago. I thought it looked like header wrap so it fit the bill perfectly. Wheels and tires were purchased from another member about 2.5 years ago when I first got into this.
""RAD ROT""
RAD ROT is my interpretation of what a Rat Rod Bike is. It’s based off the idea of the mid 50’s Hot Rod culture in southern California. Build with what you got, make it look good, make it go fast, stand out from the rest and call it your own! I wanted to build this out of parts and pieces I already had in my supply and to spend as little money as possible.
All nuts, bolts, screws, washers, pins, chains, etc are from boxes of old, unused, previously used hardware items. My dad and I never throw out a good piece of hardware. I did have to buy the Matte Clear for RAD ROT so I’m not totally without spending some money.
I rode RAD ROT last night and today and lemme tell ya….it rides very nice! Now if I could only figure out where I put the headbadge!!??
The Bike: 1948 Hawthorne, unknown model.
When I got it:
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=72044
Finished:
The seat is the one that came on it. The handlebars are a motorcycle set (I think) that came on an OCC chopper I cut up for parts. Chainring, guard and crank are from an 80’s Huffy Scout (I think). I don’t know what the pedals are from. I think they’re just from my box of parts. Horizontal chain guard is made from a left over pice of stell from BO#7 build of BOARDER PATROL. Bracket for the horizontal guard is the original but cut down to make the guard stay close to the chain. Valve caps are older steel pieces obtained from another member here in our parts trading.
Weird little light I got from my old neighbor that always got the best junk and scrap. Solid Oak rear rack was made by me last year when I was going to build this bike up as BO7 66 West, but didn’t.
There’s no seat post on this bike. I moved the seat back and down as low as I could. Once there, I had to figure out a way to keep it there. I started digging through the boxes and came up w/ these two little turnbuckles. The brain gears started turning and this is what I came up with to hold up the rear. So far, so good…..
The front of the seat rests on the seat tube. It’s held in place by a piece of brass strap and an old hose clamp. Surprisingly it holds fairly well. If you’re just cruising the asphalt trails its fine. If not, then I wouldn’t recommend it. I’m going to look for a stronger old hose clamp to replace this with but for now it’s okay.
Since it was suggested that I mount something to the candle holder, I did! There were 3 holes on the handle that needed filled. My mom has had an assortment of 4 antique-ish glass knobs lying around for years, so I commandeered them! The LED headlight was for a different build but hadn’t gotten to the lighting portion yet, so it was kindly donated to RAD ROT…. ;-)
I found a home for the 1 oddball glass knob on the Specialized stem I got off eBay over a year ago. It had a small hole that needed filled and the knob needed to feel like it belonged. The truss rod nuts are Schwinn seat post clamp nuts.
Wing nuts borrowed from BOARDER PATROL. (It's getting torn down and rebuilt so it won’t need them…..)
The trailer hitch is an unknown piece. I found it in a stash of bikes well over a year ago. The washers, bushings and pin are from the boxes and bins of hardware. The brass-ish looking chain is a picture hanging chain left over from many years ago that’s been in my dad’s shop since.
1953 California license plate was given to me about a year ago at an auction by the guy I was bidding against for a box full of miscellaneous items. That was the only bike piece in it. He outbid me and won. I approached him afterwards about buying it and he gave it to me. The “grips” are leather bootlaces that have been in my Mom’s sewing room for about 15-20 years. Two laces per side wrapped around the bar tightly. The tape used to help secure the ends and other places on the bike is an old roll of the sticky, fabric like electrical tape. My Dad has had this in his tool box since he retired 20 years ago. I thought it looked like header wrap so it fit the bill perfectly. Wheels and tires were purchased from another member about 2.5 years ago when I first got into this.
