hey!

[Needles]

I'll start by saying that I'm 59. I've ridden bikes since maybe 5 or 6, when my grandpa brought home a 16" wheel kid's two wheeler from the dump. We were poor. Most bikes I had up until the 8th grade were salvaged from trash heaps and cobbled together. I think I got my first new bike at 13 or 14, a Western Flyer. I never thought about rat rods until I saw this site. Me and my best friend growing up started with taking a 24" throwaway, added a banana seat, hammered some pieces of conduit onto the fork legs and put a 20" front wheel on it to make a "chopper." We cobbled a few different bikes together back then, including one we called the "monster." It was a girl's frame model that we flipped the frame upside down, swapped the bottom bracket in backwards and fork upside down, extended the fork a LONG way, put on some ape hangers, and got his brother to weld a seat tube to the other side of the bottom bracket, with a brace to the head tube. The seat height was maybe 6 feet. We had to get up on the porch rail to mount it. It came apart when my friend's brother rode it--- I guess it just wouldn't hold an adult. (He had to go get stitches.) I'm tired of forums where the norm seems to be $2000+ road bikes with riders that have more attitude than a wanna be on a Harley. (And would probably crap their pants if they ever met a real 1%-er!) I'll probably lurk more than anything--- I just appreciate new ideas and creativity.

 

[deorman]

Welcome home!

 

[KJV]

welcome, from Souhtern Onio.
what's your location ?

 

[Needles]

Sorry, New Mexico.

 

[Schwinnspastic]

Welcome Needles, I think you'll find a lot of cool ideas and plenty of guys that grew up around the custom bike culture of the 60s and 70s !
Hey I will say "don't be a lurker" this forum thrives on positive participation and sharing ideas both old and new !
Mark

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Welcome!

Luke.

 

[Joe Monstermaker]

Run away! Run away! Get out while you can!

 

[BARTO]

Sounds like you're gonna a fit right in....by all means, hang out for a bit and enjoy the hobby. Haven't met any snobs yet...unless you count the rust snobs ( we may have a few, but they're pretty cool). Now, go to the dump, get your tools out and get back to your roots and cobble something together
Bart

 

[Rat Rod]

Welcome to the fun!

 

[Jsparks]

Welcome to the site, nothing but good people here.

 

[us56456712]

Welcome to the madness. Personally I am a snob, proud of it, I am what they call a weight weenie, the more it weighs the better. Ha.

 

[BARTO]

Oh boy, I better hide my Rat Rollfast..the more crap I put on it the more it weighs! It's not in the garage so don't bother looking good there

 

[Scribble]

Run away! Run away! Get out while you can!

Killed me with that one.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I'll start by saying that I'm 59. I've ridden bikes since maybe 5 or 6, when my grandpa brought home a 16" wheel kid's two wheeler from the dump. We were poor. Most bikes I had up until the 8th grade were salvaged from trash heaps and cobbled together. I think I got my first new bike at 13 or 14, a Western Flyer. I never thought about rat rods until I saw this site. Me and my best friend growing up started with taking a 24" throwaway, added a banana seat, hammered some pieces of conduit onto the fork legs and put a 20" front wheel on it to make a "chopper." We cobbled a few different bikes together back then, including one we called the "monster." It was a girl's frame model that we flipped the frame upside down, swapped the bottom bracket in backwards and fork upside down, extended the fork a LONG way, put on some ape hangers, and got his brother to weld a seat tube to the other side of the bottom bracket, with a brace to the head tube. The seat height was maybe 6 feet. We had to get up on the porch rail to mount it. It came apart when my friend's brother rode it--- I guess it just wouldn't hold an adult. (He had to go get stitches.) I'm tired of forums where the norm seems to be $2000+ road bikes with riders that have more attitude than a wanna be on a Harley. (And would probably crap their pants if they ever met a real 1%-er!) I'll probably lurk more than anything--- I just appreciate new ideas and creativity.

Sounds all too familiar! You'll fit right in.