My first build.
To me a rat rod looks like garbage. It should appear old, worn, rusty, beaten on, scuffed, dinged, abused and generally unclean. That is the rat part.
The rod part is the culmination of parts that resemble some kind of hotrod. Whitewall tires, lowered suspension, a bit of rake, and some attitude.
My little low ratter was mostly defined by its parts, and those were what I had available......
One chromed out lowrider I picked up from a friend, and then stripped of it's needed parts:
One old Mongoose BMX frame I picked up for free from a local bike shop:
I had to scavenge the cranks from another bike, and modify the arms for ground clearance, but other than that this bike is just a few rattle cans of paint and and hand full of nuts and bolts.
The bike was stripped down with wire wheels, emery cloth, and scuff pads, but left very rough and uneven.
I then sprayed the bike down in two quick coats of red.
Next, section by section, i'd spray flat black down and rub it off before it dried. In some spots I had to almost buff it off, but a sweaty rag helped lift the black off. A little more red, and some strategic black spots and I was done.
The artificial wear and tear is a combination of scuff pads, poor surface prep work, and rough tool use.
With some tactical misuse and lack of care I hope to grow some iron oxide in the near future.
I also have some black vinyl/leather stuff set aside to recover the seat, but I haven't had time for that yet.
I give you, ........... a bike I need to name,....any suggestions?
PS: It doesn't work. The rear hub seems to be skipping/slipping so I can't actually pedal the damn thing,....yet. I'm starting to hate this bike.
To me a rat rod looks like garbage. It should appear old, worn, rusty, beaten on, scuffed, dinged, abused and generally unclean. That is the rat part.
The rod part is the culmination of parts that resemble some kind of hotrod. Whitewall tires, lowered suspension, a bit of rake, and some attitude.
My little low ratter was mostly defined by its parts, and those were what I had available......
One chromed out lowrider I picked up from a friend, and then stripped of it's needed parts:
One old Mongoose BMX frame I picked up for free from a local bike shop:
I had to scavenge the cranks from another bike, and modify the arms for ground clearance, but other than that this bike is just a few rattle cans of paint and and hand full of nuts and bolts.
The bike was stripped down with wire wheels, emery cloth, and scuff pads, but left very rough and uneven.
I then sprayed the bike down in two quick coats of red.
Next, section by section, i'd spray flat black down and rub it off before it dried. In some spots I had to almost buff it off, but a sweaty rag helped lift the black off. A little more red, and some strategic black spots and I was done.
The artificial wear and tear is a combination of scuff pads, poor surface prep work, and rough tool use.
With some tactical misuse and lack of care I hope to grow some iron oxide in the near future.
I also have some black vinyl/leather stuff set aside to recover the seat, but I haven't had time for that yet.
I give you, ........... a bike I need to name,....any suggestions?
PS: It doesn't work. The rear hub seems to be skipping/slipping so I can't actually pedal the damn thing,....yet. I'm starting to hate this bike.
